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Incredible handwritten testimony by Alexander Butterfield, deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon and one of the handful of people who knew about the White House taping system, whose installation Butterfield oversaw. Butterfield was the individual who revealed to the Senate Watergate Committee on 13 July 1973 that ''There is tape in the Oval Office'', an admission that ''electrified Washington and triggered a constitutional crisis.'' Three days later he testified again to cameras broadcast on all three networks and repeated that, indeed, there was a White House taping system - which was dismantled within hours of his testimony. The Watergate investigation immediately changed course based on Butterfield's testimony, and President Richard Nixon would resign less than one month later.
Although Butterfield had intimate knowledge of White House operations as H.R. Haldeman's second in command, he wasn't involved in the Watergate scandal, but instead has definite opinions about others' involvement, including President Nixon. Composed on Butterfield's embossed stationery, document reads in full,
''President Richard Nixon, in my opinion, most assuredly knew about the first Watergate break-in (if not the second as well) before the fact. I base that guess on an intimate knowledge of 'the White House system' and President Nixon's practice of totally supervising all that went on, major and minor. Under absolutely no circumstances, would President Nixon's people on the White House staff or at the Committee to Re-Elect the President, undertake any action, much less one of the magnitude of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters, without the clear and express approval of the President...issued normally through Bob Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff. I'm amazed at how many Americans don't yet understand the extent to which Richard Nixon was in charge at the White House and monitored and supervised every operation, every activity, every program and every plan. It's hard for me to comprehend how some people, in light of all that's been revealed, can still believe that his aides, 'unbridled', got him into trouble. President Nixon probably could have been a better Chief Executive had he not been quite so preoccupied with deep resentments and other peculiarities. / Yours truly, / Alexander P. Butterfield, / Deputy Assistant to President Nixon 1969-1973''. Document measures 6.375'' x 8.5'', in near fine condition. Accompanied by an LOA from Butterfield.
Alexander Butterfield Autograph Manuscript Signed Regarding Watergate and President Nixon's Involvement -- ''...Nixon, in my opinion, most assuredly knew about the first Watergate break-in...''
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