first of all, did holdeman know that richard nixon had a taping system?deman and president nixon talking in the white house in 1971. >> [indiscernible] john: both of them knew they were on tape. what in the world are they talking about? brian: both of them knew they were on tape. it would take far too much intellectual concentration and effort to talk all the time for the tape recorder. he was confident that he could maintain control of it. he had seen eisenhower and treatment make a vast claims of executive privilege said he thought he would safeguard his papers and takes forever and no one else could hear about them. the bad part about the tapes is that they are ramblings. they are spewing's. nixon talking of the top of the head. they don't show in a be positive sign of nixon. anytime anyone tries to say he was a decent president, he did things for the environment, presented a health care plan, one of these tapes is going to drop them back down on the list of presidents. is very revealing. it is fantastic for a historian. we have two or three presidenci

. -- holdeman had his own biases, but nixon wanted a protestant, mainstream, white american.rian: i found the last 120 pages where there were source notes, not a part of the narrative in your book, some of the most interesting stuff. , usually people that are older, they are going to know who richard nixon wasn't all that. that's why i am focusing on this. with that in mind, i want you to hear something that you know about from one of the tapes. holdeman knowdid that nick's and had a taping system? john: he and some others were the only ones. brian: this is key and mix and talking in the oval office. we've got it on the screen, so listen carefully. >> [indiscernible] john: both of them knew they were on tape. both of theman: knew they were on tape. what were they talking about that for? too muchwould take far intellectual concentration and effort to talk all the time for the tape recorder. he was confident that he could maintain control on it. he had been eisenhower's vice president, and hence even eisenhower and truman make the vast claims of executive privilege. he thought

brian: this is holdeman and nixon talking in the oval office.e've got it on the screen, so listen carefully. >> [indiscernible] brian: they both know they are on tape. what in the world other talking about it for? john: they knew they were on tape, but it would take far too much intellectual concentration and effort to talk all the time for the tape recorder. and he was confident that he could maintain control on it. he had been eisenhower's vice president, and he had seen eisenhower and truman make the vast claims of executive privilege. able toht he would be safeguard his tapes and papers forever. nobody else would ever hear about them. the bad part about [please stand by] they are spewings. they are next in talking off the top of his head. anytime someone tries to write something off of him, saying he was a decent president he did , things for the environment, presented a health care plan, he created the environmental protection agency. then somebody is going to pull one of these tapes, and it will drop him back down on the list of presidents