defkatatak

I think that public figures have a lesser right to privacy than civilians since they act on behalf of the public. I think that all presidents should record their conversations, but I don't think they need to be made available to the public immediately. They should be used for historical context, not contemporaneous politicking.

Haha yes, that's why I decided/ was asked to do a AMA! I think that presidents should secretly record their conversations in the interest of transparency and historical analysis. As far as most know, the secret recordings stopped with Pres. Nixon after Watergate, but I wouldn't be surprised if they continued. That said, the tapes shouldn't be a political tool to be used by a president (like Pres. Trump)- they should be an apolitical, historical tool.

Interesting question! I've always been interested in politics and history, but I admittedly didn't know much about Pres. Nixon before I started transcribing his tapes beyond the Watergate scandal. I learned a lot about the day to day responsibilities of a president, such as meeting with staff members, debating appointees, planning campaign activity, entertaining VIPs in the White House, and trying to spin the news. I still think Pres. Nixon was a bad president, but I have a better understanding of who he was and what his motivations were. I spent so much time listening to his conversations that I consider him a "crazy uncle" type figure. Also, I came to realize how insecure and desperate he was (he would get drunk and talk to White House paintings and was desperate for validation from his staffers) and sort of felt sad for him.

Thank you! To be fair, most of the tapes I described were pretty mundane. The ones I hated transcribing the most were when Pres. Nixon would meet with VIPs and celebrities. He would give the same spiel about the Oval Office, give them cufflinks or some other small token, point out the presidential seal, and take photos.

I didn't have to sign a NDA. :) All of the tapes are public (http://prde.upress.virginia.edu/). There were some sections of the tapes which were redacted before they even got to me, however. I don't remember which agency redacted them, but I can look through my notes/ emails.

Most of the tapes I transcribed had been listened to already, but they hadn't been transcribed for publication. The tapes were most famously used to take down Nixon for Watergate, but recent discoveries have emerged from the tapes as well. For example, 2013 analysis of the tapes showed that Pres. Nixon prolonged the Vietnam War for political gain: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nixon-prolonged-vietnam-war-for-political-gainand-johnson-knew-about-it-newly-unclassified-tapes-suggest-3595441/

Edit: Added some more detail