As a wallower in Watergate lore, I feel a tingle at the news that technicians may be able to recover the audio on the infamous 18-and-a-half minute gap on one of Nixon's tapes. For those of you who've forgotten or never knew: One of the tapes that was subpoenaed in the Watergate investigation was of the first conversation that President Nixon had with his Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, following the Watergate break-in. The presumption was that, if Nixon had prior knowledge of the criminal activity, that was when it would have been mentioned. But the tape in question turned out to have a long section in which the audio was erased — deliberately so, said the experts.
Personally, I feel that various memos and other bits of evidence that have since surfaced have pretty well proved that Nixon knew of and probably ordered that such activities be conducted. He may not have known of the specific break-in plans but he knew. Nevertheless, the case is not airtight, so his partisans can still deny it. I remain skeptical that the audio can be resurrected but it sure would be nice to settle the matter definitively.