Editing Watergate scandal (section)

=== Senate Watergate hearings and revelation of the Watergate tapes ===
{{Main|Nixon White House tapes}}
{{See also|United States Senate Watergate Committee|G. Bradford Cook}}
[[File:ThompsonWatergate.jpg|thumb|Minority counsel [[Fred Thompson]], [[ranking member]] [[Howard Baker]], and chair [[Sam Ervin]] of the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973]]

On February 7, 1973, the United States Senate voted 77-to-0 to approve 93 {{USBill|93|S. Res.|60}} and establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with [[Sam Ervin]] named chairman the next day.<ref name="TimeRetrospective">[https://web.archive.org/web/20121107191632/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942983-1,00.html "Watergate Retrospective: The Decline and Fall"], ''Time'', August 19, 1974</ref> The hearings held by the Senate committee, in which Dean and other former administration officials testified, were broadcast from May&nbsp;17 to August&nbsp;7. The three major networks of the time agreed to take turns covering the hearings live, each network thus maintaining coverage of the hearings every third day, starting with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on May&nbsp;17 and ending with [[NBC]] on August&nbsp;7. An estimated 85% of Americans with television sets tuned into at least one portion of the hearings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/watergate.htm |title=Watergate |last=Garay |first=Ronald |website=The Museum of Broadcast Communication |access-date=January 17, 2007 |archive-date=June 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605220734/http://www.museum.tv/eotv/watergate.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On Friday, July 13, during a preliminary interview, deputy minority counsel [[Donald Sanders]] asked White House assistant [[Alexander Butterfield]] if there was any type of recording system in the White House.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kranish |first=Michael |url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/04/not_all_would_put_a_heroic_sheen_on_thompsons_watergate_role/?page=2 |title=Select Chronology for Donald G. Sanders |date=July 4, 2007 |work=Boston Globe |access-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213236/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/04/not_all_would_put_a_heroic_sheen_on_thompsons_watergate_role/?page=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Butterfield said he was reluctant to answer, but finally admitted there was a new system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the [[Oval Office]], the [[Cabinet Room (White House)|Cabinet Room]] and others, as well as Nixon's private office in the [[Old Executive Office Building]].

On Monday, July 16, in front of a live, televised audience, chief minority counsel [[Fred Thompson]] asked Butterfield whether he was "aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president". Butterfield's revelation of the taping system transformed the Watergate investigation. Cox immediately subpoenaed the tapes, as did the Senate, but Nixon refused to release them, citing his [[executive privilege]] as president, and ordered Cox to drop his subpoena. Cox refused.<ref name="UPI 1973 in Review" />