Rose Mary Woods

Rose Mary Woods (December 26, 1917 ? January 22, 2005) was Richard Nixon's secretary from 1951, through the Watergate scandal, and until the end of his political career. Fiercely loyal to Nixon, Woods claimed responsibility in 1974 grand jury testimony for inadvertently erasing up to 5 minutes of the 18 1/2 minute gap in one of the Nixon audio tapes (specifically, the one from June 20, 1972) that were central to the scandal. Her demonstration of how this might have occurred - which depended upon her stretching to simultaneously press controls several feet apart (what the press dubbed the "Rose Mary Stretch") - was met with skepticism from those who believed the erasures to be deliberate. Later investigators identified five to nine separate erasures. The contents of the gap remain a mystery.

Related Topics:
December 26 - 1917 - January 22 - 2005 - Richard Nixon - Watergate scandal - 1974 - Grand jury - 18 1/2 minute gap - June 20 - 1972 - Rose Mary Stretch

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Woods died on January 22, 2005, at a nursing home in Alliance, Ohio.

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