Watergate: Nixon Library

In March 2018, I traveled to Orange County, California to visit the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. I certainly wanted to tour the museum and President Nixon's birthplace; however, my primary purpose for my visit was to conduct research. In order to gain access into the research room, I needed to obtain specific clearance to do so. I had to take a secure elevator down to the research room, while being escorted down by a guard. Upon gaining clearance, I then had access to 46 million pages of documents, and 3,700 hours of recorded White House tapes. At that stage of my research, listening to the tapes was essential. The work was tedious but something I found fascinating. The quality of the tapes were not always the best so there were times, where I was forced to listen to a single sentence for over 45 minutes, just to make sure I knew what was being said and by whom. I did have transcripts to aide me in this process; however, they are not always 100% accurate.I was also able to review President Nixon's daily diary.