Alexander Butterfield, the man who exposed the secret wiretapping system in the Watergate scandal, dies

2026-03-10 08:06:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Alexander Butterfield, the man who exposed the secret wiretapping system in the

Alexander Butterfield, former top aide to US President Richard Nixon and the man who revealed the existence of a secret White House wiretapping system during the Watergate investigation, has died at the age of 99.

News of his death was confirmed to the Associated Press by his wife Kim and former White House adviser John Dean.

Butterfield served as assistant secretary to President Nixon and was responsible for overseeing the installation of a recording system in the White House in 1971, which was set up with the help of the Secret Service.

President Nixon requested the installation of equipment to record conversations and meetings in the Oval Office and other important premises, so that there would be an accurate record of the discussions.

For a long time, few people in Washington knew of the existence of this system. However, during the Senate Watergate Committee hearings in July 1973, Butterfield publicly confirmed that the president's conversations were being recorded.

This discovery changed the course of the investigation, as special prosecutor Archibald Cox and the investigative committee requested the tapes of the recordings from the White House by court order.

Nixon initially refused to hand them over, leading to the political crisis known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” when several senior Justice Department officials resigned in protest.

Alexander Butterfield, the man who exposed the secret wiretapping system in the

The tapes were later released, and one of them, dubbed the “smoking gun,” showed Nixon’s involvement in trying to cover up the burglary at Democratic Party headquarters. This ultimately led to the president’s resignation in 1974.

Although Butterfield played a key role in uncovering the scandal, he was never charged with involvement in Watergate.

Before his career in the White House, Butterfield served in the U.S. Air Force from 1948 to the rank of colonel, serving in the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In 1972, Nixon appointed him administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a post he held until 1975, when he left office during the presidency of Gerald Ford.

After leaving public service, Butterfield worked in the private sector in the air transportation industry and lived for many years in California.

Alexander Butterfield married Charlotte Mary Maguire in 1949, who died in 2019. The couple had three children. His life and role in the Watergate scandal are also covered in Bob Woodward's 2016 book, "The Last of the President's Men."/ CNA