威尼斯人娱乐场 Releases Forensic Report on H.R. Haldeman Notes
Press Release 路 Thursday, June 16, 2011
Washington, DC
Page 1 Haldeman Note, June 20, 1972 Page one of the two pages that the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Forensic Document Examination Team examined, was created during Mr. Haldeman脗鈥檚 11:30 A.M. meeting with President Nixon on June 20, 1972, in the Executive Office Building, three days after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. This is the same meeting in which 18脗陆 minutes of tape-recorded conversation between Mr. Nixon and Mr. Haldeman were erased.
Page 2 Haldeman Note, June 20, 1972 Page two of the two pages that the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Forensic Document Examination Team examined, was created during Mr. Haldeman脗鈥檚 11:30 A.M. meeting with President Nixon on June 20, 1972, in the Executive Office Building, three days after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. This is the same meeting in which 18脗陆 minutes of tape-recorded conversation between Mr. Nixon and Mr. Haldeman were erased.
6/20 1130 EOB Page 2 脗鈥� Front 脗鈥� Humidified 脗鈥� ESDA2 Results of electrostatic detection analysis of page two of the June 20, 1972, Haldeman notes revealed the presence of angled, extraneous indented writing.Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero accepted the final report of the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Forensic Document Examination Team which tested two pages of handwritten notes of H. R. 鈥淏ob鈥� Haldeman, a chief of staff to President Richard M. Nixon, 1969-1973.
The report is online [www.archives.gov/research/investigations/watergate/haldeman-notes.html].
Watch this 4:28 video short titled "Watergate: The 18 陆 Minute Gap and Haldeman's Notes" at the 威尼斯人娱乐场 to see highlights of behind-the- scenes of the investigation and to hear interviews with some of the experts.
This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The 威尼斯人娱乐场 encourages its use and free distribution.
Background
The two pages under investigation, which are among the permanent records of the 威尼斯人娱乐场, were created during Mr. Haldeman鈥檚 11:30 A.M. meeting with President Nixon on June 20, 1972. The meeting was held in the Executive Office Building three days after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972. This is the same meeting in which 18陆 minutes of tape-recorded conversation between President Nixon and Mr. Haldeman were erased, prior to the White House tape-recorded conversations being turned over to U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica in response to a subpoena from the Watergate Special Prosecution Force.
In 2009, independent researcher Philip Mellinger suggested to the 威尼斯人娱乐场 that forensic analysis of the notes could reveal hitherto unknown details of the June 20th meeting. Historians and scholars have long speculated on the subject of that meeting and whether there is evidence that Mr. Haldeman took additional notes that are no longer part of the original file. Mr. Mellinger suggested that examination of the existing notes could reveal handwriting indentations from possible additional pages. The 威尼斯人娱乐场 assembled a forensic document examination team in reponse to Mr. Mellinger鈥檚 query.
The forensic team, under the direction of the 威尼斯人娱乐场, included the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Forensic Science Laboratory; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Forensic Science Laboratory; and the Library of Congress Preservation Research and Testing Division.
Testing
In addition to the two pages of handwritten notes, the team evaluated seven pages of handwritten notes from June 19, 1972; five pages of handwritten notes from June 21, 1972; and ten pages of handwritten notes from June 22, 1972; all from the Personal Files (1969-1973) of H. R. Haldeman now among the White House Staff Member and Office Files held by the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library of the 威尼斯人娱乐场.
Testing performed on the documents included:
Hyperspectral imaging undertaken at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, to study the ink and to possibly reveal latent or indented images on the paper;
Electrostatic detection analysis to possibly reveal indented images that could correspond to original handwriting on these or other pages - present or no longer present performed at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Forensic Science Laboratory in Beltsville, MD;
Video spectral comparison examinations of the documents to study the ink entries and paper substrates performed at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Forensic Science Laboratory in Beltsville, MD.
High resolution scans of the original documents and of the ESDA results were prepared at the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Special Media Preservation Reformatting Division Digital Imaging Laboratory in College Park, MD.
Results
The results of these efforts did not reveal or recover additional content regarding H. R. Haldeman鈥檚 11:30 A.M. meeting with President Nixon in the Executive Office Building on June 20, 1972. Conclusions included:
Handwriting inter-comparison undertaken by the forensic document examiners indicated a common authorship among the handwritten notes examined.
Hyperspectral imaging and video spectral comparison examinations revealed differences in the black ballpoint inks used to prepare the date and page number, versus main text entries, of the June 20, 1972, notes, as well as differences in the blue non-ballpoint [porous-tip pen] inks used to prepare the date, versus main text entries, of notes from June 21 and June 22, 1972.
Hyperspectral imaging of the June 20, 1972, notes revealed the set-off or contact transfer of red non-ballpoint [porous-tip pen] ink transcription notations from the front of Page 2 to the back of Page 1, but it was not possible to determine whether this transfer or migration occurred at the time of preparation or over long-term contact in storage.
Electrostatic detection analysis of the June 20, 1972, notes revealed the presence of angled, extraneous indented writing, suggestive of a possible signature but otherwise illegible, on Page 2 of the document.
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