ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Nixon White House tapes

Okay kiddo, so a long time ago in the 1970s, there was a man named Richard Nixon. He was the President of the United States, which means he was in charge of the whole country!

Now, President Nixon had some people who worked for him in the White House. They were called “staff,” and their job was to help the President do his work.

One day, some of these staff members came up with an idea. They wanted to record all the conversations that happened in the White House so they could remember everything that was said.

So, they put some special machines in different rooms of the White House that could record everything that was said. These recordings are called the “Nixon White House tapes.”

But, here’s the thing. Some of the things said on those tapes were not very nice. President Nixon and his staff said some things that were rude and even illegal!

When people found out about these tapes, they got angry and wanted to hear them for themselves. The government went to court to get the tapes, but President Nixon didn’t want to give them up because he knew they would get him in trouble.

Finally, the Supreme Court (which is like a really important group of judges) ruled that President Nixon had to give the tapes to the government. And when they listened to the tapes, they found out that President Nixon had done some really bad things, like trying to cover up a break-in at a hotel called Watergate.

In the end, because of these tapes and the things they revealed, President Nixon had to leave his job as President. And that’s why the Nixon White House tapes are so important, because they showed everyone what can happen when you try to do bad things and get caught.