US Presidency
1974

I realize that these transcripts will provide grist for many sensational stories in the press. Parts will seem to be contradictory with one another, and parts will be in conflict with some of the testimony given in the Senate Watergate committee hearings. I have been reluctant to release these tapes, not just because they will embarrass me and those with whom I have talked, which they will, and not just because they will become the subject of speculation and even ridicule, which they will, and not just because certain parts of them will be seized upon by political and journalistic opponents, which they will. I have been reluctant because, in these and in all the other conversations in this office, people have spoken their minds freely, never dreaming that specific sentences or even parts of sentences would be picked out as the subjects of national attention and controversy. I have been reluctant because the principle of confidentiality is absolutely essential to the conduct of the Presidency.