#3 JFK And The First Taping System Installed In The White House
According to JFK Library, Kennedy ordered Secret Service agent Robert Bouck to place hidden recording devices in the White House’s Cabinet Room and Oval Office. He taped his own conversations at the White House with officials and distinguished guests, although the reason for doing so was never made clear. He recorded discussions for more than 260 hours. Kennedy’s secretary thought he did it to document his experience at the White House for when he left.
The President could only activate or deactivate the system in the Oval Office by hitting an “extremely sensitive” switch that was hidden in a pen socket on his desk or in a side table that was in front of the fireplace. Across from JFK’s chair, at the bottom of the conference table, was a switch for the Cabinet Room. The mics from this room were positioned on the outside wall right behind JFK’s chair in niches that originally held light fittings.
The Kennedy administration’s records, which included 248 hours of conference tapes and 12 hours of telephone dictaphone recordings, were first relocated to the National Archives in Washington before being moved to the Federal Records Center in Waltham, Massachusetts. Finally, the National Archives and the Kennedy Library received legal title to the tapes in 1976.
