On July 24, 1974, the United States Supreme Court ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over recordings he had made in the White House. The most famous recording was the tape with an eighteen-and-a-half-minute gap, which occurred during Nixon’s meeting with his chief of staff Bob Halderman. This meeting was right after the break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. Nixon’s Secretary, Rose Mary Woods, claimed that the gap occurred because she accidentally erased the tape while answering the phone. No one bought her story. Within three weeks, Nixon was gone, having resigned the presidency. At that time, Nixon still had the support of the Republican base. However, the leadership of the party, including Senator Barry Goldwater, thought that this conduct warranted removal and asked Nixon to resign.