Rose Mary Woods

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American government employee who is known for the tape erasure that deleted Watergate scandal evidence. During Capitol Hill hearings investigating the incident, she testified that she "accidentally" erased a section of the tape when she pressed the record button on the machine by mistake while reaching to answer the phone. Woods started as a Washington D.C. secretary and political staff member in 1943 when she moved to the nation's capitol, from Ohio, in response to a wartime need for government typists. In 1951, she became the executive secretary to Senator Nixon and stayed to the end. During the 25 years that Woods worked for Nixon, her loyalty to him was undying; she saved his career several times: In 1952, when Nixon was battered by a slush fund scandal, she delayed his letter of resignation from the presidential ticket. Six years later, when Nixon's motorcade was stoned in Venezuela, she was there to brace his resolve. And, finally, when Presidential tapes were subpoenaed in 1973, Woods alone was given the task of transcribing them. The Los Angeles Times named her one of "Ten Women Of The Year" in 1961. In the '90s, she retired in Ohio and had nothing to say to the press. Woods never married and did not have any children. The former secretary to Richard Nixon died at age 87 on January 22, 2005 in Alliance, Ohio. Link to Wikipedia biography