If the White House tape-recorded practically every bit of presidential business that took place at either the Executive Mansion or Camp David between the spring of 1971 and the summer of 1973, what has it done with all the tapes? Are they scattered all over the White House basement like a setting for Krapp's Last Tape, the Samuel Beckett play in which the wizened old man is surrounded by the tapesand voices of his past?
Well, not exactly. The tapes are stored in several "security areas" in the White House basement and the Executive Office Building next door. The central repository is...