Is it Dead, or is it Mary Woods?

Rose Mary Woods, the devoted and allegedly fumble-fingered secretary to President Richard M. Nixon who accidentally deleted 18½ minutes of a crucial White House tape were erased, at the age of 87. Just before the missing segment, Nixon had been telling aide H.R. Haldeman to divert attention from the break-in at the Watergate. The convenient erasure did nothing to prop up Nixon’s flagging credibility with Washington and the nation, and when it came time to resign, Mr. Warmth asked Woods to tell his wife that he had decided to give up the Presidency. Following his resignation, Nixon and Woods toured the nation on a promotional tour for Dictaphone.