# Are political "backroom" meetings routinely recorded?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-backroom-meetings-routinely-recorded/754634>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 12, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-backroom-meetings-routinely-recorded/754634 "2016-05-12T21:06:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-backroom-meetings-routinely-recorded/754634/21 "2016-05-14T16:55:30Z")

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> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> Anyone other than Nixon ever have a lot of tapes of private meetings?

I believe Lyndon Johnson did a lot of recording. I remember a few years ago one of the morning news shows a few years ago had a recording of LBJ talking to Jackie Kennedy where he almost seem to be flirting with her (LBJ was quite the ladies man). Ironically when Nixon became President, he had the tape recording equipment removed but a couple years later installed his own system.

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-backroom-meetings-routinely-recorded/754634/22 "2016-05-16T02:59:30Z")

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> [@pianodave](#):
>
> Do you think that political enemies use threats often in private?

Depends on what you mean by “threats”. “If you take such-and-such a stance, I will have to break with you” or “. . .I will oppose you” is a threat, but I would have though not an improper one. I would thinks threats like this are made all the time. “I will break your legs/your children will have a nasty accident on the way home from school” is a different kind of threat and I doubt that it’s made very often in private conversations between politicians.

> [@pianodave](#):
>
> I wonder how a conversation between Trump and someone like Cruz or Boehner would go, where each participant has been attacked strongly by the other, and ideological differences are stark? I think Ryan has attempted to put himself outside of the fray, so to speak.

Conversation is businesslike, and usually polite. If not polite, it’s “firm” or “frank”. It doesn’t get down to attacks and abuse very often, I would think, if only because the conversation wouldn’t happen at all unless both parties hoped to achieve something from it, and not much is likely to be achieved in a shouting match.

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