combat basically. ms. woods said it was a mistake, a record button hit accidentally while she took a phone call. she described that she had pushed the wrong button. instead of pushing stop, she had pushed record. she also had to keep her foot on the pedal. mrs. woods use ds the machine to show how it happened. when i asked her to demonstrate she pushed the button, kept her foot on, and she supposedly reached back about six feet to get the telephone, and her foot came off the pedal just with the mere movement, and there was just no way it was believable. the white house contention that it was accidentally erased will give more ammunition to the president s critics. to hear something that was so obviously untrue, it changed a lot of the american public s view of the whole situation. reporter: rosemary woods would stand by her story. bob woodward would later write the 18.5 minute gap became a symbol for nixon s entire