Jack's recording

Jack's recording was a video that Jack Bauer made for his daughter moments before he planned to assassinate President Yuri Suvarov for his crimes against the United States throughout Day 8: namely the assassinations of Omar Hassan and Renee Walker.

Day 8

Jack recorded the video on his phone and put it on a memory card that also had the voice recordings that implicated Suvarov in the day's attacks. Chloe O'Brian stopped Jack before he could assassinate Suvarov and managed to smuggle the video and recording out. However, she was intercepted by agents working for the corrupt President Taylor. The chip was given to Taylor and she watched the video herself. When she heard Jack's words about peace, and the fact that it should come from trust and not just politics, she called off the peace treaty and exposed herself and the Russians.

Later, Chloe O'Brian promised to Jack that she would show Kim the video.

The recording

An unedited version of the video was shown in Operation Hero which showed Jack's whole monologue.

“

Hey. As long as I can remember, every time that I had to talk to you for one reason or another, it seems like I start out… telling you how sorry I am. I'm not gonna do that to you now. When you talked to me outside of CTU and you told me that I needed to help Chloe with today's terrorist— I could see it in your eyes, that you understood—maybe for the first time—what it is I actually do. You made me believe again. That it was important. Baby, I need you to believe that now more than ever. A lot of people are going to tell you a lot of stories about what I did today. Some of them might even be true. But no one, and I mean no one, can tell you why I did what I did, except for me. A lot of good people died today. Not just President Hassan. Operatives of CTU, members of other law enforcement agencies… Renee Walker. Who I was very close to. And these people died today because President Suvarov wanted to destroy the peace treaty for his own interests, and President Taylor knows this because I told her, but she's willing to cover it up because she believes the peace accord will serve the greater good. She is wrong, it won't. Lasting peace cannot simply be political. It has to be born out of trust and honesty and understanding and most importantly, a will on both sides to move forward. Currently that will does not exist and this peace is fraudulent, and I cannot in good conscience allow the people that lost their lives today to go unspoken for. You reminded me of that earlier today. That's who I am. The people that I know that are involved in this conspiracy are Dana Walsh, Pavel Tokarev, Mikhail Novakovich, and President Suvarov. Those names in this story need to be released to as many outlets as possible so the government can't stop the truth from coming out. I'm running out of time, sweetheart. You're not gonna see me again. But I need you to know that you are the love of my life, and I'm so proud of you. I want you to hold onto your family as tight as you can because it's worth it. It's worth it. I love you baby. Bye.

”

Background information and notes

• See the full video on YouTube
• The video that Jack records in the episode is different to both the version that President Taylor watches, and that which is shown in Operation Hero. Several sections are cut out in the episode versions, and the sections that are included are spoken differently.
• The speech that Jack gives in some ways mirrors the "Second Bill of Rights" speech given by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944. Roosevelt ended his speech to introduce the new measures by saying "for unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world." Jack stated that lasting peace had to go beyond the politics of the country and extend to trust between nations before such a treaty (as is evident during Day 8) can benefit "the greater good."