Nixon and Watergate

Since the first illegal acts took place at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C, these activities became known as the Watergate. On June 17, 1972, police arrested five men for breaking into the national offices of the Democratic Party, one of whom was the security chief of the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Although the President denied involvement, two reporters found evidence that presidential assistants may have helped to pay for some of the sabotage and spying.⁽¹⁾

The Watergate scandal is the name given to the illegal activities committed by President Nixon and his re-election committee to help him win in the 1972 presidential election. These activities included stealing, violating campaign finance laws, and attempting to use government agencies to harm political opponents.⁽¹⁾

Other evidence was later discovered, including a voice recording, which proved that the President ordered his assistants to hide evidence of the illegal activities committed by his re-election committee. From that point on, Congress began the steps to remove the President from office for hiding evidence and using his powers illegally. In fear of impeachment, the Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.⁽¹⁾

At first, the burglary at the Watergate Complex gained little public attention, however, persistent investigation by two reporters from the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, eventually helped uncover a plan against the democratic opponents and a trail of cover ups on how the burglary was planned and financed. The two reporters relied heavily on an anonymous source who later became known as Deep Throat (because of his deep voice).⁽²⁾

Eventually evidence pointed to involvement of many high officials, including former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, White House Counsel John Dean, White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, White House Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman, and President Nixon himself.⁽²⁾

On July 16, 1973 Alexander Butterfield (the White House aide) went on nationwide television, and said that Nixon had ordered a taping system to be installed in the White House to automatically record all of his conversations. This meant that everything the president said, and when he said it, could be verified. Nixon, however, refused to turn over the 42 Watergate tapes and claimed they were vital to the national security. He even appeared on television to announce why he refused to comply with the congressional subpoena and claimed he would provide edited transcripts of conversations. By releasing the transcripts, Nixon was hoping that he would be able to compromise with congressional investigators, but instead, the congressional committee refused to accept the transcripts.⁽²⁾

On July 24, 1974 the Supreme Court voted 8-0 in the United States v. Nixon case, which required him to release the tapes. A few days later, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment, charging Nixon with misusing his power, obstructing justice in the Watergate affair, and defying Judiciary Committee subpoenas. Rather than facing a vote in the House of Representatives, which would most probably have resulted in his impeachment, Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974. Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign, and a month after his resignation, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him for all the crimes he may have committed in office, giving him immunity from federal prosecution.⁽²⁾

Although he tried his best to finish his term in office, he knew that without a strong political base in Congress he would not be able to carry out the duties that the Nation would require. In his resignation speech, Nixon claimed that America needed a full-time President and a full-time Congress. He explained how the nation needed to move on, and that it had more important issues to deal with abroad.⁽³⁾

Nixon's support in Congress and popularity had slowly crumbled throughout the ordeal. Once the tapes were released, and Nixon was proven to have been involved in the Watergate scandal, Nixon lost complete congressional support. This collapse of support in Congress marked the end of his two year battle against the media, government agencies, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court.⁽³⁾

Throughout his presidency Nixon ignoring Congress in four main areas. First, he refused to spend the money the Congress had given him for programs that he didn't believe in. Secondly, he ignored Congress's efforts to get him to cut back or end the war in Vietnam. Third, he regularly denied Congress information it sought as aid in its job of conducting oversight of the Executive Branch. And finally, Nixon implemented a total reorganization of the Executive Branch, which resulted in giving Congress no say over certain departments and agencies.⁽⁴⁾

Although in hindsight it easy to say that this could have all been avoided if Nixon and his committee had not committed illegal acts, there was not much the President could have done after they had been committed. As the investigations were underway, Nixon had two choices, to give-up, or to cover-up. By giving up, Nixon would have lost congressional support almost immediately, and would have been ruining all the work he did trying to get re-elected. Under the circumstances, I think that by covering-up Nixon was doing his best to keep his support in Congress. If I was in Nixon's position, I probably would have done the same thing.

1. Steinbach, Nancy. Watergate, Nixon, 'Deep Throat': What Was That All About? 16 June 2005. 8 Nov. 2006 http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2005-06/2005-06-16-voa2.cfm.
2. "Watergate," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
3. Richard Nixon Speech - Resigning the Presidency. 2006. 8 Nov. 2006http://historyplace.com/speeches/nixon.htm.
4. Dean, John W. FindLaw Legal News - Lawyer News, Attorney News, Ls, Trial News, Bar News and More. 11 Oct. 2002. 8 Nov. 2006http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20021011.html.