1 / 38

Nixon

Nixon. The Watergate Scandal. Nixon’s Adm. = very secretive + pushed issues as a power broker Disregarded Congress and made enemies “ Imperial Presidency ”. “All the President’s Men”.

brice
Download Presentation

Nixon

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Nixon The Watergate Scandal

  2. Nixon’s Adm. = very secretive + pushed issues as a power broker • Disregarded Congress and made enemies • “Imperial Presidency”

  3. “All the President’s Men” • A group of advisors that believed in growing Pres powers, very loyal to Nixon, and often felt above the law

  4. John Dean: WH Counsel

  5. H. R. Haldeman: Chief of Staff

  6. John Ehrlichman: Dom. Advisor

  7. John Mitchell: Attorney General

  8. The Break-in

  9. On June 17, 1972, five operatives, “the plumbers,” broke into DNC HQ at the Watergate Hotel in DC • They were caught! • Wanted to “bug” the DNC for secrets

  10. Watergate

  11. The Cover-up

  12. The “Plumbers” Trial • January 1973: the trial begins and Judge John Sirica believed that the burglars did NOT act alone • One involved directly admitted that he lied under oath!!!

  13. Nixon Reacts on April 30, 1973 • Dean, Ehrlichman and Haldeman resign • Elliot Richardson named new AG and called a special prosecutor to investigate

  14. Archibald Cox: Special Prosecutor

  15. The Senate Investigates • “President’s Men” are called to testify as well as many others

  16. “What did the President know and when did he know it?”-Sen. Baker

  17. Dean indicated that Nixon knew about the break-in • Yet, Mitchell testified just the opposite • Former aide mentioned “tapes” of Presidential conversations … where were these tapes???

  18. Cox Takes Nixon to Court • Cox wanted those tapes and took the Adm. to court in October 1973 • Nixon tells Richardson to fire Cox

  19. Meanwhile… Agnew resigns at this point!Will say more later…

  20. Agnew Resigns!!! • Due to his own scandal about accepting bribes and tax evasion, VP Agnew resigned from office

  21. Saturday Night Massacre

  22. Richardson resigns!!! • The Deputy AG refused and was fired! • Cox was eventually fired, but his replacement, Leon Jaworski, wanted the tapes too!!!

  23. Effect of the SNM • The House Judiciary Committee examined the possibility of impeachment • 84 members suggest 16 articles of imp.

  24. New VP Gerald Ford • Nixon replaced Agnew with House Minority Leader Gerald Ford

  25. “...I am not a crook” • Nixon went on TV to tell the nation that he had NO part in the Agnew scandal • “People have a right to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I am not a crook...”

  26. Nixon Goes Down

  27. Indictments: March 1974 • Criminal charges abound • Indictments handed down for conspiracy and perjury for some of the President’s Men

  28. The Transcripts Come Out • The tape’s transcripts were released on April 30, 1974, but were edited • They revealed a vulgar, unconcerned Nixon

  29. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY ordered that the UNedited tapes must be released because they were NOT a nat’l security threat that the President feared

  30. Impeachment • Soon the House Judiciary Committee approved 3 articles of impeachment: • obstruction of justice • abuse of power • contempt of Congress

  31. The Tapes • August 5: revealed that Nixon knew about the break-in and agreed to the plan to obstruct the FBI as early as July 1972!!! • 18 Minute Gap!!!

  32. Resignation

  33. August 8, 1974 • With overwhelming evidence against him, Nixon decided to resign the presidency at noon the next day • Gerald Ford would take over. • He admitted no direct guilt, got on Marine 1 and flew off

  34. So ended the worst Presidential scandal in US history • Americans changed their view of the Presidency • They were more cynical and distrustful of the gov’t from then on…

More Related