From Watergate to Ford

1. From Watergate to Ford The Nixon Presidency became bogged down in scandal, leading to the first presidential resignation in American history.

2. “Do Now” Activity • Answer the following questions on a piece of paper: • Think about if you have done something that was dishonest and just a few people knew about it. • What would you do if more people found out about “what you did” and started to question your friends? • What would be your course of action? • Would you deny it? What if they were going to take you to trial and ask you questions about it in front of a lot of people? What if you personally had evidence that could link you to the crime? • What if there was a possibility you could go to jail?

3. A piece of tape brings down a Presidency • A security guard, named Frank Willis, noticed a piece of tape covering a door latch in the garage of the Watergate hotel-office complex on June 17, 1972, he was not alarmed. • Willis removed the tape, but when he returned to check the door later, it had been taped again. • Willis called the police and they found a group of five men who had broken into the offices of the Democratic National Committee, which were housed at Watergate.

4. Watergate Revealed • The group was in the process of installing or repairing eavesdropping equipment. • They were also planning to take pictures of the contents in the filing cabinets. • In the beginning it was not clear why the burglars had broke into the offices. • The story caught the attention of reporters at the Washington Post. As a result of their efforts, Watergate would soon be a household name.

5. Election of 1972 • Nixon had just finished his first term. He lost by a narrow margin to Kennedy in 1960 and won by a narrow margin in the election of 1968. • He would leave nothing to chance! • Nixon advisers John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman had created a group called “Plumbers”. • The job of the “plumbers” was to fix leaks of secret information.

6. Daniel Ellsberg Break-in • The “plumbers” had broken into the offices of Daniel Ellsberg in an effort to discredit him. • Ellsberg had leaked the Pentagon Papers, which showed American involvement in Vietnam all the way back to the Truman administration. • Why do you think they broke in his office? What did they hope to damage? Did they have the right to do this? • Do you see a pattern emerging?

7. Nixon’s Plan • The plan was to send a team of burglars to break into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel-office complex. • What do you think the strategy was? • The break-in hardly made news when it first came out, but soon connections were made to the president.

8. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein • Two young reporters would not let the story die and they began to uncover troubling facts. • They reported that one of the burglars had received a $25,000 check that had been originally sent to the president’s re-election campaign. • The Post stories did not affect voting and Nixon was re-elected in a landslide (1972).

9. The Scandal Unfolds • By February 1973, seven men involved with the break-in had been convicted or had plead guilty to a variety of crimes. • Other White House officials were involved and people began to wonder if Nixon knew about it. • Everyone was paying attention. • Nixon ordered a full investigation. In April 1973, Haldeman and Erlichman resigned from their jobs, as did Nixon’s attorney general.

10. “No whitewash in the White House” • Is he guilty? What do you think? • The actions were meant to signal the tough action of the president against wrongdoing. • An independent investigator would look into the scandal, his name was Archibald Cox.

11. Butterfield’s bombshell • The Senate committee held televised hearings. • “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” • Alexander Butterfield revealed that since 1971, Nixon had tape-recorded all conversations in his offices. • Would you have destroyed the tapes?

12. What happened next? Use your textbook! pp. 1030 - 1031 • See if you can find out what happened to Nixon? • Look up executive privilege and the Saturday night massacre and see what you find. • What would you predict? • As a president would he have the power to turn down requests?