Watergate and Nixon

1. Watergate and Nixon 1972-1974

2. Important Facts • Watergate- named after the hotel in which the burglary happened • Occurred over a span of two years • Lead to Nixon’s eventual resignation • Nixon was not actually impeached

3. Vocabulary • Impeach- first of two stages used to remove an official from office; a legal statement of charges against the official • Executive Privilege- a claim made by members of the executive branch in order to justify the withholding of documents and information from other branches of the government • Pardon-forgiveness of a crime

4. The Burglary • June 17, 1972- a security guard at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. noticed that someone had broken into the hotel and called the police • The D.C. police arrested five men for breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee • It was later discovered that the five men were returning to the hotel to fix wire taps that they had placed in the headquarters a few weeks earlier

5. Trouble for the Burglars • When the police went through the belongings of the burglars, they discovered a number of important telephone numbers, including the number of the White House. • One of the men that had been arrested had also been employed by “The Committee to Reelect the President • However, when Nixon’s people found out about this, they said that it was just a normal burglary • The majority of the American people believed that Nixon was not involved because he was leading Presidential campaign race by a large percentage of votes

6. Trouble for the President • One of the five men (McCord) that had been arrested revealed that he was retired CIA-when this happened, the FBI began investigating connections between McCord and the present government • Nixon often recorded many of the conversations he had in the Oval Office • Nixon and his Chief of Staff were recorded discussing a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the investigation of the FBI • At this time, the White House was not publicly linked to the burglary.

7. The Trial and Aftermath • In January 1973, the five men that had been arrested went to trial-three pled guilty to the burglary, conspiracy and wire tapping • Two-McCord and a man named Liddy, pleaded innocent, even though they had been paid by The Committee To Reelect the President to plead guilty but say nothing incriminating

8. The Committee’s Problems • When the Committee to Reelect the President (CRP) was linked to the burglary, it began to get a lot of national attention. • Eventually, a Senate committee was designed to investigate the supposed connection • On April 30th, to save face, Nixon asked for the resignations of his two most powerful aids • He also fired White House counsel, John Dean, who would later testify against Nixon • When hearings began, they were widely publicized and caused lots of damage to Nixon politically

9. During the hearings, a senator from Tennessee began to ask what Nixon knew about the burglary When the committee found out that there was a tape recording device in the White House, they demanded the tapes Nixon claimed executive privilege and refused Shortly thereafter, Nixon gave a speech in which he famously said “I am not a crook” Trouble for Nixon

10. Saturday Night Massacre • October 10, 1973 VP Spiro Agnew resigned due to tax evasion & bribery (Maryland) Gerald Ford will be appointed VP by Nixon* (25th amendment) • October 20, 1973: “Saturday Night Massacre” -Nixon’s executive dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox*, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshauson • Leon Jaworski continues with subpeona

11. The Tapes • On July 24 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that executive privilege was void and ordered Nixon to hand over the tapes • One of the tapes was missing 18 1/2 minutes of information, which a secretary (Rose Mary Wood) later claimed she accidentally erased • It was later discovered that the tape had been erased some nine times, discounting the secretaries story

12. 1974 • In the early months of 1974, almost all of Nixon’s aids and lawyers pleaded guilty about lying to the FBI or perjury • Shortly after, the House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings • There were three articles of impeachment-obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of congress • On June 23, the tape on which Nixon was recorded planning to use the CIA to block the FBI investigation was released- this was the last straw for many supporters. (Mark Felt)

13. “Smoking Gun” Conversation • Haldeman:  okay -that's fine. Now, on the investigation, you know, the Democratic break-in thing, we're back to the-in the, the problem area because the FBI is not under control, because Gray doesn't exactly know how to control them, and they have, their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they've been able to trace the money, not through the money itself, but through the bank, you know, sources - the banker himself. And, and it goes in some directions we don't want it to go. Ah, also there have been some things, like an informant came in off the street to the FBI in Miami, who was a photographer or has a friend who is a photographer who developed some films through this guy, Barker, and the films had pictures of Democratic National Committee letter head documents and things. So I guess, so it's things like that that are gonna, that are filtering in. Mitchell came up with yesterday, and John Dean analyzed very carefully last night and concludes, concurs now with Mitchell's recommendation that the only way to solve this, and we're set up beautifully to do it, ah, in that and that...the only network that paid any attention to it last night was NBC...they did a massive story on the Cuban... • Nixon:   That's right. • Haldeman:   thing. • Nixon:   Right. • Haldeman:   That the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters call Pat Gray and just say, "Stay the hell out of this...this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it." That's not an unusual development,... • Nixon:   Um huh. • Haldeman:   ...and, uh, that would take care of it. • Nixon:   What about Pat Gray, ah, you mean he doesn't want to? • Haldeman:   Pat does want to. He doesn't know how to, and he doesn't have, he doesn't have any basis for doing it. Given this, he will then have the basis. He'll call Mark Felt in, and the two of them ...and Mark Felt wants to cooperate because... • Nixon:   Yeah. • Haldeman:   he's ambitious... • Nixon:   Yeah. • Haldeman:   Ah, he'll call him in and say, "We've got the signal from across the river to, to put the hold on this." And that will fit rather well because the FBI agents who are working the case, at this point, feel that's what it is. This is CIA. • Nixon:   But they've traced the money to 'em. • Haldeman:   Well they have, they've traced to a name, but they haven't gotten to the guy yet. • Nixon:   Would it be somebody here? • Haldeman:   Ken Dahlberg. • Nixon:   Who the hell is Ken Dahlberg? • Haldeman:   He's ah, he gave $25,000 in Minnesota and ah, the check went directly in to this, to this guy Barker. • Nixon:   Maybe he's a ...bum.

14. Resignation • When Nixon realized that he had no supporters in either the House or the Senate, he decided to resign as opposed to being convicted • He was succeeded by Gerald Ford who would pardon Nixon on September 8th • Nixon would proclaim his innocence until his death

15. Aftermath • Freedom of Information Act (1986)-making government and bureaucratic documents available to the public, originally signed by LBJ • Mass media becomes more aggressive