America: Pathways to the Present Section 1: Nixon’s Domestic Policy Section 2: Nixon’s Foreign Policy Section 3: The Watergate Scandal Section 4: The Ford Administration Chapter 32: Nixon, Ford, Carter Section 5: The Carter Administration

 George Washington; Federalist (1788)  John Adams; Federalist (1796)  Thomas Jefferson (1800)  James Madison (1808)  James Monroe (1816)  John Quincy Adams (1824)  Andrew Jackson; Democrat (1828)  Martin Van Buren; Democrat (1836)  William Henry Harrison; Whig (1840)  John Tyler; Whig (1841)  James K. Polk; Democrat (1844)  Zachary Taylor; Whig (1848)  Millard Fillmore; Whig (1850)  Franklin Pierce; Democrat (1852)  James Buchanan; Democrat (1856)  Abraham Lincoln; Republican (1860)  Andrew Johnson; Democrat (1865)  Ulysses S. Grant; Republican (1868)  Rutherford B. Hayes; Republican (1876)  James Garfield; Republican (1880) #21 - …  Chester A. Arthur; Republican (1881)  Grover Cleveland; Democrat (1884)  Benjamin Harrison; Republican (1888)  Grover Cleveland; Democrat (1892)  William McKinley; Republican (1896)  Theodore Roosevelt; Republican (1901)  William Howard Taft; Republican (1908)  Woodrow Wilson; Democrat (1912)  Warren G. Harding; Republican (1920)  Calvin Coolidge; Republican (1923)  Herbert Hoover; Republican (1928)  Franklin D. Roosevelt; Democrat (1932)  Harry S. Truman; Democrat (1945)  Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican (1952)  John F. Kennedy; Democrat (1960)  Lyndon B. Johnson; Democrat (1963)  Richard Nixon; Republican (1968)

 CORE OBJECTIVE: Examine the causes, effects, and impact of the Vietnam War  Objective 11.2: Explain the events that led to President Nixon’s resignation.

The break-in at the Watergate apartment complex started a scandal that led to President Nixon’s resignation.

 Nixon’s suspicious and secretive nature caused the White House to operate as if it were surrounded by political enemies.  Nixon’s suspicious mind-set led to the creation of an “enemies list,” a list of people seen as against the administration.  The list included congressmen, writers, and actors  When someone in the National Security Council appeared to have leaked secret government information to the New York Times, Nixon ordered that wiretaps, or listening devices, be installed on the telephones of some news reporters and members of his staff.

 Leaks to the press continued, including former Defense Department official Daniel Ellsberg’s leak of the Pentagon Papers, a government study that revealed widespread deception about the situation in Vietnam.  In response to government leaks, Nixon organized a special White House unit, nicknamed the Plumbers, to stop them.  In September 1971, the Plumbers broke into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, hoping to punish Ellsberg by disclosing damaging personal information about him.

Campaign Funding  The Committee to Reelect the President, led by John Mitchell, aimed to collect campaign money and sabotage opponents  A new law would soon require such contributions to be reported.  The money that the Committee collected was intended to fund both routine campaign activities and secret unethical actions. “Dirty Tricks”  Attempts to sabotage Nixon’s political opponents came to be known as “dirty tricks.”  These efforts included sending hecklers to disrupt Democratic campaign meetings and assigning spies to join the campaigns of opposing candidates.  One particularly damaging “dirty trick” involved a faked letter that seriously hurt the candidacy of Edmund Muskie, a leading Democratic presidential contender.

 In March 1972, a group within the Committee to Reelect the President made plans to wiretap the phones at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C.  This group was led by E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy.  The group’s first attempt failed. During their second attempt on June 17, 1972, five men were arrested.  The money they carried was traced directly to Nixon’s reelection campaign, linking the break-in to the campaign.  The break-in to plant wiretaps at Democratic Headquarters and the coverup became known as the Watergate scandal.

 Although Nixon had not been involved in the break-in, he became involved in its coverup.  He illegally authorized the CIA to try to persuade the FBI to stop its investigation of the break-in, on the grounds that the matter involved “national security.”  Nixon advisors schemed to bribe the Watergate defendants into silence and coached them on how to lie in court.  During the months following the break-in, the incident was barely noticed by the public. Nixon won the 1972 election by a landslide.  At the trial of the Watergate burglars in early 1973, all the defendants either pleaded guilty or were found guilty.  Judge John J. Sirica was not convinced that the full story had been told.  He sentenced the burglars to long prison terms, suggesting that their terms could be reduced if they cooperated with upcoming Senate hearings on Watergate.

 E. HOWARD HUNT  G. GORDON LIDDY  H.R.HALDERMAN  JOHN ERLICHMAN  JAMES McCORD  ARCHIBALD COX  SPIRO AGNEW

 Two young Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, tracked down information to uncover the Watergate story.  Woodward and Bernstein believed that the White House would prove to be involved in the Watergate scandal.  Aided by Woodward and Bernstein and the testimony of one of the Watergate burglars, a Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities began to investigate the Watergate affair.  Nixon attempted to protect himself by forcing two top aides to resign and by proclaiming that he would take final responsibility for the mistakes of others.

 During the Senate hearings, Alexander Butterfield, a former presidential assistant, revealed the existence of a secret taping system in the President’s office.  Nixon’s secret taping system would be used to show whether Nixon had been involved in the Watergate coverup.  The taping system had been set up to provide a historical record of Nixon’s presidency.  In an effort to demonstrate his honesty, in May 1973 Nixon agreed to the appointment of a special prosecutor for the Watergate affair.  A special prosecutor works for the Justice Department and conducts an investigation into claims of wrongdoing by government officials.

 The Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, insisted that Nixon release the White House tapes.  Nixon fired Cox on Saturday, October 20, 1973, beginning a series of firings known as the “Saturday Night Massacre.”  Video: v=_5AndvL7Y9k v=_5AndvL7Y9k

 BOB WOODWARD  CARL BERNSTEIN  ALEX BUTTERFIELD  JOHN SIRICA  ARCHIBALD COX  LEON JAWORSKI

 Nixon’s public approval rating plummeted after his firing of Cox.  When Cox’s replacement, Leon Jaworski, also requested that Nixon turn over the tapes, Nixon turned over edited transcripts instead. Feelings of anger and disillusionment arose among many who read them.  Vice President Spiro Agnew, accused of evading income taxes and taking bribes, resigned in early October His successor, Gerald Ford, was not confirmed until two months later.  After the Saturday Night Massacre, in 1974 Congress began the process of to impeach the President, or charge him with misconduct while in office.  In the summer of 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon on numerous charges. Conviction, and removal from office, seemed likely.

 On August 5, 1974, Nixon released the White House tapes, with an 18 1/2 minute gap.  Even with this gap, the tapes revealed his involvement in the Watergate coverup.  On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned, the first President ever to do so.  Gerald Ford was sworn in as the new President.  Nixon in Review:

Why did members of the Committee to Reelect the President break into the Watergate apartment complex in 1972? (A) To cover up an increasing scandal (B) To raise undocumented campaign funds (C) To prevent Nixon from turning over tapes (D) To wiretap phones of the Democratic National Committee Which statement best describes Nixon’s role in Watergate? (A) He was involved in the break-in but not the coverup. (B) He was involved in the coverup but not the break-in. (C) He was involved in both the break-in and the coverup. (D) He was involved in neither the break-in nor the coverup.

Why did members of the Committee to Reelect the President break into the Watergate apartment complex in 1972? (A) To cover up an increasing scandal (B) To raise undocumented campaign funds (C) To prevent Nixon from turning over tapes (D) To wiretap phones of the Democratic National Committee Which statement best describes Nixon’s role in Watergate? (A) He was involved in the break-in but not the coverup. (B) He was involved in the coverup but not the break-in. (C) He was involved in both the break-in and the coverup. (D) He was involved in neither the break-in nor the coverup.