Watergate

Unit Objectives To understand the causes and effects of the Watergate scandal To analyze what Nixon knew and when about Watergate

Background Checkers Speech: When Eisenhower ran for re-election, Nixon was Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower When Eisenhower ran for re-election, Nixon was accused of taking bribes when he was governor of California Nixon made a speech claiming the only gift he ever accepted was the family dog names “Checkers” Nixon remained on the ticket and served a second term as V.P.

Nixon lost close elections in 1960 (for President against JFK) and 1962 (for Governor of California); Nixon promised the press they no longer “had Nixon to kick around any more” and he retired from politics Nixon came out of retirement to run in 1968 because it was clear the Democrats could not win due to LBJ’s Vietnam policies

Nixon’s first term as President Nixon ran promising to turn the fighting over to the South Vietnamese (“Vietnamization”) and get the U.S. out of the war Before doing so, he tried to win the war first by authorizing illegal operations in Cambodia—when that failed, he turned to Vietnamization Operations were not authorized by Congress in Cambodia because it was a separate independent nation—They were seen as necessary by Nixon because the Vietcong were routing the Ho Chi Minh Trail through parts of Cambodia

Secrecy and Paranoia NIXON WAS ALWAYS AFRAID HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS WERE OUT TO GET HIM AND WORKED BEHIND THE SCENES TO GO AFTER THEM

Abuse of Power NIXON USED THE FBI, THE IRS, THE FCC, AND OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES TO GO AFTER HIS ENEMIES—NOT ILLEGAL BUT CERTAINLY UNETHICAL

Pentagon Papers Classified top secret documents that detailed the history of the war and the lies that were told by the government to the people about its progress Released to the public in the New York Times and Washington Post by Daniel Ellsberg

Impact THEIR RELEASE INCREASED PROTESTING AND MADE THINGS DIFFICULT FOR NIXON

The Plumbers GOVERNMENT GROUP ASSIGNED TO “PLUG THE LEAKS” OF INFORMATION TO THE PRESS BROKE INTO THE PSYCHIATRIST OFFICE OF ELLSBERG AND LATER THE WATERGATE BUILDING

The Election of 1972 Nixon (Rep) vs George McGovern (Dem) CRP (Committee to Re-Elect the President) formed (not uncommon) Fake Letters: SEVERAL LETTERS WERE WRITTEN BY CRP THAT WERE SUPPOSEDLY WRITTEN BY DEMOCRATS THAT MADE THEM LOOK BAD

Watergate Break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters inside the Watergate Building (authorized by Attorney General John Mitchell and led by G. Gordon Liddy): -GROUP OF BURGULARS WERE CAUGHT -THOUGHT TO BE A REGULAR ROBBERY AT FIRST BUT NOTHING WAS TAKEN EXCEPT INFORMATION

Watergate Building

John Mitchell G. Gordon Liddy

Nixon’s dirty tricks may have been unnecessary because progress had been made toward peace in Vietnam making Nixon very popular by election time (the election was not even close)

Two reporters for the Washington Post (Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein) dug into the burglary and discovered it was connected to the Republican Party

Senate Committee established Investigated the break-in and tried to find out how far up in the Republican Party the conspiracy went Eventually the committee started to suspect it might have gone all the way to the top to Nixon himself It is generally believed that Nixon at least found out about it after the fact and ordered a cover-up

Several Nixon officials were convicted (Mitchell, Liddy, H. Howard Hunt)

Secret White House tapes The Committee heard from several witnesses that Nixon secretly recorded Oval Office conversations—the Committee wanted the tapes to see what Nixon knew Nixon refused to give them up citing “Executive Privilege”—What’s that?

Executive Privilege THE PRESIDENT CAN WITHHOLD MATERIAL DEEMED TO BE RELATED TO NATINAL SECURITY

The Committee asked the Supreme Court to rule on if Nixon had to give up the tapes and the Court ruled he did When Nixon finally gave up some of the tapes there was nothing that proved he knew anything about Watergate beforehand but there were several “accidental” erasures (Nixon’s secretary claimed to have been the one who made the mistakes that led to the erasure) Later tapes revealed Nixon ordered a cover-up

Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned for taking bribes unrelated to Nixon or Watergate—Did make Nixon look bad and allowed him to select Gerald Ford as the new V.P.

Articles of Impeachment 1.) ABUSE OF POWER (USE OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO GO AFTER ENEMIES) 2.) OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE (THE COVER-UP) 3.) CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS (REFUSING TO GIVE UP THE TAPES)

Before charges could be brought by the House of Representatives, Nixon resigned rather than be the first president to be impeached Ford became the only president to never be elected to at least the vice presidency and the first thing he did was pardon Nixon (made it impossible for him to get elected to his own term because the public assumed there was a deal in place for Ford to pardon Nixon if necessary in return for being named V.P.)