Richard Nixon “I am not a Crook”

 37 th President of the United States of America  Serving from  Worked for the federal government since 1942  Only president to resign the office of the Presidency  Enigma (paradox)  Increase involvement in Vietnam and then helped to end the war  Took a hard line on communism and then ushered in détente  Return power to the States but then increased the power of the federal government  Increased some federal welfare program but dismantled (got rid of ) others  Increased the power of the presidency and then that very power lead to his downfall Richard M Nixon

 Richard M Nixon (R) vs Herbert Humphrey  Nixon wins 1968 election  Promises to restore Law and Order  Silent Majority  Plan to get US out of Vietnam  Decrease the “Credibility Gap” 1968 Presidential Election Year

 Saw that people were upset with the big government of LBJ but still wanted the government to provide a basic standard of living  Said he would reverse the flow of power from the States to Washington back from Washington to the States  Money would come from the federal government to fund social programs but the states would control the operations/spending for these social programs  Called “Revenue Sharing” New Federalism

 Nixon continues to increase the power of the executive branch  Term coined by Historian Arthur M Schlesinger, Jr  Restoring Law and Order  Illegal wire tapes  CIA investigated American citizens  Created the “Enemies List”  List of Americans that the administration would harass The Imperial President There have only been three times that there were five living presidents at the same times Photo graph taken at Nixon’ burial 1994.

 Distance from Congress  Small group of loyal advisers  H.R. Haldeman – chief of staff  John Ehrlichman – domestic advisor  John Mitchell – attorney general  Desire for secrecy and consolidation of power  Developed idea that they were above the law The President’s Men

 US experienced “stagflation”  a recession and inflation at the same time  Causes  gov spending money (expanding federal budget deficits – due to war)  no jobs (Rising foreign competition - cost American’s their jobs)  Government gone bad!  Add to Stagflation  OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)  Placed an embargo in Israel’s allies  Oil prices went up 400%  Lasted until spring of 1974  Gas lines became a daily occurrence  Tried to fix it – no real luck Nixon and the economy

 Foreign policy was were it was at  National Security advisor – Henry Kissinger  Practice “Realpolitik”  Realistic foreign policies  should be based on power not morals and ethics  Took a more flexible approach with Soviet Union and China  Wanted to ease tension  Traveled to China in 1971  Traveled to Soviet Union in 1972  Opened up diplomatic and economic relations with both countries  Made him very popular and was widely received Nixon and Détente

Nixon at the Great Wall Nixon meets with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev.

 Had narrowly won in 1968  Wanted to expand his base of support  Southern Strategy  Plan to win over the South  Targeted blue collar workers and southern whites who had traditional voted Democratic  Some actions taken  Appointed conservative judges to Supreme Court  Asked for a freeze on court ordered busing  Plan worked  In 1972 won 61% of the popular votes and 520 of the electoral votes to George McGovern’s 37% and 17  Became first Republican to sweep the entire South The 1972 Election Campaign

1972 Presidential Results

 Botched burglary attempt at DNC in Watergate at 2:30 am on June 17, 1972  Photograph documents outlining Dem Party strategy  “bug” the phones  Burglars were tired in 1973  James McCord (one of the burglars – former CIA agent) charged that the administration had been involved  John Mitchell was CReeP director  Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigated and uncovered the Watergate Scandal  Followed tip from “Deep Throat” (a top FBI official)  Nixon forced to resign on August 8, 1974 Watergate Brings Nixon Down

 Cover up began  Shredded documents in Halderman’s office  Asked the CIA to stop FBI investigations into the burglary on the grounds of national security  CReeP gave out $450,000 to the burglars to buy their silence Events of Watergate Deep Throat – Mark Felt

 Judge John Sirica in the trail of the burglars made it clear he felt the men has not acted alone  James McCord admitted his lied under oath and hinted that members of Nixon’s administration knew  Nixon announced the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, and John Dean  All had been involved in Watergate  Nixon went on TV and denied any attempt to cover up Watergate  Senate begins it own investigation of Watergate Cover up Unravels

 John Dean said that the President had been deeply involved in the cover-up  Alexander Butterfield, an aid to the president, told the committee that Nixon had taped all of his conversations “to help him write his memoirs”  Testimony

 Archibald Cox, special prosecutor for the case asked for the tapes  Nixon refused  Nixon ordered Att General Richardson to fire Cox  He would not and resigned  Deputy attorney general also refused and he was fired  Finally Solicitor General did fire Cox  Event became known as the Saturday Night Massacre  Saturday Night Massacre

 Spring of 1974 he told Americans that he was going to release 1,254 page doc of edited transcripts  Investigators demanded the unedited tapes  Supreme court ruled that he must surrender the tapes  It would not violate national security  At a press conference he said, “I am not a crook.”   House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment  Obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress  Nixon released the tapes  Many gaps  18 ½ min gap  Tape dated June 23 reveled that he had agreed to the plan to cover up and obstruct justice  Smoking Gun Nixon Releases the Tapes

The Watergate “Five” (Bob Haldeman, John Mardian, Kenneth Parkinson, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell),

 Brings a President down and 24 members of his administration  American public becomes cynical/disillusionment with the federal government  Truthfulness government falls from 80% to 33%  Congress establishes method for naming an independent counsel to investigate the White House  Shows the System of Checks and Balances really does work  The other two branches checked the power of the presidency Aftermath of Watergate