Politics and Economics The Watergate Scandal Created by: Mr. Chansen, Stephen T. Department Head - Sunset High School Dallas Independent School District

Origins of the Scandal Despite a successful 1 st term, Nixon and his supporter worried about re-election. Watergate resulted in the only time in U.S. history that a President was forced to resign from office. Began June 17, 1972 – Bob Woodward, a young Washington Post reporter was assigned to cover a small yet bizarre story from the night before. 5 men had broken into the Democratic National Committee headquarters (inside the Watergate Complex) and been caught. Woodward was there as the 5 men were first brought before a judge for arraignment to set bail. Woodward did not think much of the story until the judge asked one of the men what his job was, and the man said he was retired CIA. Woodward KNEW there was a story here and kept digging.

Nixon’s Reelection Fight The Nixon White House was involved at least in some way with the me who broke into the DNC. The Nixon White House began to actively cover up there connections and hide the truth through different illegal activities. It is believed that the main cause of the break-in was the atmosphere of the Nixon White House. Nixon and his administration had grown defensive, secretive, and resentful of critics. Nixon had even been making his own private personal “enemies list” that he added peoples names t if they were critical of his presidency. As the 1972 election drew close, Nixon’s chances seemed good George Wallace (American Independent) had decided to drop out George McGovern (Democrat) was way too liberal for most people However, Vietnam was still going Republicans under Nixon began to spy on opposition rallies and spread rumors about his opponents. Nixon’s advisors order 5 men to break into the DNC, steal campaign secrets, & tap the phones.

Cover-Up Begins Very quickly after the break-in, the news media discovers that one burglar, James McCord, is not just ex-CIA, but also a member of the Committee for the re-election of the President (CRP). The burglars had been paid by a secret CRP bank account controlled by the White House Nixon may not have ordered the break-in but he DID order the cover-up. White House employees began to destroy sensitive documents and lied to investigators. Members of the administration even told the CIA to stop the FBI from continuing the investigation. CIA demanded that the FBI stop, because the investigation threatened “national security.” FBI director Mark Felt knew that there was a cover-up going on, so he leaked all the information he had to the Washington Post. At the same time, the Nixon White House is simply dismissing any knowledge of the break-in and saying that “the White House has had no involvement whatever in this particular incident.” The lie worked, most Americans believed that their President would have nothing to do with something like this, and Nixon won re-election in 1972 by one of the largest margins in history.

The Cover-Up Unravels Early 1973 – The Watergate burglars go on trial Eventually, McCord (former CIA guy) agrees to cooperate and gives testimony to Congress His testimony opens up a flood of new witnesses that are called to testify The Presidents own Counsel (lawyer), John Dean, admitted in June that former Attorney General, John Mitchell, had ordered a cover-up. Dean had no evidence of this Nixon White House continued to deny all charges Breakthrough happened on July 16, when an aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had ordered a tape recording system installed in the White House to record all conversations, so that he could write his memoirs when he left office. These tapes would tell what the president knew or did not know.

Case of the Tapes At first Nixon simply refused to hand over the tapes, claiming executive privilege. Executive privilege – principle stating that communications of the executive branch should remain confidential to protect national security. Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox, took Nixon to court in October 1973 to make him give up the tapes. Nixon order Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, but Richardson refused and resigned instead. Nixon ordered Richardson’s deputy to fire Cox, but he too refused and instead resigned. Nixon’s Solicitor General, Robert Bork, finally fired Cox, but the drama had already badly damaged Nixon’s reputation. Fall of 1973 proved disastrous for other reasons as well Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace after it was learned that he took bribes both while the governor of Maryland and while VP. Republican Leader of the House of Representatives, Gerald R. Ford, became Nixon’s new VP.

Nixon Resigns Nixon tried to calm the public by appointing a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. To Nixon’s surprise, Jaworski also pushed for the tapes to be released. In July 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tapes had to be turned over as evidence to the investigators. Nixon complied, and within days of the tapes release, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach him. Charges included: obstruction, misusing federal agencies like the CIA and FBI, violating the rights of citizens, and defying the authority of Congress. One of the tapes had recorded conversation in which Nixon, himself, ordered the CIA to stop the FBI from investigating Watergate. Nixon resigned in epic disgrace. VP Ford took office as President (the only non-elected president in history), pardoned Nixon which upset many Americans, and asked the country to put the scandal behind it, saying “Our long nightmare is over.”

Impact of Watergate This was a Constitutional crisis that pitted the Executive Branch against the Legislative Branch, and was not settled until the Judicial Branch weighed in. To prevent this from ever happening again, new laws were created and put into effect. Federal Campaign Act Amendments of 1974 limited campaign contributions and set up a government agency to enforce strict election laws. Ethics in Government Act – required full financial disclosure of records for those running for political office FBI Domestic Security Investigation Guidelines Act – limited the FBI’s political intelligence gathering activities. Simply put, many American had lost faith in the honour and trustworthiness of their own government.