The downfall of Nixon

1. The Watergate
Scandal

2. Profile: Richard Millhouse Nixon
– 1913: Born in California
– Reputation as brilliant scholar & lawyer
– WWII: Navy Lieutenant in Pacific
– > war: elected to HoR; HUAC Committee
– 1950: elected to Senate
– Helped McCarthy w/ anti-Communist
investigations
– 1952: VP candidate w/ Ike; 1953-1961 VP
– 1960: Republican candidate, lost to JFK
– 1968: Elected President promising to exit
Vietnam
– 1972: Re-elected
– 1973-74: Watergate controversy
– 1974: Resigned office to avoid being
impeached
– 1994: Died, effects of a stroke

3. The Epic of Watergate
• Rocked the USA in early
1970s
• Single greatest threat to
Constitution ever
• Started small and
snowballed
– Phase 1: CREEP
– Phase 2: Did Nixon know?
– Phase 3: Battle for the tapes
– Phase 4: The end

4. Phase 1: CREEP suspected• 17 June 1972: Five ‘burglars’ arrested
in Democratic Party HQ in Watergate
Hotel
– Not stealing, but planting bugging devices
– One was former CIA agent
– All linked to Committee for the Re-election
of the President (CREEP)
• FBI investigates CREEP
– Massive campaign to spy on Nixon’s
opponents
– CREEP raised $60 million for re-election by
pressuring companies w/ gov’t contracts
– John Mitchell, CREEP director, used ‘dirty
tricks’ to discredit Democrats
– Two Washington Post reporters, Carl
Bernstein & Bob Woodward, pursued own
investigation
– Nixon denied he or close advisors were
involved
• Nov. 1972: Nixon won landslide election

5. Phase 2: Did Nixon Know?
• January 1973:
– Watergate burglars on trial
– All found guilty
– One claimed White House involved
• Nixon reacts:
– Denied allegation
– Appointed Archibald Cox as special
Watergate prosecutor
• Senate investigates:
– May-Nov. 1973: Senator Sam Ervin
(Dem., NC) led televised independent
Senate investigation
– Clear that senior White House officials
involved
– Three of Nixon’s advisors resigned
– One, John Dean, claimed he discusses
burglary at least 35 times w/ Nixon
– Nixon denied any involvement, fired

6. Phase 3: Battle for the Tapes
• Nixon’s tapes
– Senate Investigation revealed Nixon
recorded all conversations in oval office
since 1971
– Senate & Cox wanted tapes
– Nixon refused, citing “presidential
privilege”
• 20 October 1973: “Saturday Night
Massacre”
– Nixon ordered Attorney General to fire
Cox
– AG refused, then resigned under
pressure
– New AG fired Cox
– New special investigator, Leon Jaworski,
also demanded tapes
– Nixon released some tapes, but 18 ½
crucial minutes had been “accidentally”
erased

7. Phase 4: The End
• SC ordered tapes turned over
– Revealed Nixon involved in initial
campaign
– Revealed Nixon repeatedly tried to
cover up
• 27 July 1974:
– House Judiciary Committee voted to
impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice
– 66% of Americans in favor of
impeachment
• 8 August:
– Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment
– As civilian, Nixon could have been tried
as criminal, but Jaworski didn’t
prosecute
– President Ford pardoned him

9. The Aftermath
• Congress passed laws due to scandal
– Privacy Act (1974): Americans can inspect gov’t files on
them
– Budget Act (1974): President has to account for all $$$
spent (Nixon believed to have spent millions of gov’t
money on personal properties & evaded $400,000 of
taxes)
– Election Campaign Act: Limited campaign
contributions; eliminated foreign donations
• Scandal utterly destroyed Nixon’s rep
– Called “Tricky Dick”, achievements forgotten
• Watergate’s deeper damage
– Undermined America’s confidence in gov’t
– Was Nixon exception or rule of political system?
– Press turned from hiding info (JFK) to seeking scandal

10. The Watergate scandal refers
to a political scandal in the United
States in the 1970s. Named for
the Watergate apartment complex,
effects of the scandal ultimately
led to the resignation of Richard
Nixon, President of the United
States, on August 9, 1974. It also
resulted in the indictment and
conviction of several Nixon
administration officials.

11. Facing certain
impeachment in the House
of Representatives and the
strong possibility of a
conviction in the Senate,
Nixon resigned, becoming
the only U.S. president to
have resigned from office.
His successor, Gerald
Ford, would issue a
controversial pardon
(Sept. 8, 1974) for any
federal crimes Nixon may

12. Questions for Discussion
• Why do you think the American public
was so outraged by Watergate?
• Do you think President Nixon should
have resigned? Explain.
• Do you think President Nixon should
have been prosecuted? Explain.