Chapter 39: Watergate, Richard Nixon

and Gerald Ford

Watergate• Nixon was concerned about winning the 1972 election

and was not above using illegal actions to help ensure his re-election (CREEP)

• A small group of special Nixon advisors known as the “Plumbers” would respond to “leaks” of secret information and investigated Nixon’s political adversaries

– 1971: The Plumbers broke into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office looking for information to damage his reputation (remember, he leaked the “Pentagon Papers”)

• 1972: The Plumbers break into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel to collect information (wiretapping phones) about the Democratic strategy for the 1972 election.

• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post refused to let the story die and continued to investigate the break-in– their source is known as Deep Throat

• It has little impact on the re-election of Richard Nixon in November of 1972

Electoral vote 520 17

States carried 49 1

Popular vote 47,168,71 29,173,22

Percentage 60.7% 37.5%

• However, a Senate committee begins its own investigation to find out what the president knew and when he knew it (the search for “the smoking gun”)

• The existence of tape recorded conversations in the Oval Office are discovered

The Senate Investigates• Nixon did not want to give up the tapes and argued

that executive privilege gave him the right to withhold the tapes.

• Investigators rejected Nixon’s claim of executive privilege and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and the Senate Watergate committee issued subpoenas demanding the tapes.

• In an event known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” Cox is fired and the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resign (for refusing to fire him)

The Crisis Continues• Nixon continued to deny his involvement in the break-in

or a cover-up as public confidence in Nixon declines

• There were calls for impeachment so Nixon released edited transcripts of the tapes in the spring of 1974– That does not satisfy the committee

or the public

• The Supreme Court rules that Nixon must hand over the tapes.

• He does and it is revealed that an 18-minute portion of the tape Nixon supplied had been erased.

• At the same time, the House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend impeachment.

• August 8, 1974: Nixon resigned the presidency.

• Gerald R. Ford becomes the 1st person ever to become president without having been elected either president or vice-president.

• Richard Nixon’s vice-president, Spiro Agnew, resigned amid a corruption scandal in 1973.

The Presidency of Gerald Ford• President Ford granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon

for any crime he may have committed (our “long national nightmare” was over)

• Fought inflation with “W.I.N.” or Whip Inflation Now!• Ford tried to cut government spending to curb

inflation but it continued to rise with rising unemployment

• In foreign affairs, Ford continued the policy of détente and kept Kissinger as Secretary of State.

• Ford won his party’s nomination after a close struggle with former California governor Ronald Reagan

• Jimmy Carter used his reputation for honesty to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1976