Nixon and Watergate

THE NIXON YEARSDomestic Agenda

(1968-1974) Aimed to trim back social welfare programs

—believed more responsibility for social programs belonged to the state governments, not the federal government

Did approve an anti-poverty program (Family Assistance Plan) and to the growth of Medicare & Medicaid (as it had become part of our culture)

Established the Environmental Protection Agency EPA & Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)

THE NIXON YEARSForeign Affairs

(1968-1974)Détente A plan to seek peaceful coexistence with the

USSR & China

Hoping to do so as part of his plan to end the Vietnam War

Visited China in 1972 –significant visit of goodwill Visit set the stage for diplomatic & trading relations

Traveled to Moscow to sign SALT I – Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty Treaty limited the production and deployment of

ICBM’s & cut down on massive military spending (US economy was suffering)

Origins of the Watergate Scandal: Daniel Ellsberg and

the Pentagon Papers Daniel Ellsberg was an employee of the Defense Department who leaked a classified assessment of the Vietnam War in 1971.

The 7,000 page document came to be known as the Pentagon Papers.

They cast doubt on the justification for entry into the war and revealed that senior government officials had serious misgivings about the war.

When the New York Times and Washington Post began to publish the Pentagon Papers, the Nixon Administration tried to sue them.

The Supreme Court ruled that the papers could continue to publish the documents.

Nixon, already suspicious of those “anti-war” types, was concerned . . .

The White House Plumbers After the release of

the Pentagon Papers, the White House created a unit to ensure internal security.

This unit was called the “Plumbers” because they stopped leaks . . . and did other “dirty work” as needed.

In 1971 they burglarized the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, seeking material to discredit him.

Howard Hunt G. Gordon Liddy

James McCord Chuck Colson

The Watergate Break-in

When initial polls showed Nixon behind in the Election of 1972, the Plumbers turned their activities to political espionage.

On 17 June 1972, 5 men were arrested while attempting to break in to the headquarters of the Democratic Party inside the Watergate building in Washington D.C. – and for some odd reason they had wire-tapping equipment with them . . .

One of the men arrested, James McCord, was the head of security for the Republican Party.

Nixon denied any involvement.

The Election of 1972

Despite the growing stain of Watergate, which had not yet reached the President, Nixon won by the largest margin in history to that point.

The Watergate Investigation Watergate came to be

investigated by a Special Prosecutor, a Senate committee, and by the judge in the original break-in case.

In March 1973, an anonymous letter to Sirica suggested that there was a conspiracy.

Sirica’s investigation transformed Watergate from the story of a “third-rate burglary” to a scandal reaching the highest points in government.

Senate Investigation and the Oval Office Tapes

The Senate began hearings into Watergate in May 1973.

The hearings were televised in their entirety.

They focused on when the President knew of the break-in.

In June 1973, former White House legal counsel John Dean delivered devastating testimony that implicated Nixon from the earliest days of Watergate. “I am not a crook:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M

The Saga Continues—Oval Office Tapes!

When former White House aide Alexander Butterfield was asked about the source of the White House information, he revealed the existence of an automatic taping system that Nixon had secretly installed in the Oval Office. (!)

These tapes would become the focus of the investigation.

The Smoking

Gun Tapes

While Nixon attempted to claim “Executive Privilege,” the Supreme Court ultimately forced Nixon to surrender the tapes.

Nixon was implicated from the earliest days of the cover-up: authorizing the payment of

hush money attempting to use the CIA

to interfere with the FBI investigation.

One tape has an 18 ½ minute gap.

Nixon’s secretary Rosemary Woods demonstrated how she could have inadvertently erased the tape, but no one bought it.

“The smoking gun tapes,” were released in August 1974, just after the House Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment against Nixon.

Nixon Resigns On 27 July 1974, the

House Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment against Nixon.

The House was to vote on the matter soon, then the Senate

On 5 August 1974, when the “smoking gun tape” became public, a delegation from the Republican National Committee told Nixon that he would not survive the vote in the Senate.

On 9 August 1974, Richard Nixon became the first American president to resign.

Resignation Speech:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOGJJ7UKFM

Aftermath

More than 30 government officials went to prison for their role in Watergate.

Richard Nixon was not one of them. In September 1974, President Gerald Ford gave

Nixon a full pardon.

Ford announcing the pardon

Jimmy Carter

(1976-1980)We’re skipping Gerald Ford—all he did was

pardon that crook Nixon!

The 1976

Election A Washington “Outsider”

Honest, Hardworking, Intelligent

Born-again Christian (Southern Baptist)

Appealed to small town America

1976 Election

Carter Approval Ratings

The Energy Crisis of the 1970s

OPEC Oil Embargo of 1974 (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

1977- Carter proposes comprehensive National Energy Policy

1977 - Department of Energy - Cabinet position added to Executive Branch

Effects: Gas

Shortages/price inflation

Seeking of alternative fuel sources/more fuel-efficient autos

More domestic petroleum exploration and production

Recession…

No gas

Crisis of Confidence Speech

“…The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation…

…We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate…

…In closing, let me say this: I will do my best, but I will not do it alone. Let your voice be heard. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country. With God's help and for the sake of our nation, it is time for us to join hands in America…”

Three-Mile Island March 28, 1979

“The accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, on March 28, 1979, was the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history even though it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community.”

Carter’s Foreign Policy Carter came to office with little foreign-policy

experience.

Carter promised that the concept of human rights would be at the forefront of his foreign policy. (Dec. of Human Rights)

Carter gave control of the Panama Canal back to Panama.

Carter convinced Egypt to recognize the legitimacy of Israel (Camp David Accords)

Eventually solved the Iran Hostage crisis . . .

The Iran Hostage Crisis US supported Shah

(King) of Iran The Shah had

modernized Iran Supplier of oil and pro-

Western leadership in the region.

US overlooked repression and corruption of his administration

The Iranian Revolution

Muslim Fundamentalists and liberal critics of the Shah rebelled in Jan. 1979

The Shah fled Iran—Carter gave him asylum in the U.S.

Replaced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - who had been exiled Extremely anti-Western

Seizing the US Embassy in Tehran

Nov. 4, 1979, followers of Khomeini seized US Embassy

52 American hostages taken

Hostages terrorized and threatened

444 Days American public

increasingly impatient for hostages release

Carter’s efforts: Broke diplomatic

relations with Iran Froze Iranian assets in

the US 1980 commando

mission to rescue hostages (disastrous crash in Iranian desert)

8 US soldiers died US internationally

humiliated

Hostages released!(See “Argo!)

Hostages released and sent home - January 20, 1981—Inauguration Day for Ronald Reagan!

Bring on the 80s . . .

Carter’s administration had gradually lost the confidence of the American public. (A Crisis of Confidence)

Continued rising inflation rates Carter’s approval rating = 21% Unemployment nationally + 7% Election year: Carter lost to Republican

Ronald Reagan in November of 1980 by a wide margin…