Transcript File - Mr. Jack Merrill

Nixon and Watergate
The Election of 1968
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Richard Nixon only narrowly won the 1968 election, but the combined total of
popular votes for Nixon and Wallace indicated a shift to the right in American politics.
The 1960's began as an era of optimism and possibility and ended in disunity and
distrust.
The Vietnam war and a series of assassinations and crises eroded public trust in
government and produced a backlash against liberal movements and the Democratic
party.
The Election of 1968
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Nixon campaigned as a champion
of the "silent majority," the
hardworking Americans who paid
taxes, did not demonstrate, and
desired a restoration of "law and
order.”
He vowed to restore respect for
the rule of law, reconstitute the
stature of America, dispose of
ineffectual social programs, and
provide strong leadership to end
the turmoil of the 1960's.
Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon
Papers
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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 sued them.
The Supreme Court ruled that the
papers could continue to publish the
documents.
The White House Plumbers
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Howard Hunt
G. Gordon Liddy
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James McCord
Chuck Colson
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.
In 1971 they burglarized the office of
Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, seeking
material to discredit him.
It was later revealed that Nixon’s
domestic advisor John Ehrlichman
knew of and approved the plan.
The Watergate Break-in
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When initial polls showed Nixon in the
Election of 1972, the Plumbers turned
their activities to political espionage.
On 17 June 1972, 5 men were arrested
while attempting to bug the
headquarters of the Democratic Party
inside the Watergate building in
Washington D.C.
One of the men arrested, James
McCord, was the head of security for
the Republican Party.
The Nixon campaign denied any
involvement.
Woodward, Bernstein and the
Washington Post
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Watergate came to public attention largely through the work of Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein, investigative reporters from the Washington
Post.
Despite enormous political pressure, Post editor Ben Bradlee, publisher
Katherine Graham, Woodward and Bernstein, aided by an enigmatic source
nicknamed “Deepthroat” kept the story in the public consciousness until
Nixon’s resignation.
Watergate Enters the Nixon
Campaign
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The break-in was eventually tied to the
Nixon reelection campaign through a
$25,000 check from a Republican
donor that was laundered through a
Mexican bank and deposited in the
account of Watergate burglar Bernard
Barker.
Later it was discovered that Former
Attorney General John Mitchell, head
of Nixon’s “Committee to Re-Elect the
President,” (CREEP) controlled a
secret fund for political espionage.
Mitchell would later go to prison for
his role in the scandal
Nixon’s Re-Election
Campaign: “Dirty Tricks”
“Dirty Tricks”
 Attempts to sabotage Nixon’s
political opponents
 Included sending hecklers to
disrupt Democratic campaign
meetings
 Assigning spies to join
campaigns of opposing
candidates.
 Damaging “dirty trick” involved
a faked letter that seriously hurt
the candidacy of Edmund
Muskie, a leading Democratic
presidential contender.
The Election of 1972
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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 Investigations: Judge
John Sirica
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Watergate came to be investigated
by a Special Prosecutor, a Senate
committee, and by the judge in the
original break-in case.
Judge Sirica refused to believe that
the burglars had acted alone.
In March 1973, defendant James
W. McCord sent a letter to Sirica
confirming that it 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
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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.
Senate Investigation and the Oval
Office Tapes
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The Administration was eager to discredit Dean and his testimony so it
began to release factual challenges to his account.
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.
U.S. v Nixon, July 1974
During the investigation it was revealed that there were audio
tapes from the White House. Nixon claimed executive privilege in
an attempt to keep the tapes secret, however the Supreme Court
ruled that executive privilege did not apply in criminal cases and
ordered Nixon to surrender the subpoenaed White House tapes to
John Sirica, U.S. District Court Chief Judge. The tapes revealed
widespread involvement, including by the President.
The Smoking Gun Tapes
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When the Supreme Court forced
Nixon to surrender the tapes.
Nixon was implicated from the earliest
days of the cover-up:
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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.
The Saturday Night Massacre
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Archibald Cox
The Administration reached an
agreement with the Senate Watergate
Committee that its Chairman would be
allowed to listen to tapes and provide a
transcript to the Committee and to
Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
The deal broke down when Cox
refused to accept the transcripts in
place of the tapes.
Since the Special Prosecutor is an
employee of the Justice Department,
Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot
Richardson to fire Cox.
The Saturday Night Massacre
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Robert Bork
When Richardson refused, he was
fired.
Nixon ordered Deputy Attorney
General William D. Ruckelshaus to fire
Cox .
When he refused, he was fired.
Nixon then ordered Solicitor General
Robert Bork (who was later nominated
for the Supreme Court by Reagan) to
fire Cox and he complied.
The Washington Post reported on the
“Saturday Night Massacre.”
Resignation of VP Spiro
Agnew
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Vice President Spiro
Agnew - accused of
evading income taxes
and taking bribes
Resigned in early
October 1973.
Completely unrelated to
the Watergate Scandal.
Successor - Gerald Ford
confirmed two months
later.
Nixon Resigns
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On 27 July 1974, the House Judiciary
Committee approved Articles of
Impeachment against Nixon.
The House was to vote on the matter
soon.
Nixon conceded that impeachment in
the House was likely, but he believed
that the Senate vote to remove him
would fail.
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.
Gerald R. Ford became 38th President,
August 9, 1974
The Watergate break-in and cover-up led to
the resignation of several members of the
government.
Halderman,
Chief of Staff
Pictured: Front Row: Donald Rumsfeld, Sec. of Transportation John
Volpe, Sec. of Commerce Peter Peterson, Sec. of Defense Melvin
Laird, Richard M. Nixon, Sec. of State William Rogers, Sec. of the
Interior Rogers C.B. Morton, Sec. of HEW Elliot Richardson, Director
of OMB Casper Weinberger Back Row: Robert Finch, Sec. of HUD
George Romney, Sec. of Agriculture Earl Butz, Sec. of the Treasury
George Shultz, Vice President Spiro Agnew, Attorney General
Richard Kleindienst, Sec. of Labor James Hodgson, Ambassador at
large David Kennedy, Ambassador to the UN George Bush.
Ruckelshaus,
Deputy Attorney
General
Ehrlichman,
Assistant to
the President
for Domestic
Affairs
Dean, Counsel to
the President
Aftermath
Ford announcing the pardon
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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.
Woodward and Bernstein won the Pulitzer Prize.
They collaborated on 2 books, All the President’s Men and The Final Days.
In 1976 All the President’s Men was adapted into an Oscar winning film.
The identity of Deepthroat was kept secret until W. Mark Felt unmasked himself in
2005.
The Nixon’s
left the White
House.
Ford immediately damaged his
Presidency by granting Nixon a pardon.
Ford announced the pardon
By July 14, 1974, President Richard Nixon stood almost
alone. His vice-president Spiro Agnew, pleaded nolo
contendere to a charge of tax evasion, and was forced to
resign. Many of Nixon's closest aides had been
convicted of illegal activities. Nixon himself was named
an "un-indicted co-conspirator" by the Watergate grand
jury. A few days later, the House Judiciary Committee
recommended impeachment, and the Supreme Court
required him to turn over all subpoenaed tapes. When
even his closest friends, reviewing these tapes, agreed
that the evidence against him was overwhelming, Nixon
bowed to the inevitable, resigning on August 9.
Excerpt from PRESIDENT NIXON'S
RESIGNATION SPEECH
August 8, 1974
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At 9:00 P.M. the thirty-seventh President
addressed the nation from the White House for
the thirty-seventh time.
“…Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency
effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President
Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour
in this office…
“Thank you, thank you very much”
President Gerald Ford
When Nixon resigned
in 1974, VP Gerald
Ford became president
Ford was seen as an
“honest man” & hoped
to move America past
the Watergate scandal
But, Ford was unable to In September 1974,
move forward due to Ford pardoned Nixon
constant questions of any crimes related
about a potential to Watergate; Ford lost
criminal trial of Nixon
popular support
President Gerald Ford
Making the economic situation worse
was the oil crisis of the 1970s
Since “automania”
of the 1950s, U.S. use
of oil was on the rise
In 1960, the oil rich
nations in the Middle
East & Latin America
formed the Org of
Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC)
President Gerald Ford
Making the economic
situation worse was the
oil crisis of the 1970s
In retaliation for
American support of
Israel, OPEC cut off oil
to the U.S. in 1973
As a result,
gas prices soared &
shortages led to long
lines for gasoline
Economic Polices of President Ford
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As a Republican, Ford believed that a
balanced federal budget and reductions
in government spending were the best
way to curb inflation.
Democrats in Congress favored
increased federal spending as a
stimulus to economic and job growth.
Ford admitted in 1975, “the state of
the Union is not good.”
Ford vetoed more major bills than any
president in the 20th century.
Despite the legislative battle,
recessionary pressures eased somewhat
by 1976.
Stagflation
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Throughout 1970's, the American
economy was plagued by the
unprecedented combination of soaring
prices, the high unemployment, and
low economic growth.
Economists dubbed the phenomena
"Stagflation," a period of rising prices
in a stagnant economy.
The high standard of living in the US
following World War II suddenly
began to lag behind that of Western
Europe and Japan.
Americans found it increasingly
difficult to sustain a middle class
lifestyle.
Stagflation
Compare the rates of inflation between 1972 and 1980 to those of the
1980's and 1990's.
Stagflation
GDP measures the total market value of all the goods and services
produced within a region. Note the sharp decline in GDP beginning in
1973.
Stagflation
In 1975, unemployment reached almost 9%, the highest level since the
Great Depression at that time.
The Oil Crisis Begins
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By the late 1950's, the demand for oil in the United States outstripped domestic
production capabilities.
By 1970's, the US imported a third of its oil, making the American economy vulnerable
to geopolitical upsets in the Middle East.
The Oil Crisis Begins
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On October 6, 1973, the Yom Kippur
War began when Egypt and Syria
attacked Israel from two sides.
The US airlifted supplies to Israel,
prompting OPEC to levy an oil
embargo against Israel's allies that
lasted until March 18, 1974.
The Oil Crisis Begins
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Gas prices suddenly doubled and fueling stations frequently ran out of gas.
The oil crisis effected almost every sector of the economy .
President Jimmy Carter
Ford had no answer
for stagflation or
the gas crisis &
was challenged by
Georgia Democrat
Jimmy Carter in the
1976 election
Carter ran as an
“outsider” who
played no part in
Vietnam, Watergate,
or the recession
Economic Policies of President
Carter
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As a rhetorical device during 1976
presidential campaign, Governor
Jimmy Carter combined the rate of
inflation (6%) and unemployment (8%)
into a "Misery Index" of 14.
At first, Carter modeled his economic
recovery program after FDR's New
Deal by advocating tax cuts, public
works, and employment programs to
stimulate the economy.
The Democratic Congress responded
with legislation in accordance with the
President's plan, but as unemployment
decreased, inflation continued to rise.
President Carter and the Continuing
Energy Crisis
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Carter was successful in creating the Department of Energy as a cabinet-level position,
and he continued to try and set an example for citizens by conserving energy in the
White House.
President Carter had solar panels installed atop the White House in 1979 (which
President Reagan later removed).
President Jimmy Carter
In the 1976 election, Carter beat Ford
Carter & Foreign Policy
Carter entered office committed to making
“human rights” the basis of U.S. foreign policy
Carter stopped supporting
foreign governments that
violated human rights
In 1977, Carter agreed that
the U.S. would return the
Panama Canal in Dec 1999
Carter hoped to gain peace
in the Middle East between
Israel & the Muslim nations
Carter & Foreign Policy
Carter brought Egyptian leader Anwar el-Sadat
& Israeli leader Menachem Begin to the U.S.
for the Camp David Accords in 1977
? Carter did the
impossible
?
Egypt
recognized
Israel’s right to
Israel agreed
to leave the
Sinai
Carter & Foreign Policy
But, the situation in the Middle East got worse
in 1979 when fundamentalist Islamic cleric
Ayatollah Khomeini led the Iranian Revolution
Carter & Foreign Policy
Iranians seized the U.S.
embassy & captured
52 American hostages
(Iranian Hostage Crisis)
Carter tried negotiation,
economic threats, &
a rescue mission to
return the hostages
but all efforts failed
The 52 hostages were
held for 444 days
Carter & Foreign Policy
To make matters worse,
the Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan
in 1979 to defeat an
anti-communist uprising
The invasion signaled an
end to Nixon’s détente
with the USSR as the
United States sent aid to
the Afghan rebels
President Carter and the Continuing
Energy Crisis
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Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution
in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini stopped
all oil shipments, further exacerbating
US energy woes.
In July the president delivered a
televised address that became known as
the "Malaise Speech," in which he
entreats Americans to share the
responsibility of energy conservation.
The public and the press responded
defensively and Carter's approval rating
plummeted.
Although the speech was a frank
diagnosis of the country's ills, Carter
was criticized for "blaming" the
American people and offering few
solutions.
Economic Policies of President
Carter
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In response, Carter tried an almost opposite approach. He attempted to curb inflation
by slashing government spending, deregulating industries, and implementing wage and
price controls.
Many Democrats were alienated by what they perceived as a shift to the right in
presidential policies.
Despite the President's sincere efforts, the "Misery Index" soon rose to 21.
President Carter and the Continuing
Energy Crisis
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Although the oil embargo had ended
and gas lines had ceased by Carter's
presidency, the threat created by US
energy dependence loomed on the
horizon.
Carter characterized the energy crisis as
"the moral equivalent of war," which
critics derisively nicknamed "meow."
His calls for sacrifice and conservation
were opposed by the influential oil and
auto industries, and accordingly the
subsequent National Energy Act of
1978 focused on increasing domestic
production rather than conservation.
The Election of 1980
Carter
had been
unablein
tosearch
end
InBy
the1980,
election
of 1980,
Americans
stagflation,
free the
U.S.Reagan
hostages
Iran,
of answers
elected
Ronald
as in
president
or restore America’s place in the world
Conclusions
 By
1980, the USA seemed to be losing its
place as the top nation in the world:
 The 1970s presented failures in the Cold
War & new problems in the Middle East
 The social protests & counter culture
seemed to divide liberals & conservatives
 Stagflation & the economic recession
were growing worse, not better
 The failures of Johnson, Nixon, Ford, &
Carter left citizens in search of optimism,
strong leadership, & conservative policies