Unit 7 1970s to Now Section 1 Presidency of Nixon
The Students Will Be Able To (TSWBAT): Understand Nixon s accomplishments as President Evaluate Nixon s legacy in terms of the Watergate Scandal EQ: Why was Richard Nixon the first United States president to resign from office? Key Words: Paranoid Politics Wiretapping Watergate Scandal Executive Privilege US v. Nixon
What do we already know about Nixon? 1960 election Vietnam War Political Party
LBJ (Democrat) doesn t run for re-election (unpopularity of Vietnam) The 1960's began as an era of optimism and possibility but 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. Richard Nixon (Republican) only narrowly won the 1968 election The combined total of popular votes for Nixon and Wallace indicated a shift of public opinion to the right in American politics Nixon s Terms: 1969-1974
Daniel Ellsberg: Employee of the Defense Dept. who leaked a classified assessment of the Vietnam War in 1971 7,000 page document Pent. Papers cast doubt on the justification for entry into the war Revealed that senior government officials had serious misgivings (doubts/worries) about the war. Furthers a negative image of US gov t New York Times vs. US (1971) Nixon sues NYT for attempting to publish the PP SC ruled that the papers could continue to publish the documents
Concerned about getting re-elected Created an Enemies list List of people who opposed his policies of which he was out to get Ordered tax audits on antiwar protestors and civil rights activists Fired people in appointed positions within the gov t Why so paranoid? Cold War since World War II Nixon a Cold War Warrior Time of suspicion and espionage Remember Alger Hiss, and the Rosenbergs
Herb Block (American political cartoonist) accuses the gov t of spying on US citizens Pointed out excessive use of gov t power to wiretap or otherwise investigate the activities of citizens who were against Nixon Argued there was an invasion of privacy of the American people 1970 Gov t admits to investigating its citizens Civil Service Commission admitted to having a Security Investigations Index with over 10 million entries Armed forces revealed surveillance of Americans involved in anti- Vietnam war activities
Group of politicians assembled by the White House to ensure internal security after the Pent. Papers Stopped leaks of confidential gov t info to the media/public Sept. 9, 1971 They burglarized the office of Daniel Ellsberg s (author of the Pent. Papers) psychiatrist, seeking material to discredit him It was later revealed that Nixon s domestic advisor John Ehrlichman knew of and approved the plan. Howard Hunt James MCord G. Gordon Liddy Chuck Colson
When initial polls showed Nixon low in the Election of 1972, the Plumbers turned their activities to political espionage. June 17 1972 5 men were arrested while trying to bug (wire-tap) the HQ of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) inside the Watergate office complex building in Washington, D.C. One of the men arrested, James McCord, was the head of security for the Republican Party. Later revealed that all 5 worked for the Committee to Reelect Nixon The Nixon campaign denied any involvement
Watergate office complex where the Democratic National Committee headquarters were located. A security guard noticed an exit door had been taped to keep the latch open. He removed the tape but on his second round found that it had been retaped and called the police.
o When police arrived, they found five burglars who were attempting to bug the offices of the Democratic National Headquarters. o All five men worked for the Committee to Reelect the President, President Richard Nixon's campaign committee. Seized wiretapping evidence
Nixon could have dissociated himself from the break-in by dismissing his guilty aides, but it was election time Fearful of bad press Arranged hush money for the burglars and instructed the CIA to stop the FBI investigation Criminal Offense: Obstruction of justice (blocking an investigation of criminal activity)
Washington Post Headline, June 18: Five Held in Plot to Bug Democratic Offices Here Story intrigued 2 young reporters: Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward; Responsible for Watergate s exposure Reported to the public that the men arrested were working for the Repub. Party for Nixon Found that a $25,000 check for Nixon s reelection campaign had been deposited in the bank account of one of the burglars in Aug. 1972 Aided by Mark Felt, a confidential highranking FBI official, who went by the alias of Deep Throat (identity not revealed until 2005)
FBI finds that Watergate stems from a massive campaign of political spying by Nixon s campaign group Oct. 10, 1972 Wash. Post reports the story (using Deep Throat as their source)
November 11, 1972 Nixon is reelected One of the largest landslides in American political history Took more than 60% of the vote, crushing Dem. Nominee, Sen. George McGovern
January 30, 1973 Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord are convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping April 30, 1973 Nixon s top White House staffers, Haldeman and Ehrlichman and Attorne General Kleindienst resign over scandal May 18, 1973 Senate Watergate committee begins nationally televised hearings of politicians June 13, 1973 John Dean (White House Counsel) admits that he spoke about the break-in with Nixon many times. July 18, 1973 Nixon orders White House taping system be disconnected July 23, 1973 Nixon refuses to turn over presidential tape records to the Senate Watergate committee Relies on executive privilege
November 17, 1973 - I am not a crook speech Nationally televised press conference (Q&A) Nixon tells the US he has done nothing illegal I Am Not a Crook Press Conference Nationally Televised https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=sh163n1lj4m
April 30, 1974 White House releases 1200 pages of edited transcripts of Nixon tapes to Congress July 24, 1974 US vs. Nixon SC rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tapes (rejecting the president s claim of executive privilege) July 27, 1974 House of Reps. Judiciary Committee passes 1 st impeachment charges August 8, 1974 Nixon becomes the 1 st US president to resign VP Gerald Ford becomes pres. (he will later pardon Nixon) http://www.history.com/topics/watergate/videos/watergatescandal-brings-down-richar-nixon Overview of Watergate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzxl7c0jqdm Nixon Resigns
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.
Nixon s resignation letter
When the Supreme Court 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 had 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 Watergate break-in and cover-up led to the resignation of several members of the government. Halderman, Chief of Staff Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs Ruckelshaus, Deputy Attorney General Dean, Counsel to the President
The 22 month investigation involved the press, House of Representatives, Senate, special prosecutors, and the Supreme Court; it uncovered covert action on the part of the president and his advisers.
The Nixons leave the White House.
Nixon was forced to resign the presidency on August 9, 1974 because of the Watergate scandal. Gerald Ford was appointed Vice President and later became president after the corrupt Spiro Agnew resigned.
Gerald R. Ford became 38 th President, August 9, 1974
Ford immediately damaged his Presidency by granting Nixon a pardon. Ford announces the pardon.
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.
EQ: Why did Nixon resign the presidency? Groups of 4 Activity Directions: Step 1: Read 5 stages and create your timeline. Follow the model on the back of your paper. Step 2: Analyze the 8 documents using the Document Analysis Sheets. Step 3: Categorize your documents onto the poster. Step 4: Write a 3-5 sentence conclusion answering the EQ based on the stages/documents ON YOUR POSTER.