About President Nixon:
He served as vice president under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower
from 1953-61. Nixon ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1960, losing
by a very close margin to John F. Kennedy.
In 1962, Nixon ran unsuccessfully for Governor of California. This second
loss led Nixon to bitterly announce he was leaving politics, telling reporters
"...you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." However, he
re-emerged as a presidential candidate in 1968 and ran a successful
campaign against Democrat Hubert Humphrey, squeaking out a victory
in one of the closest elections in U.S. history.
In 1972, Nixon ran for re-election against Democrat George McGovern
and swept to victory in a landslide with 60 percent of the popular vote,
winning in every state except Massachusetts.
Events Leading to Impeachment:
A break-in occurred on the night of June 17, 1972, as five burglars
entered the Democratic National Committee offices inside the Watergate
office complex in Washington. Discovered by 24-year-old night watchman
Frank Wills, they were arrested at the scene by police at 2:30 a.m.
Investigations soon revealed the Watergate burglars were employed by
the Committee to Re-elect President Nixon. However, a White House spokesman
dismissed the incident as a "third-rate burglary attempt."
In August of 1972, President Nixon told reporters, "no one in the
White House staff, no one in this administration, presently employed, was
involved in this very bizarre incident."
The arrest of the Watergate burglars marked the beginning of a long
chain of events in which President Nixon and his top aides became deeply
involved in an extensive coverup of the break-in and other White House
sanctioned illegal activities.
Those activities had started in 1970 after The New York Times
revealed a secret bombing campaign against neutral Cambodia in Southeast
Asia was being conducted as part of the American war effort in Vietnam.
Following the revelations, Nixon ordered wiretaps of reporters and government
employees to discover the source of the news leaks.
In 1971, the Pentagon Papers were published in The New York
Times, detailing the U.S. Defense Department's secret history of the
Vietnam War. A "Plumbers" unit was then established by Nixon
aides in the White House with the sole purpose of gathering political intelligence
on perceived enemies and preventing further news leaks. A team of burglars
from the "Plumbers" then broke into a psychiatrist's office looking
for damaging information on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defense analyst
who had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press.
Audio
Highlights |
Taped Conversation
June 23, 1972 |
In the Oval Office of the White House, President Richard Nixon tells top aide H.R. Haldeman to obstruct the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in. (:05) "...call the FBI and say that we wish, for the country, don't go any further into this case, period..." |
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Public Statement
April 17, 1973 |
President Nixon pledges White House cooperation with the ongoing Watergate investigation. (:22) |
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Public Statement
July 20, 1973 |
After returning from the hospital to the White House, President Nixon greets his staff and denies resignation rumors. (:25) |
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Press Conference
October 23, 1973 |
President Nixon insults reporters during a White House press conference on Watergate. (:20) |
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Statement to Press
November 17, 1973 |
President Nixon meets with news editors and denies any wrongdoing in Watergate. (:32) |
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TV Speech
August 8, 1974 |
Faced with the prospect of being impeached by the House of Representatives as a result of the Watergate scandal, President Nixon announces his resignation. (:32) |
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White House Farewell
August 9, 1974 |
Following his resignation, Richard Nixon and family bid farewell to his White House staff. (1:19) |
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TV Speech
August 9, 1974 |
President Gerald R. Ford speaks to the Nation upon taking office shortly after Richard Nixon had resigned in disgrace. August 9, 1974.(:54) |
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In 1972, as part of Nixon's re-election effort, a massive campaign of
political spying and 'dirty tricks' was initiated against Democrats, leading
to the Watergate break-in to plant bugs (tiny audio transmitters) inside
the offices of the Democratic National Committee.
Two young reporters from the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein, then began a dogged pursuit of the facts surrounding the
break-in. Among the many items revealed by them -- one of the Watergate
burglars, retired CIA employee James W. McCord, was actually the security
coordinator for Nixon's re-election committee - a $25,000 cashier's check
for Nixon's re-election campaign had been diverted to the bank account
of one of the burglars - Attorney General John Mitchell had controlled
a secret fund which financed political spying and dirty tricks targeting
Democratic presidential candidates.
Perhaps the most notorious dirty trick was a letter planted in a New
Hampshire newspaper alleging that leading Democratic presidential candidate,
Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, had referred to Americans of French-Canadian
descent as "Canucks."
On a snowy New Hampshire day, standing outside the offices of the newspaper,
Musky gave a rambling, tearful denial. His emotional conduct, replayed
on television, caused him to drop in the New Hampshire polls shortly before
the presidential primary. George McGovern, considered a weaker candidate
by Nixon political strategists, eventually won the 1972 Democratic nomination
and lost the general election to Nixon in a landslide.
In February of 1973, the U.S. Senate established a Select Committee
on Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by Sen. Sam Ervin, to investigate
all of the events surrounding Watergate and other allegations of political
spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of Nixon's re-election.
March and April of 1973 saw the start of the unraveling of the coverup.
On March 23, one of the five burglars convicted after the Watergate break-in,
James W. McCord, informed U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica that he was
being pressured to remain silent. On April 20, acting FBI Director L. Patrick
Gray resigned after admitting he had destroyed Watergate evidence under
pressure from Nixon aides. Ten days later, four of Nixon's top officials
resigned: Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman; Domestic
Affairs Assistant John Ehrlichman; Attorney
General Richard Kleindienst; and Presidential Counsel John
Dean.
The Senate Select Committee began televised hearings on May 17. A month
later, former Presidential Counsel John Dean testified there was an ongoing
White House coverup and that Nixon had been personally involved in the
payment of hush money to the five burglars and two other operatives involved
in planning the Watergate break-in. Three weeks later, another Nixon aide
revealed the President had ordered hidden microphones installed in the
Oval Office in the spring of 1971 and had
recorded most conversations since then on audio tape.
The tapes then became the focus of an intensive year-long legal battle
between all three branches of the U.S. government. In October of 1973,
Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had been appointed by the
Nixon administration, publicly vowed to obtain the tapes despite Nixon's
strong objections.
This resulted in the "Saturday Night Massacre" on October
20 in which Nixon attempted to fire Cox, but was temporarily thwarted as
Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William
Ruckelshaus refused Nixon's order and instead resigned. Solicitor General
Robert Bork agreed to carry out the order and fired Cox.
The minute-by-minute events of the "Saturday Night Massacre"
were covered live by stunned reporters on network television starting about
8:30 p.m. and sent a political shockwave throughout America that led to
immediate calls for impeachment.
"Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not
of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people," Archibald
Cox stated after his firing. Ten days later, impeachment proceedings in
the House of Representatives began as the House Judiciary Committee, chaired
by Rep. Peter Rodino, started its preliminary investigation.
Nixon responded to public outrage by initially agreeing to turn over
some of the tapes. However, the White House then revealed that two of the
tapes no longer existed and later revealed there was an 18 minute blank
gap on a crucial recording of the President and H.R. Haldeman taped three
days after the Watergate break-in.
Nixon's new Chief of Staff Alexander M. Haig Jr. suggested the possibility
that "some sinister force" had erased portions of the subpoenaed
tape. President Nixon's personal secretary Rose Mary Woods was eventually
blamed as having caused the erasure supposedly after she had been asked
to prepare a summary of taped conversations for the President.
In November of 1973, amid all of the controversy, Nixon made a scheduled appearance
before 400 Associated Press managing editors in Florida. During a feisty question
and answer period he maintained his innocence, stating, "... in all of
my years in public life I have never obstructed justice...People have got to
know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."
To avoid handing over all of the 42 subpoenaed tapes to the House Judiciary
Committee, Nixon instead released
1,254 pages of edited transcripts of 20 tapes in the spring of 1974. But
the transcripts caused a national sensation as Americans glimpsed behind
closed doors for the first time at a cynical Nixon who frequently used
obscene language in the Oval Office, in contrast to his carefully tailored
public image. The transcripts also revealed Nixon frequently discussing
Watergate including the raising of "hush money" to keep the burglars
quiet.
"We could get that. On the money, if you need the money you could
get that. You could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I
know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done. But
the question is, Who would handle it? Any ideas on that?" -- Nixon
to John Dean, March 21, 1973.
The new Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who had been appointed by
the Justice Department, pursued Nixon's tapes all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court. On July 24, 1974, the Court unanimously ruled that Nixon had to
surrender the tapes.
On Saturday, July 27, the House Judiciary Committee approved its first
article of impeachment charging President Nixon with obstruction of justice.
Six of the Committee's 17 Republicans joined all 21 Democrats in voting
for the article. The following Monday the Committee approved its second
article charging Nixon with abuse of power. The next day, the third and
final article, contempt of Congress, was approved.
Articles of Impeachment:
RESOLVED, That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is
impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles
of impeachment to be exhibited to the Senate:
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT EXHIBITED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE NAME OF ITSELF AND OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST RICHARD M. NIXON, PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT OF ITS IMPEACHMENT
AGAINST HIM FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS.
Article 1: Obstruction
of Justice.
In his conduct of the office of the
President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional
oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and,
to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take
care that the laws be faithfully executed, has prevented, obstructed, and
impeded the administration of justice, in that: On June 17, 1972, and prior
thereto, agents of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President committed
unlawful entry of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in
Washington, District of Columbia, for the purpose of securing political intelligence.
Subsequent thereto, Richard M. Nixon, using the powers of his high office,
engaged personally and through his subordinates and agents in a course of
conduct or plan designed to delay, impede and obstruct investigations of such
unlawful entry; to cover up, conceal and protect those responsible and to
conceal the existence and scope of other unlawful covert activities. The means
used to implement this course of conduct or plan have included one or more
of the following:
(1) Making or causing to be made false or misleading
statements to lawfully authorized investigative officers and employes of the
United States.
(2) Withholding relevant and material evidence
or information from lawfully authorized investigative officers and employes
of the United States.
(3) Approving, condoning, acquiescing in, and
counseling witnesses with respect to the giving of false or misleading statements
to lawfully authorized investigative officers and employes of the United States
and false or misleading testimony in duly instituted judicial and congressional
proceedings.
(4) Interfering or endeavoring to interfere
with the conduct of investigations by the Department of Justice of the United
States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the office of Watergate Special
Prosecution Force and congressional committees.
(5) Approving, condoning, and acquiescing in,
the surreptitious payments of substantial sums of money for the purpose of
obtaining the silence or influencing the testimony of witnesses, potential
witnesses or individuals who participated in such unlawful entry and other
illegal activities.
(6) Endeavoring to misuse the Central Intelligence
Agency, an agency of the United States.
(7) Disseminating information received from
officers of the Department of Justice of the United States to subjects of
investigations conducted by lawfully authorized investigative officers and
employes of the United States for the purpose of aiding and assisting such
subjects in their attempts to avoid criminal liability.
(8) Making false or misleading public statements
for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States into believing
that a thorough and complete investigation has been conducted with respect
to allegation of misconduct on the part of personnel of the Executive Branch
of the United States and personnel of the Committee for the Re-Election of
the President, and that there was no involvement of such personnel in such
misconduct; or
(9) Endeavoring to cause prospective defendants,
and individuals duly tried and convicted, to expect favored treatment and
consideration in return for their silence or false testimony, or rewarding
individuals for their silence or false testimony.
In all of this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in
a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional
government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to
the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct,
warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
(Approved by a vote of 27-11 by the House Judiciary
Committee on Saturday, July 27, 1974.)
Article 2: Abuse
of Power.
Using the powers of the office of President
of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional
oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and,
to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take
care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct
violating the constitutional rights of citizens, imparting the due and proper
administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening
the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposes of these
agencies.
This conduct has included one or more of the following:
(1) He has, acting personally and through his
subordinated and agents, endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service,
in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information
contained in income tax returns for purposes not authorized by law, and to
cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits
or other income tax investigation to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory
manner.
(2) He misused the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the Secret Service, and other executive personnel, in violation or disregard
of the constitutional rights of citizens, by directing or authorizing such
agencies or personnel to conduct or continue electronic surveillance or other
investigations for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement
of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; he did direct, authorize,
or permit the use of information obtained thereby for purposes unrelated to
national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of
his office; and he did direct the concealment of certain records made by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation of electronic surveillance.
(3) He has, acting personally and through his
subordinates and agents, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights
of citizens, authorized and permitted to be maintained a secret investigative
unit within the office of the President, financed in part with money derived
from campaign contributions to him, which unlawfully utilized the resources
of the Central Intelligence Agency, engaged in covert and unlawful activities,
and attempted to prejudice the constitutional right of an accused to a fair
trial.
(4) He has failed to take care that the laws
were faithfully executed by failing to act when he knew or had reason to know
that his close subordinates endeavored to impede and frustrate lawful inquiries
by duly constituted executive; judicial and legislative entities concerning
the unlawful entry into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee,
and the cover-up thereof, and concerning other unlawful activities including
those relating to the confirmation of Richard Kleindienst as attorney general
of the United States, the electronic surveillance of private citizens, the
break-in into the office of Dr. Lewis Fielding, and the campaign financing
practices of the Committee to Re-elect the President.
(5) In disregard of the rule of law: he knowingly
misused the executive power by interfering with agencies of the executive
branch: including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division
and the Office of Watergate Special Prosecution Force of the Department of
Justice, in violation of his duty to take care that the laws by faithfully
executed.
In all of this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in
a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional
government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to
the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct,
warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
(Approved 28-10 by the House Judiciary Committee
on Monday, July 29, 1974.)
Article 3: Contempt
of Congress.
In his conduct of the office of President of
the United States, Richard M. Nixon, contrary to his oath faithfully to execute
the office of the President of the United States, and to the best of his ability
preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in
violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully
executed, had failed without lawful cause or excuse, to produce papers and
things as directed by duly authorized subpoenas issued by the Committee on
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, on April 11, 1974, May 15,
1974, May 30, 1974, and June 24, 1974, and willfully disobeyed such subpoenas.
The subpoenaed papers and things were deemed necessary by the Committee in
order to resolve by direct evidence fundamental, factual questions relating
to Presidential direction, knowledge or approval of actions demonstrated by
other evidence to be substantial grounds for impeachment of the President.
In refusing to produce these papers and things, Richard M. Nixon, substituting
his judgement as to what materials were necessary for the inquiry, interposed
the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of
Representatives, thereby assuming to himself functions and judgments necessary
to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by Constitution in
the House of Representatives.
In all this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in a
manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional
government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to
the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct,
warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office.
(Approved 21-17 by the House Judiciary Committee
on Tuesday, July 30, 1974.)
Consequences:
On August 5, 1974, the long sought after audio tapes provided the "smoking
gun" which revealed President Nixon had been deeply involved in the coverup
and had ordered Haldeman to halt the FBI investigation just six days after the
Watergate break-in."...call the FBI and
say that we wish, for the country, don't go any further into this case, period..."
-- Nixon to Haldeman, June 23, 1972.)
That revelation resulted in a complete collapse of support for Nixon
in Congress. On Friday, August 9, Nixon resigned
the presidency and avoided the likely prospect of losing the impeachment
vote in the full House and a subsequent trial in the Senate. He thus became
the only U.S. President ever to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford succeeded
him and a month later granted Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he might
have committed while President.
Richard Nixon had served a total of 2,026 days as the 37th President
of the United States. He left office with 2 1/2 years of his second term
remaining. A total of 25 officials from his administration, including four
cabinet members, were eventually convicted and imprisoned for various crimes.
"...I think that the Watergate tragedy is the greatest tragedy
this country has ever suffered. I used to think that the Civil War was
our country's greatest tragedy, but I do remember that there were some
redeeming features in the Civil War in that there was some spirit of sacrifice
and heroism displayed on both sides. I see no redeeming features in Watergate."
-- Senator Sam Ervin.
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