Transcript Nixon and Watergate

Nixon and Watergate
THE NIXON YEARS
Domestic Agenda
(1968-1974)
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Aimed to trim back social welfare programs—believed
more responsibility for social programs belonged to the
state governments, not the federal government
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Did approve an anti-poverty program (Family Assistance
Plan) and to the growth of Medicare & Medicaid (as it
had become part of our culture)
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Established the Environmental Protection Agency EPA
& Occupational Safety & Health Administration
(OSHA)
THE NIXON YEARS
Foreign Affairs
(1968-1974)
Détente
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A plan to seek peaceful coexistence with the USSR & China
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Hoping to do so as part of his plan to end the Vietnam War
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Visited China in 1972 –significant visit of goodwill
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Visit set the stage for diplomatic & trading relations
Traveled to Moscow to sign SALT I – Strategic Arms Limitation
Treaty
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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
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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 tried to sue
them.
The Supreme Court ruled that the papers
could continue to publish the documents.
Nixon, already suspicious of those “antiwar” types, was concerned . . .
The White House Plumbers
Howard Hunt
James McCord
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After the release of the
Pentagon Papers, the White
House created a unit to
ensure internal security.
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This unit was called the
“Plumbers” because they
stopped leaks . . . and did
other “dirty work” as needed.
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In 1971 they burglarized the
office of Daniel Ellsberg’s
psychiatrist, seeking material
to discredit him.
G. Gordon Liddy
Chuck Colson
The Watergate
Break-in
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When initial polls showed Nixon
behind in the Election of 1972, the
Plumbers turned their activities to
political espionage.
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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 . . .
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One of the men arrested, James
McCord, was the head of security
for the Republican Party.
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Nixon denied any involvement.
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 Investigation
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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.
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In March 1973, an anonymous letter
to Sirica suggested that there was a
conspiracy.
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Sirica’s investigation transformed
Watergate from the story of a “thirdrate 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.
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The hearings were televised in their
entirety.
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They focused on when the President
knew of the break-in.
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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!
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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. (!)
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These tapes would become the focus of the investigation.
The Smoking
Gun Tapes
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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
Resignation Speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOGJJ7UKFM
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On 27 July 1974, the House
Judiciary Committee approved
Articles of Impeachment against
Nixon.
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The House was to vote on the
matter soon, then the Senate
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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.
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On 9 August 1974, Richard Nixon
became the first American
president to resign.
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.
Jimmy Carter
(1976-1980)
We’re skipping Gerald Ford—all he did was pardon that
crook Nixon!
The 1976
Election
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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
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OPEC Oil Embargo of 1974
(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
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1977- Carter proposes
comprehensive National
Energy Policy
1977 - Department of
Energy - Cabinet position
added to Executive Branch
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Effects:
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Gas Shortages/price
inflation
Seeking of alternative
fuel sources/more fuelefficient 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
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“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
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Carter came to office with little foreign-policy experience.
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Carter promised that the concept of human rights would be at
the forefront of his foreign policy. (Dec. of Human Rights)
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Carter gave control of the Panama Canal back to Panama.
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Carter convinced Egypt to recognize the legitimacy of Israel
(Camp David Accords)
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Eventually solved the Iran Hostage crisis . . .
The Iran Hostage Crisis
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US supported Shah
(King) of Iran
The Shah had
modernized Iran
Supplier of oil and proWestern leadership in the
region.
US overlooked repression
and corruption of his
administration
The Iranian
Revolution
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Muslim Fundamentalists
and liberal critics of the
Shah rebelled in Jan. 1979
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The Shah fled Iran—Carter
gave him asylum in the
U.S.
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Replaced by Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini - who
had been exiled
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Extremely anti-Western
Seizing the US Embassy in Tehran
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Nov. 4, 1979,
followers of
Khomeini seized US
Embassy
52 American
hostages taken
Hostages terrorized
and threatened
444 Days
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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!)
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Hostages
released and
sent home January 20,
1981—
Inauguration
Day for Ronald
Reagan!
Bring on the 80s . . .
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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…