Nixon and the Watergate Scandal
• Nixon was suspicious and secretive
• Felt he was “surrounded by enemies”
• The Enemies List – Nixon’s special counsel
helped to develop a list of prominent
people who were seen as “enemies” to the
Nixon administration
– Included senators, reporters, comedians,
and actors
• How to harass these White House enemies?
– Tax investigations
– Wiretaps: Nixon ordered listening devices to be installed on the
telephones of his staff members and news reporters’ phones
“Installed for national security reasons”
Nixon’s Plumbers
• Organized a special White House unit to stop government leaks – included
former CIA and FBI agents
• 1971 – Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Dept. official gave the NY Times a
secret study of the Vietnam War
• The Pentagon Papers – showed that previous Presidents had deceived
Congress and the American people about the real situation in Vietnam
• Nixon was furious!
• The Plumbers broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office to find damaging
info about his private life
CREEP
• Committee to Re-elect the President
• H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and John Dean led
group
• Determined to ensure Nixon’s victory in the 1972 Presidential Election
• Questionable tactics:
– Created and leaked to media a fake letter attempting to discredit
Edmund Muskie, leading Presidential contender and democratic
senator from Maine
– Sent hecklers to disrupt Democratic campaign meetings
– Assigned spies to join and infiltrate campaigns of major candidates
• These attempted sabotages on Nixon’s political opponents came to be
known as “dirty tricks”
The Watergate Break-In
• Wiretapping of phones at the Democratic National Committee
Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington D.C.
• First break in failed
• Second Attempt: June 1972 – five men were arrested
• Burglars carried money that the FBI traced back to CREEP
– Thus tying the break-in to Nixon’s re-election
• Nixon contacted the CIA telling them to persuade the FBI to stop its
investigation on grounds of “national security”
– Led to Nixon becoming a part of the illegal cover up = The
Watergate Scandal
The 1972 Presidential Election
• Nixon’s closest aides worked feverishly to keep the truth of the
Watergate break-in hidden
– The scandal did not come to light until after Nixon’s re-election
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Nixon (Republican) against George McGovern (Democrat)
McGovern – Senator from South Dakota
520 electoral votes to 17 electoral votes
McGovern was unable to unify the democrats
Nixon wins the election by a landslide, but the congress looses its
Republican Majority
The Watergate Trial
• January 1973 - Trial of the burglars began before
Judge John J. Sirica
• All defendants pleaded guilty or were found guilty
• March 1973 – Nixon approved “hush money” to
defendant E. Howard Hunt
• To prompt burglars to talk, Sirica sentenced the
burglars to long prison terms, up to 40 years
– Their sentence could be reduced if they
cooperated with the upcoming Senate Hearings
on Watergate
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
• James McCord, one of the burglars, agreed to testify to the
committee in secret (suggested Nixon’s staff was involved)
• Leaks from the committee got to the media – Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein, Washington Post reporters extensively
investigated the scandal
• Nixon forced Haldeman and Ehrlichman to resign
• John Dean, Nixon’s legal counselor, testified that Nixon knew
about the cover-up
• Other staff members described illegal activities at the White
House as well
• Secret taping system in the President’s Office that recorded
all meetings and phone conversations revealed!
The Saturday Night Massacre
• May 1973 – Nixon agreed to a
special Watergate prosecutor
• Worked for Justice Dept. but
conducted his own,
independent investigation
• Archibald Cox – immediately
asked for the tapes
• Nixon refused and ordered
Cox to be fired in Oct. 1973
• Led to a series of resignation
and firings at the White
House
Administration crumbles
• Public approval rating plummeted
• “The President Should Resign”
• Nixon released edited transcripts of the White House
conversations – cut out the most damaging evidence
• VP Spiro Agnew resigned – accused of income tax
evasion and taking bribes
• Nixon named House Minority Leader Gerald Ford as VP
– Took two months for the Senate to confirm
Impeachment hearings begin
• July 1974 – House Judiciary Committee began to hold hearings to
see if there were adequate grounds for impeachment
• Voted to begin impeachment on charges of obstruction of justice,
abuse of power, and refusal to obey a congressional order to turn
over the tapes
• August 1974 – Nixon finally released tapes, with 18 ½ minutes
missing
• Tapes gave clear evidence Nixon was involved
• August 9, 1974 – Nixon resigned and VP Gerald Ford sworn in