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Today’s Lecture:
Richard Nixon and the American
Political Drama
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
2
Lecture Organization:
• Class Announcements
• Nixon -- Introduction
• Nixon – The Ideological Presidency
• Nixon – Foreign Policy
• Watergate
• What Watergate Really Was
• Presidents and the Rule of Law
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
3
Class Announcements
course journal
-- Hand them in on Nov 6th
• original notes
• copies of any web activities
Questions?
Class Announcements
final paper
-- please meet me before the final class to go over your paper
-- grades will be penalized if I have not looked at your sources.
Questions?
Nixon -- Introduction
1. Interesting sort of drama
-- reminds me of Henry VIII in terms of the entertainment value
2. History’s judgment of Nixon: pragmatism & psychology
• talked like a hawk on foreign policy matters, but who, in fact, had
a pragmatic vision in foreign policy
• Talked like he hated the New Deal, but ended up launching his
own liberal domestic programs
• active/negative personality
-- personality had a “dark side” that was predicated upon
insecurity
-- physically frail, “momma’s boy”
1/18/2007
Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
-- depression after (C)
achievement
6
Nixon -- Introduction
3. Experience:
Kitchen
Debates -- vice president (1952-1960)
-- Eisenhower’s
He was
in the House
andand
Senate
beforewith
thatNikita Khrushchev
Nixon-- went
to Russia
in 1958
appeared
at Exhibition
Hall
in warrior”
Moscowduring
wherethe
Soviets
wereera
showing
off their
-- staunch
“cold
McCarthy
(“Red Scare”)
modern appliances and technology. Nixon gets into a war of words
involved in the
AlgerheHiss
case (communist
spying)
with --Khrushchev
where
argues
the case for
the benefits of
capitalism;
Khrushchev
the
case in reply for communism. This
-- is involved
in the made
hunt for
“subversives”
spectacle became known as the “kitchen debates,” because millions
“The Kitchen
Debates”
of4.Americans
saw
them on television, and made Nixon popular in the
country
– he ishad
stood
up for America
-- Nixon
more
conservative
than Ikeand showed courage. His
vision of America was more conservative than Ike had announced.
-- One
side
Nixon:
conservative
idealist in rhetoric
He was
more
of aofcold
warrior
than others.
-- Another side: Nixon the pragmatic realist – he was a shrewd
practical politician
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
-- Final side: Nixon the insecure personality.
7
Nixon – The Ideological Presidency
1. close races
-- Kennedy and Nixon in 1960
(television and insecurity)
-- Hubert Humphrey and Nixon in 1968
(another close race – Nixon barely wins)
2. Expectations in 1968
-- people thought that when Nixon was elected, he would try to
dismantle the new deal programs or cut them back
-- in fact, he will do the opposite
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
8
Nixon – The Ideological Presidency
3. Federal programs
Family
-- HeAssistance
creates thePlan
EPA --(Environmental Protection Agency)
National health insurance -(argument:
he is servicing
a policy
market)
Nixon also
National
health
had insurance
entered
the
-- White
House
being against welfare
payments
out handouts.
He didn’thealth
like welfare
state
(theand
signgiving
ofa the
times
requires
Nixon proposed
program
to bringthis?)
national
insurance
to
policies,
Nixon
is known
atinleast
not
a free
ideologically.
enterprise
So
advocate
what
happens?
– theitgreat
Hecapitalist
up–
everyone
theascountry.
Some people
screamed
was
a ends
form of
-Radical
welfare
plan
proposing
but
when
he
the
runs
FAP
into(Family
the Democrats
inflation
Assistance
problem,
what which
doeshelped
he
is do?
a defeat
radical
(Nixon
socialized
medicine.
The
in thePlan),
Congress
program.
had
an
inflation
Nixon
wanted
problem
tothat
give
hitaduring
grant
of
themoney
first
term).
to credit
people
He for
remembers
who
National
health
insurance
the--program
because
they
didn’t
want Nixon
to get
it. lived
belowhethe
what
did poverty
for the office
line in
of price
exchange
administration
for getting
during
rid the
of welfare
war (he
-- Management
ofmoney
the
bureaucracy.
worked
there).
Giving
What
heeconomy
does
without
is bureaucracy.
he proposesJust
price
mailand
everyone
wage
below a• price
controls.
certain
He controls
also
income
says
level
at one
a check
point(called
that “guaranteed
deficit spending
annualis
and
deficits
income”). His
acceptable,
and
proposal
announces
for an
that
annual
“we are
grant
all Keynesians
of money isnow.”
defeated in
Congress.
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
9
Nixon and the Court --
Nixon
– The Ideological
Presidency
Nixon’s 1968
presidential
campaign relied
upon a southern strategy,
which argued that judges were pushing too hard (too fast) for
integration in the south. He was trying to capture white southern
4. The Supreme Court
voters. He promised to fill the next supreme court vacancy from the
-- at first, he tries conservative appointments
south.
Defeated in the Senate
Nixon’s first choice was Clement Hainsworth, a federal appellate
-- ended
up nominating
balanced
set of justices
judge
from South
Carolina.aInterest
groups
began to move against
him. The Senate rejected him by a vote of 55-45. Nixon then tried G.
-- Rehnquist (arch conservative); Blackmun (centrist to liberal);
Harold Carswell of Florida. This nomination died even more quickly
Burger (pretty conservative); Powell (swing voter) – and set the
than Hainsworth. They found a 1948 speech by Carswell which
conditions for Stevens (liberal) to be appointed by Ford
showed that he supported segregation. He had said that segregation
-- The
line wasand
important
some
keyin
of the
racesPowell-Blackmun-Stevens
is proper, and the only practical
correcttoway
of life
liberal
socialat
policy
our cases
state. involving
Nixon was
angered
this, and now said he would not
nominate anyone from the south because they would be subjected to
this kind of character assassination. Nixon then nominated Harry
Blackmun, a northern judge from Minnesota.
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
10
Nixon: Foreign Policy
1. A “foreign policy president”
• Wilson had thought of himself before the election as a
domestic-policy president, but then became a foreign-policy
president
• Johnson, too.
• Nixon thought of himself as a foreign policy president from the
beginning
2. “Vietnamization”
It was Johnson’s war up to 1968
Nixon had promised to get us out of it
“Peace with honor”
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
11
Nixon: Foreign Policy
Bring the
troops home
Christmas
bombings
-- slowly
Training Vietnam to fight for itself
They hold these Paris peace talks, but Nixon believes that the
In the meantime,
he intensified
bombingSo
and
side launches
negotiation
Vietnamese
are not living
up to theirthe
promises.
Nixon
the “Christmas
bombings.”
Start bombing
CambodiaB52’s launch massive amounts of
bombs on the Hanoi and other cities. He thinks that this would be a
3. Peace
Vietnama(1973)
prelude
toinreaching
settlement for 1973. He also sends troops
over We
to Cambodia
to shut
down
the entrance
rout by which
declared that
South
Vietnam
was now properly
trainednorth
Vietnamese troops were coming into south Vietnam. This
America
therefore
declared victory
(mission
and
Cambodia
excursion
destabilizes
Cambodia
and accomplished)
touches off a new
waveleft
of opposition and protest. (The excursion into Cambodia predatedSouth
the Christmas
bombings).
The Christmas bombings were the
Vietnam promptly
loses
last effort. After this, peace is reached in 1973.
(North Vietnamese tanks roll into Saigon, which is now
known as Ho Chi Min’s city).
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
12
Nixon: Foreign Policy
40% of the American deaths that occur in Vietnam happen under
Nixon.
Pollwith
numbers
Peace
Chinaare
-- high
4. China
Nixon travels to china for peace talks in the spring of 1971. The two
Originally,
China was
seen as a fierce
adversary
countries
successfully
re-establish
relations.
Hence(enemy)
the phrase is
born, “Only Nixon could go to China.”
“birds of the same feather flock together”
1971, Nixon shocks the world:
He had been a staunch anti-communist who was denouncing
the Chinese for years
He and Kissinger secretly propose talks with China to reestablish relations
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
13
Nixon: Foreign Policy
Time
5. The Russians:
Good strategy: playing the Chinese against the Russians
They had been at each other’s throats throughout their
respective histories.
Once China and USA became strategic partners, the Russians
became upset
This made the Soviets want “détente” with the U.S.
Nixon goes to the Soviet Union and establishes SALT I treaty
and trade agreements to help the Soviet economy, which cannot
seem to produce what it needs
A new world vision for Nixon?
Nixon commits himself to a new world vision that allows room for
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
14
1/18/2007
competing societies. Peaceful
co-existence
Watergate
1. Nixon was on top of the world
-- His poll numbers are high
-- moderate domestic programs, peace and good foreign policy
-- and then he blows it
2. 1972 campaign
-- he runs against a very ineffective political opponent, George
McGovern
• McGovern promised that to get peace in Vietnam, he would
crawl to Hanoi (makes most Americans angry)
• He also promises a $1,000 a month grant for all welfare
recipients
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright
Sean Wilson.
• (it looks like a huge
amount
that2007.
would only encourage
dependency)
15
Watergate
-- Nixon destroys his opponent (not even close)
-- His victory is comparable to what FDR did to Alf Landon.
Muskie -- Bigger than Ike’s victory. Exceeds what Johnson did to
CREEP -Goldwater
in 64.
True believers.
They
are convinced they need to practice every
The wild card in this case was Senator Edmund Muskie, a liberal Democrat
trick
the book tocandidates
win the election.
They want
to find out what
-- in
potential
eliminated
from Maine.
He hadrival
been governorwere
of Maine
in thebeforehand
late 1950s, and had
democratic plans are. They break into Democratic headquarters
become a Senator
in 1959.
He was
Hubert
Humphrey's
VP candidate
Ted Kennedy
(1969
of Mary
Kopechne
at to in
at Watergate
hotel in
DC.drowning
The bandits
areJocaught,
brought
1968, and inChappaquiddick
1972 was 58. Beginning
in 1971, he emerged as a leading
Island,
police station. It becomes
clear MA)
that these are Nixon operatives.
opponent of Richard Nixon, and was seen by many Americans as a
Hubert
Humphreycandidate.
and Senator
Edmund
Muskie
qualified, quality
presidential
Muskie
seemed
calm and careful
with words,
with a liberal vision of Americas
3. CREEP
Committee to re-elect the President
Is basically 3rd rate criminal organization
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
16
Watergate
Not limited to this break-in; it performed multiple break-ins,
multiple
cover ups, slush funds, multiple felonies over time
John
Mitchell?
It was a continuing criminal enterprise
The Judge on the case of the Watergate burglars learns that the
Watergate
financed
with campaign
funds general
burglary
went burglary
as high was
up as
John Mitchell,
the attorney
and highest ranking law enforcement person in the federal
Obstruction of Justice (the crime that applies to cover ups)
government (sworn to uphold the law).
4. The story
Deep Throat = second in command at the FBI and was leaking
information about what was going on
Woodward and Bernstein and the Washington Post
John Mitchell involved?
Then they begin to cover up the cover up.
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
17
Watergate
Irvintapes
= conservative
Senator from North Carolina, begins
WhiteSam
House
-holding hearings in the Senate.
Alexander Butterfield, a low aid in the white house, tells the Irvin
It becomes evident that there is a cover up in the White House
committee that Nixon had a taping system. Wasn’t the first to do this.
Johnstarted
Dean – recording
The President’s
Council
(remember
the Executivebut
Kennedy
telephone
calls
and conversations,
Office
of theoccasions
President?)
only for
special
or things where the need for institutional
memory was very important. Johnson expands this – 1,000s of hours
Blind Ambition
of tapes.
All the President’s Men
Nixon had set up his own taping system. For Kennedy and Johnson,
Saturday Night Massacre
the taping system was recording only when you turned the system
fired
attorney
Cox because
was
on. (DictaNixon
belts?).
The
Nixongeneral
systemArchibold
was perpetually
tapinghe
around
theanyone
investigation
had
resigned)
the clock.pursuing
Whenever
came (Mitchell
to the oval
office
or in the cabinet
room to discuss something, their conversations were automatically
Alexander Butterfield and the White House taping system
recorded Butterfield told them about the tapes and they wanted to
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
18
1/18/2007
get
them. Subpoena the tapes.
Watergate
Mysterious Gap in one of the tapes (18 ½ minutes)
The tapes showed that Nixon was part of a cover up
He knew about the break in, and was trying to use money and
bribery to shut the burglars up
Barry Goldwater convinces Nixon to resign
His poll numbers are in “Jimmy Carter land”
He is told he will be successfully impeached
He resigns the presidency, the first American president to ever do
so
Spiro Agnew, the original VP, had to resign earlier because of a
scandal
(C) Copyright
Wilson. 2007.
Ford becomes president
and Sean
pardons
Nixon.
1/18/2007
19
What Watergate Really Was
1. Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers
-- two things happen:
• Ellsberg is prosecuted
Ellsberg–
• Nixon’s insiders form the Plumbers Unit
Daniel Ellsberg was a former defense department official who had
2.been
Plumbers
Unit:in the development of US strategy for the war in
involved
Vietnam.
Ellsberg
had indecided
to make
secret office,
reports
on this
-- organized
a break
of Ellsberg’s
psychiatrist
in order
to
subject
from
the Kennedy and Johnson administrations public by
get dirt
on Ellsberg
giving them to the New York times. Nixon was scared about what
-- membership
includedhad.
a bunch
of thought
presidential
aideshurt national
other
documents Ellsberg
Nixon
it would
security• and
the peace
talks in Paris.
G. Gordon
Liddy
• Howard Hunt
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
20
What Watergate Really Was
-- formed in July of 1971 and operated from an office in the old
executive office
Ellsberg’s
fate–building.
-- participated in the May and June break ins at the headquarters
Daniel
Ellsberg’s
trial
wasWatergate
dismissedoffice
because
the judge learned
of the DNC
located
in the
complex
about the break in at the psychiatrist’s place and about illegal
3. Huston
phone Plan
taps. He learned about it through a justice department
memorandum
-- Nixon group that wiretapped newsmen and conducted
electronic surveillance of newsmen
4. John Lennon case (go rent that)
Question:
They
were afraid
-- concert at the Republican national
convention
Hoover
would
Why
not just
use the
-- immigration issue
blackmail
FBI
for thisthem
stuff?
-- threats?
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
21
What Watergate Really Was
5. Manipulating democracy (“dirty tricks”)
-- CREEP is involved in trying to fix the 1972 Democratic primary
-- Nixon was scared of Humphrey, who gave him a tough race last
time (in 1968)
-- He wanted to run against McGovern, so CREEP tried to fix the
result in McGovern’s favor
“Black Advance”
• “plants” in various campaigns
• paid off newspaper journalists for campaign secrets
• finding out who was fooling around with someone’s
girlfriend, etc.
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
22
What Watergate Really Was
• Sending Pizzas from the Humphrey campaign
• Sending oranges to protestors allegedly from the Muskie
campaign
Muskie calls?
New Hampshire polling data-(Donald Segretti)
In the days before the March 7 New Hampshire primary, blue collar
IN Stealing
December
of 1971,
Muskie
polling
Navaro
Polling
DataNH,
workers
in Manchester,
found
their expert
phonesAnna
ringing
after gathered
midnight
the fake
raw data
from
a poll of There
New Hampshire
voters,
the
with
Muskie
questions.
were two types
of preparing
calls: one for
where
-- stole
thingsprimaries.
from Muskie headquarters
firstcaller
of the
Nation’s
left herofdesk
a fewfor
moments.
the
identified
himself as She
a member
the just
“Harlem
Muskie
When
reuturned,
someone
stolenMuskie
the polling
data.
Theshe
Muskie
Committee”
andStuff
promised
that had
Senator
would
deliver “full
justice for Black people;” another where the caller identified himself as
-- they mailed things in fraudulent Muskie envelopes to media
a Muskie pollster, and asked the midnight call recipient for whom he
or whomever, making it look like the Muskie campaign had
or she was voting. Then quickly the fake Nixon pollster would call
sent it
back 2, 3, 4 times with the same question.
• Fake Muskie Campaign Calls
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
23
What Watergate Really Was
• The Muskie letter attacking Humphrey
• Muskie
calls for more busing
Muskie attacks
Humphrey?
• polling
for Muskie in Florida between 3 and 5 a.m., causing
Muskie and
busing:
February 2, 1972, Nixon’s team sent out a letter from “Citizens for
anger
in those they awakened
Nixon phone
torture:
Muskie:” “We on the Senator Edmund Muskie staff sincerely hope you
There were a few billboards appearing in Florida on behalf of Muskie
• “Nixon
torture”
have decided
uponphone
Senator
Muskie as your choice. However, if you
which called
“Nixon
Phone for
Torture”
“moremeans
busing.”
tricks
They
withappeared
the Muskie
to phone
be sponsored
system. For
by
have not made your decision you should be aware of several facts.”
•on
pizza
billing
“Mothers for
example,
Muskie”
the afternoon
of November 9, Ann Garrabrant who worked
The letter went on to accuse Senators Jackson & Humphrey of a
on the staff of a Muskie sub-committee said the phones went “weirdo”
(anonymous
orderback
of 200
pizzas billed to Milwaukee
variety of sexual
activities going
to 1929.
— always ringing but when “we picked them up there was nothing there
Muskie headquarters)
but the sound of a phone ringing on the other end, just as if you had
• liquor COD
dialed a call.”
• inviting ambassadors from African and middle eastern
countries to a fund raiser with limousine service
1/18/2007
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson. 2007.
24
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Interesting question
1. president can fire the attorney general
(Nixon)
Question:
2. president has the pardon power
How can the president make
(president
breaks lawLEGALLY
X, doesn’tabove
let the
himself/herself
attorney general prosecute,
the law? and gets the
VP to pardon him)
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Pardon Power
-- Largely undefined by the Supreme Court
Pardon Power
“The President shall … have the
Power to grant Reprieves and
Pardons for Offenses against the
United States, except in Cases of
Impeachment
Question:
Question:
1/18/2007
Could
Could
Nixon
have
What
ifNixon
it be
is apardoned
state
pardoned
by Ford
himself
if he were
if he
crime?
was2007.
impeached?
not impeached? 27
(C) Copyright Sean Wilson.
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Nixon’s Pardon
-- Usually, people receive a pardon for something they have
been convicted of
(some people seek a pardon after the Courts have denied
all of their appeals)
-- Nixon, however, was pardoned BEFORE he was ever
charged with anything, and was pardoned for EVERYTHING
that he could have done while in office for six years
-- “blanket pardon”
any crime Nixon may have committed during his entire
tenure as chief executive, from January 20, 1969, through
August 9, 1974
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Impeachment Power
-- Impeachment is a charge that is brought by the House
-- The trial is conducted by the Senate, with a 2/3rds majority to
convict
-- The Constitution allows for the removal of the president, vice
president, and all civil officers of the United States who are
impeached and convicted of:
“Treason, Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”
Note that this power can be used by the president as well.
(See Jefferson and the impeachment of Federalist judges)
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Impeachment Power
-- Impeachment is a charge that is brought by the House
-- The trial is conducted by the Senate, with a 2/3rds majority to
convict
-- The Constitution allows for the removal of the president, vice
Question:
president, and all civil officers of the United States who are
impeached and convicted of:How can you investigate the
if he
she is in
“Treason, Bribery or other president
high Crimes
andorMisdemeanors”
control of the attorney general?
How
would
you
ever find
Note that this power can be
used
by the
president
as the
well.
(See Jefferson and the impeachment
of Federalist
judges)
dirt needed
to impeach?
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Morrison v. Olson
Facts:
• Congress creates the office of the special prosecutor
• one tiny problem: isn’t that an executive function?
Question:
Question:
Is Congress allowed to create
an “attorney
type
of
What aregeneral”
the facts
of this
office to investigate
case the
president?
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Morrison v. Olson
Holding
• This does NOT violate separation of powers
(Scalia’s dissent warns that this office will create problems)
Presidents and the Rule of Law
History of the Special Counsel
-- Began after Watergate in 1978
-- Republicans claimed that Lawrence Walsh’s investigation
of Iran Contra was politically motivated:
• timing of the indictments
• leaks in the press
-- Democrats claimed that Ken Starr’s investigation of Bill
Clinton was politically motivated
-- the statute expired in 1999 and was not renewed.
Presidents and the Rule of Law
History of the Special Counsel
-- Current events:
• firing of the united states attorneys allegedly for not putting
the heat on certain democrats (fast enough?) during the
recent elections
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Congressional Hearings
-- One way to check the president is through hearings (perjury
is a major felony). Can alert the public to dirt and scandal.
(much harder to do unless you have divided government)
Presidents and the Rule of Law
United States v. Nixon
Facts:
-- Nixon’s burglary “crew” is being prosecuted
-- Prosecutors need evidence
-- They subpoena the White House for tapes and other
documentary or testimonial evidence
-- president is claiming “executive privilege”
Presidents and the Rule of Law
United States v. Nixon
Facts:
Nixon
Aides indicted
-- Nixon’s burglary “crew” is being prosecuted
The grand jury returned indictments against seven of
-- Prosecutors
evidence
President
Richardneed
Nixon's
closest aides in the Watergate
affair.
The prosecutor
andWhite
the defendants
soughtand
audio
tapes
Question:
-- They
subpoena the
House for tapes
other
of conversations
recorded
by Nixon
in the Oval Office. Nixon
documentary or
testimonial
evidence
doesfrom
the the
Constitution
asserted that he wasWhat
immune
subpoena claiming
say“executive
about
this?
the information
-- president
is claiming
privilege”
"executive
privilege,"
which
is the right
toDoes
withhold
President
have
power?confidential
from other government
branches
to this
preserve
communications within the executive branch or to secure the
national interest.
Presidents and the Rule of Law
United States v. Nixon
Facts:
-- Explain executive privilege
-- secrecy concept inherent in the functioning of counselors
and organizations (doctors, lawyers, child counselors,
juries, etc.)
-- Presidents since Washington have historically claimed
this
Presidents and the Rule of Law
United States v. Nixon
Holding:
(a) executive privilege does exist;
(b) but not in this case
Presidents and the Rule of Law
Immunity from Lawsuits
Nixon v. Fitzgerald
-- President has immunity from lawsuits for actions taken
within the scope of his job [explain]
Clinton v. Jones
-- Sexual harassment case for conduct Clinton committed
while being Arkansas governor
-- Clinton only wanted a delay.
-- He couldn’t even get that; the case had to proceed while
he was in the White House