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Tricky Dick

Tricky Dick. Interview from 1977 (after the Watergate Scandal) FROST: So what you are saying. . . the president can decide that it's in the best interests of the nation or something, and do something illegal. NIXON: Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal.

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Tricky Dick

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  1. Tricky Dick

  2. Interview from 1977 (after the Watergate Scandal) FROST: So what you are saying. . . the president can decide that it's in the best interests of the nation or something, and do something illegal. NIXON:Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal. FROST:By definition.NIXON:Exactly. Exactly. If the president, for example, approves something because of the national security, or in this case because of a threat to internal peace and order of significant magnitude, then the president's decision in that instance is one that enables those who carry it out, to carry it out without violating a law. Otherwise they're in an impossible position.FROST:So, that in other words. . . the dividing line [between right and wrong] is that in fact, the dividing line [of] the president's judgment?NIXON: Yes It has often been said that in the United States we have the rule of law, not men. What do you think this means? Does President Nixon's statement that "when the president does it [something illegal], that means that it is not illegal" support the idea that the United States has the rule of law, not men? Why or why not?

  3. AN IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY • EXECUTIVE = MOST POWERFUL BRANCH OF U.S. GOV’T DUE TO: • GREAT DEPRESSION • WWII • COLD WAR • NIXON WANTED TO MAKE EXEC. BRANCH EVEN MORE POWERFUL . . . TO MAKE THE PRESIDENT LIKE AN “EMPEROR” • CAUSED TENSION WITH CONGRESS

  4. AN IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY • REFUSED TO SPEND $ FOR PROGRAMS HE OPPOSED • INVADED CAMBODIA WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL • KEPT AN “ENEMIES LIST”: • USED THE FBI AND IRS TO HARASS POLITICAL OPPONENTS • NIXON’S PERSONALITY WAS: • SHY • INSECURE • ALOOF • SECRETIVE • PARANOID • VINDICTIVE

  5. All the President’s Men • RELIED ON A SMALL GROUP OF LOYAL ADVISORS: • H.R. HALDEMAN (WHITE HOUSE- CHIEF OF STAFF) • JOHN EHRLICHMAN (DOMESTIC ADVISOR) • JOHN MITCHELL (ATTORNEY GENERAL) • BELIEVED THEY WERE ABOVE THE LAW

  6. THE PENTAGON PAPERS • Internal Govn’t investigation finding released to newspapers- Among other things, papers showed: • LBJ began planning to wage overt war in 1964, a full year before the depth of U.S. involvement was publicly revealed • Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam in 1965 despite the judgment of the U.S. intelligence community that it would not cause the North Vietnamese to cease their support of the Viet Cong in South Vietnam.

  7. THE PENTAGON PAPERS • SHOWED THE GOV’T LIED ABOUT VIETNAM • PUBLISHED IN THE NYT • OBTAINED FROM DANIEL ELLSBERG (FORMER DEPT. OF DEFENSE EMPLOYEE) • NIXON ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK PUBLICATION • COURT UPHOLDS NYT’s FREEDOM OF SPEECH

  8. The “Plumbers” • “PLUMBERS” = TEAM OF WHITE HOUSE INVESTIGATORS CREATED TO: • PREVENT GOV’T SECRETS FROM LEAKING TO THE PRESS • HELP ENSURE NIXON’S 1972 RE-ELECTION • BURGLARIZED OFFICE OF ELLSBERG’S PSYCHIATRIST TO GET DAMAGING EVIDENCE TO DISCREDIT HIM

  9. A BUNGLED BURGLARY • WATERGATE HOTEL, WASH. D.C., JUNE 17, 1972 • “PLUMBERS” CAUGHT BREAKING INTO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE HQ • PLANNED TO PHOTOGRAPH DOCUMENTS AND WIRETAP PHONES

  10. A BUNGLED BURGLARY • TIES TO WHITE HOUSE: • JAMES McCORD, LEAD “PLUMBER”, WAS A FORMER CIA AGENT • ALSO WORKED FOR THE COMMITTEE TO REELECT THE PRESIDENT OR“CREEP” • PAPERS FOUND ON BURGLARS LED BACK TO WHITE HOUSE STAFF MEMBER

  11. A BUNGLED BURGLARY • A COVER-UP OF THE WHITE HOUSE CONNECTION BEGAN: • WORKERS SHREDDED DOCUMENTS • NIXON URGED THE FBI TO STOP INVESTIGATING THE BREAK-IN (WOULD HARM NATIONAL SECURITY) • “CREEP” PAID “HUSH” $ TO THE WATERGATE BURGLARS

  12. WOODWARD & BERNSTEIN AT THE WASHINGTON POST NEWSPAPER: • YOUNG REPORTERS BOB WOODWARD AND CARL BERNSTEIN CONTINUED TO INVESTIGATE • LINKED NIXON ADMINISTRATION TO THE BREAK-IN • HELPED BY FBI INFORMANT CODE NAMED “DEEP THROAT” • A SERIES OF ARTICLES BECAME THE BOOK ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN

  13. BERNSTEIN & WOODWARD

  14. THE ELECTION OF 1972

  15. THE ELECTION OF 1972 • DEMOCRATS RAN GEORGE MCGOVERN: • ANTIWAR CANDIDATE • NIXON CAMPAIGN: • CLAIMED HIS POLICIES WERE BRINGING PEACE TO VIETNAM • SAID McGOVERN WAS IN FAVOR OF “ACID, AMNESTY AND ABORTION” • NIXON WINS IN A LANDSLIDE: • 520 TO 17 IN ELECTORAL COLLEGE • 60.7% TO 37.5% IN POPULAR VOTE

  16. THE COVER-UP UNRAVELS • DURING THE TRIAL OF THE “PLUMBERS”, McCORD ADMITS HE LIED UNDER OATH • McCORD NAMES JOHN DEAN (LEGAL COUNSEL TO NIXON) AND MITCHELL AS BEING INVOLVED • RESIGNATIONS AND FIRINGS: • DEAN, HALDEMAN, & EHRLICHMAN • NIXON CLAIMS HE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE BREAK-IN • NIXON APPOINTS A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO INVESTIGATE (ARCHIBALD COX)

  17. THE COVER-UP UNRAVELS • THE SENATE SETS UP ITS OWN INVESTIGATION • WHITE HOUSE CLAIMS “EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE”: • CONGRESS CAN ONLY QUESTION PAST OR PRESENT EMPLOYEES WITH NIXON’S APPROVAL • VIOLATION OF “CHECKS AND BALANCES”

  18. STARTLING TESTIMONY • DEAN REVEALS NIXON INVOLVED IN COVER-UP • DENIED BY NIXON • ALEXANDER BUTTERFIELD REVEALED THAT NIXON TAPEDVIRTUALLY ALL WHITEHOUSECONVERSATIONS!!! • BOTH THE SENATE AND PROSECUTOR COX DEMAND TO HEAR THE TAPES!

  19. BATTLE OVER THE TAPES • SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE: • COX TAKES NIXON TO COURT FOR THE TAPES • NIXON FIRES COX (PROSECUTOR THAT NIXON HIMSELF APPOINTED) • COX IS REPLACED BY LEON JAWORSKI • JAWORSKI IS ALSO DETERMINED TO GET THE TAPES • MEANWHILE . . . VICE PRESIDENT SPIRO AGNEW RESIGNS: • TAX EVASION, EXTORTION, BRIBERY WHILE GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND • GERALD FORD BECOMES NEW VICE PRESIDENT

  20. Above photo shows the location of the oval office and the Nixon hide out office where he bugged himself and the residence where he sat in the Lincoln bedroom and listened to the tapes.

  21. NIXON RELEASES THE TAPES • 7 PRESIDENTIAL AIDES ARE INDICTED FOR PERJURY AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE • NIXON OFFERS TO RELEASE WRITTEN SUMMARIES OF TAPES • INVESTIGATORS DEMAND ORIGINAL TAPES • NIXON REFUSES, CLAIMING “NATIONAL SECURITY” • COURTS DISAGREE WITH NIXON • NIXON TELLS THE AMERICAN PUBLIC : “I AM NOT A CROOK.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M

  22. NIXON RELEASES THE TAPES • HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES IMPEACHMENT ON THREE CHARGES: • OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE • ABUSE OF POWER • CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS (TAPE REFUSAL!) • NIXON TURNS OVER THE TAPES: • SOME TAPES “MISSING” • ONE TAPE HAS AN 18 AND ½ MINUTE “GAP”

  23. The 18 And 1/2 Minute GapOn the first tape requested from Nixon's secret taping system • The 18 and 1/2 minute gap in the Nixon tapes occurs on tape 342, a meeting on June 20th, 1972 between H.R. Haldeman and President Nixon in the Executive Office Building. This is just three days after the Watergate break-in. • The White House claims the gaps was made accidentally by Rose Marry Woods when she answered the telephone during a period of time she was typing transcripts of the tape. It was later determined that the eraser was made by hitting the erase button nine times.

  24. NIXON RELEASES THE TAPES • NIXON MAKES MORE TAPES PUBLIC THAT SHOW: • SIX DAYS AFTER THE BREAK-IN NIXON KNEW ABOUT THE BREAK-IN AND AGREED TO HELP COVER IT UP • HAD LIED TO CONGRESS, THE PEOPLE, AND EVEN HIS OWN LAWYER! • THE EVIDENCE WAS OVERWHELMING • THE HOUSE OF REPS. MOVED TO IMPEACH NIXON

  25. THE EFFECTS OF WATERGATE • BEFORE THE IMPEACHMENT VOTE BEGAN NIXON RESIGNED (AUGUST 9, 1974): • ADMITTED NO GUILT • ONLY “ERRORS OF JUDGMENT” • 25 MEMBERS OF THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION SERVED PRISON TERMS RELATED TO WATERGATE • DEEP DISILLUSIONMENT: • PUBLIC AND PRESS REMAIN CYNICAL TOWARDS POLITICIANS AND GOV’T

  26. FORD PARDONS NIXON • BLANKET PARDON: • NO INDICTMENT • “OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER” • PUBLIC REACTION: • ANGER – SEEMED LIKE FAVORITISM • SUBORDINATES IN PRISON BUT NIXON PARDONED • FURTHER DISILLUSIONMENT & DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT • FORD DEFEATED IN THE ’76 ELECTION

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