Friday, December 8, 2017, Professor Irving. The guard continued his rounds, removing the tape. The guard returned an hour later to find that the latches were taped again. At this point, the guard called 911 to report that the latches had been taped over again. This was the beginning of one of America’s most scandalous political scandals.
Watergate was a scandal that led to investigations into Nixon’s administration. This led ultimately to the impeachment of Nixon and his resignation. It began with five burglars being charged with breaking into Washington D.C.’s Watergate compound. The DNC offices were broken into by five of the men. The DNC offices were “bugged” by listening and recording devices. During their initial investigation, the FBI discovered the name of E. Howard Hunt in two addresses of burglars. Hunt was a former CIA Officer who worked at the White House. This raised red flags immediately in the investigation. The White House tried not to be involved in the incident and claimed that it was a “third-rate attempted burglary”. John Dean, White House Counsel for the White House, said that an investigation was conducted by Nixon and that no one in the White House or Administration had been involved in the “very strange incident.” John Dean did not and will not conduct any investigations. An FBI investigation found that a cashier’s cheque meant for the Committee for the Re-Election of the President was in the account of one of the thieves. This led to the discovery that thousands more dollars were in the accounts of burglars. These could be connected back to CRP. This directly implicated CRP and Nixon. The FBI reported, on October 10, 1972. That the Watergate attack was part of an extensive political conspiracy orchestrated in Washington by Nixon. Nixon was reelected in November 1972 and sworn to office for a second term. The Watergate burglars were tried and convicted by a grand jury in January 2001. Two additional burglars were also charged. G. Gordan Liddy was a CRP lawyer and Hunt. Hunt and Liddy managed to break into the Watergate Hotel’s room. The burglar wrote a letter to President Nixon two months later, expressing his dismay at the fact that Hunt and Liddy had been appointed to supervise the break-in from a room in the Watergate Hotel.
In his letter, he said that he had been pressured into making false statements and that the break in was not a CIA operation. Instead, it involved high-ranking officials. This letter was immediately sent to the White House. The situation was reopened after the letter. Soon thereafter, John Dean as well as the attorney general resigned. This was done to “bug” the DNC and save the presidency. The Watergate Investigations was a new task for the attorney general. It was an independent investigation.
Archibald Cox was the man who was appointed. Archibald C. Cox was the man appointed. The White House had been recording was discovered during a preliminary interview. It was discovered that recordings were being made in many rooms, including the Oval Office and Cabinet Room. Cox and Senator Subpoenaed these tapes after they were discovered. Nixon, however, claimed executive privilege and refused release. He also ordered Cox not to release the subpoena. Cox refused, however, to stop insisting. Cox’s persistent persistence prompted the president of the United States to fire Cox. The order led to protests by both Cox and his Deputy AttorneyGeneral. This was also known as the “Saturday Night Massacre”.
Cox was eventually fired but not before he contemplated resigning. Cox was fired by the Solicitor General, prompting significant criticism. The grand jury named Nixon, an “unindicted” co-conspirator, at the Watergate indictment. Because it was believed that a sitting president couldn’t be indicted, this was done. Nearly two years after the indictments, Nixon released highly redacted transcripts from the recordings. This was due to national security. In an effort to improve his image, the transcripts also included profanity edits. After reading the transcripts, Nixon supporters began to call for his resignation and impeachment. The public was not satisfied with the release. The Supreme Court heard the matter in United States v. Nixon. The supreme Court unanimously ruled against Nixon and ordered that he turn over all original tapes. In this instance, the executive privilege claims were null. Nixon was slandered by the release. In the tapes, there are conversations in which Nixon agrees to pay Hunt blackmail cash. At the time, it was unclear if Hunt was actually complicit in the cover up. The president at that time denied any involvement.
Congress took action after the tapes were released. On February 6, 1974, Congress began investigating the impeachment of president. The House of Representatives suggested three articles of impeachment, obstruction of justice and abuse of power in July 1974. The White House released an earlier unheard tape just before the House of Representatives could resolve the impeachment inquiry.
The tape was made a few weeks after Watergate’s break-ins. It shows Nixon talking to an aide (one the seven indicted) about how to stop FBI investigations from continuing. This “smoking bullet” proved Nixon’s complicity in covering up the entire affair.
