The Watergate break-in and its impact on American presidential authority

1972 Watergate Break in

Nixon's Connection to the Watergate Break In

Richard Nixon (the 37th president of the United States), in 1974, went into America's books of history as the first and the only president to resign from office. Nixon would evidently enjoy a successful political career, dating back to 1946, when he first got elected to congress. According to Kutler (2010), many viewed Nixon as "an ongoing presence in American politics" (p.1). Promises to bring unity, peace, and prosperity to the American electorate would see him amass support; sufficient enough to enable him ascend to the presidency in 1968. In November 1972, Nixon got re-elected, amidst the discovery of evidence by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, linking the Committee to Re-Elect the President and some White House officials to a number of illegal activities, including the Watergate burglary.

With the presidential election only four months away, Geis (2011) points out that "the burglary, orchestrated by Nixon's operatives, was aimed at planting recording devices, and stealing confidential information regarding the plans of the opposition Democratic Party for the election"(p.170). In the opinion of Kutler (2010), during the period preceding the elections, a number of Nixon's aides would do anything in their power to ensure he got re elected. This attempt to ensure power is preserved could have, in the words of Kutler (2010), been aimed at "hiding the 'White house horrors' of the first term" (p.2). Persecution and torture of prominent opposition supporters were among the list of crimes that Nixon's aides were accused of. In the words of Duigman (2010), "federal agencies were used to harass those that were on Nixon's 'enemies' list" (p.42).

In the wee hours of the morning of June 17th 1972, the police, after being briefed by the night watchman at the Watergate complex, arrested five men attempting a second-time break in. According to Geis (2011), James W. McCord had been leading the crew. Further investigations by the FBI led to the discovery that McCord worked for CREEP, as security organizer. The days that followed saw White house aide, E.Howard Hunt, and CREEP finance co coordinator, G. Gordon Liddy, linked to the Watergate burglars. This prompted Nixon to "order his chief of staff H.R. Haldeman to tell the FBI not to probe too deeply into connections between the White House and the burglars" (Olson, 2007, p.248).

However, with the Watergate saga fast drawing public attention, the senate set up a committee to probe the events of and motives behind the Watergate break in. Law professor Archibald Cox was named the committee's special prosecutor. The investigating committee summoned some of the top officials of Nixon's re election committee for questioning. John Dean, the President's counsel, admitted having "discussed the Watergate plan with the president at least 35 times" (Geis, 2011, p.173). Dean's testimony revealed that, with the help of H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman (both advisors to the White House), the former attorney general John Mitchell had been notified of the impending break in and had given his consent. In March, 1973, McCord angered by the White House's failure to prevent his conviction, spilled the beans on the latter's massive cover up of its involvement in the Watergate burglary (Duignan, 2010).

Part 2

Events Surrounding the Discovery of Tapes and the 18 and a half Minutes of silence

When a witness before the senate committee gave testimony of Nixon's installed secret tapes, "the struggle over Watergate and the President's place in it was dramatically altered" (Kutler, 2010, p.135). Archibald Cox wrote to Nixon, asking him to surrender the said tapes and all recordings in his possession. Nixon, in defiance, wrote back arguing that the tapes only contained the most confidential information that he shared with his top aides, and that they therefore had nothing to do with Watergate. Klein (2008) notes that Nixon was once quoted in a press briefing as having said, "this kind of activity has no place in our governmental process and the White House therefore has no involvement whatsoever in this particular incident" (p.121). According to Kutler (2010), despite Nixon's lawyer's argument that "one of the subpoenaed tapes had national security material, 'so highly sensitive'"(p.135), the president's request got turned down by Judge Sirica - the presiding judge at the sentencing of McCord and his four accomplices. According to Kutler (2010), the judge argued that "there could be no exception to the compulsory process of the courts" (p.135). Nixon produced summaries of the tape recordings, which Cox consequently rejected. As a result, Nixon fired him in the famous 'Saturday Night Massacre.' Geis (2011) points out that the attorney General, Richard Kleindienst, resigned in protest of the president's move. Nixon constantly refused to surrender the tape recordings to the senate, but he finally did, on 30th July, 1974, under the Supreme Court's orders (Geis, 2011). However, when he finally did, "eighteen and a half minutes were found to have been erased from one of the tapes" (Geis, 2011, p.173). White House officials claimed that an employee had mistakenly stepped on the tape, erasing the missing information, while rushing to answer the telephone. An audit ordered by judge Sirica, however, revealed that the tape had been deliberately tampered with (Kuntler, 2010). When the recordings' transcripts were eventually obtained, there was proof enough that Nixon had indeed attempted to cover up his involvement in the Watergate break in. As Duignan (2009) points out, "Nixon resigned from office on 9th August 1974, but was spared punishment when his successor Gerald Ford, granted him an unconditional pardon" (p.42).