"Watergate" is a
general term used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972
and 1974. The word refers to the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. In addition
to the hotel, the Watergate complex houses many business offices. It was here
that the office of the Democratic National Committee was burgled on June 17th,
1972. "Watergate" is now an all-encompassing term used to refer to:
Political Burglary
Bribery
Extortion
Wiretapping (Phone Tapping)
Conspiracy
Obstruction Of Justice
Destruction Of Evidence
Tax Fraud
Illegal Use Of The Central Intelligence Agency
(C.I.A.)
Illegal Use Of The Federal Bureau Of
Investigations (F.B.I.)
Illegal Campaign Contributions
Use Of Public (Taxpayers') Money For Private
Purposes
1968: Richard Milhous
Nixon (Republican) elected president. Nixon had been Vice President under
Eisenhower (1952-60) and had been defeated in the 1960 presidential election by
John F. Kennedy.
1971: Publication of the
"Pentagon Papers". These secret Defense Department documents on
American involvement in the Vietnam war were leaked to the New York Times by an
official in the Defense Department, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg. Nixon challenged the
publication of the documents in the Supreme Court and lost when the court ruled
6-3 in favor of publication.
1970-1: A White House
Special Investigations Unit is established, known as the "Plumbers".
This secret group investigated the private lives of Nixon's critics and
political enemies. It burgled the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist in an
attempt to discover damaging information.
Nixon was reported to have
a "hate list", containing the names of many Democrats, James Reston,
Jack Anderson, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, and even Gough
Whitlam.
Somewhere around 1971,
voice-activated tape recorders were installed in the Oval Office in the White
House.
The late 1960s were a time
of great political and social upheaval in the United States. President Johnson
had been destroyed by the Vietnam War and had announced that he would not
contest the 1968 election. A spirit of unrest pervaded the college campuses.
Demands for black rights were growing and a huge anti-war movement had
developed.
Nixon was elected on a
pledge of ending the war. During his term, he opened up diplomatic relations
with China (1971) and establishing "detente" with the Soviet Union.
It has been argued that only a president with Nixon's well-established and
hostile attitude to communism could have done these things. As the 1972
election approached, the Democrats opted for a liberal candidate, Senator
George McGovern, a factor that led to the landslide win by Nixon. Nixon won 49
of the 50 states, McGovern winning only Massachusetts and Washington D.C.
During the campaign,
McGovern had been forced to drop his vice-presidential running mate, Thomas
Eagleton, after newspapers published reports of his previous mental illness.
McGovern had earlier said he was 1000% behind Eagleton. Eagleton was replaced
by Sargent Shriver.
June 17th, 1972: Five men are arrested at the Watergate complex
after burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee. Charges are
also laid against G. Gordon Liddy (CREEP) and E. Howard Hunt, a former White
House aide. The "Watergate Seven" were sentenced by Judge John
Sirica.
January 1973: James McCord and others alleged that they had
lied in earlier evidence at the urging of John Dean (counsel to the President)
and John Mitchell (Attorney-General). These allegations of a cover-up and obstruction
of justice by the highest law officers in the land blew Watergate wide open.
February 1973: The Senate votes (77-0) to establish a Select
Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin
(Democrat - North Carolina)
April 30th 1973: Nixon announces the dismissal of Dean and the
resignations of Haldeman and Erlichman, two of his closest advisers. The
Attorney-General, Richard Kleindienst, also resigns and is replaced by Elliot
Richardson. Archibald Cox is appointed as a special Watergate prosecutor.
May-October 1973: Senate hearings continue. Alexander Butterfield
disclosed the existence of the White House tapes and a protracted legal battle
begins. Nixon claimed "executive privilege" for the tapes and argued that
he should not have to hand them over. Archibald Cox and the Senate Watergate
committee request the Supreme Court instruct Nixon to surrender the tapes.
Library of Congress
October 12th 1973: Nixon nominates Gerald Ford, Republican Minority
leader in the House of Representatives, as vice-president, following the
resignation of Spiro Agnew on bribery and tax evasion charges.
October 1973:The
Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon orders the Attorney-General to dismiss the
special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. Richardson refuses to do so and resigns. His
deputy is sacked for similarly refusing to carry out Nixon's order. Eventually,
the Solicitor-General, Robert Bork, dismisses Cox. In the 1980s, Bork becomes a
controversial Reagan nominee to the Supreme Court. His nomination is rejected
by the Senate.
Late October 1973: Under immense pressure, Nixon releases some of
the tapes. One tape is found to have a 18 and a half minute gap. Electronics
experts report that the gap was the result of at least 5 separate erasures. Nixon's
secretary, Rose Mary Woods, denies deliberately erasing the tape.
Early 1974: There are calls for Nixon to resign and the
Congress begins to seriously consider impeachment.
April 30th 1974: Nixon releases more edited transcripts of tapes.
There is public shock at the foul language used by Nixon and the expression
"expletive deleted" enters the vocabulary.
July 24th 1974: The Supreme Court orders (8-0) Nixon to release
more tapes that were potential evidence in criminal trials of his former subordinates.
July 27th-30th: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
voted (27-11) to recommend that Nixon be impeached on three charges, including
obstruction of justice.
August 5th 1974: Nixon releases three more tapes that prove he
ordered a cover-up of the Watergate burglary on June 23rd 1972, six days after
the break-in. The tapes show that he knew of the involvement of White House
officials and the Campaign for the Re-election of the President. These tapes
become known as the "smoking gun". The eleven Republicans on the
Judiciary Committee who voted against impeachment say they will change their
votes. It is clear that Nixon will be impeached and convicted in the Senate.
August 9th 1974: Nixon resigns, the first president ever to do so.
Gerald Ford becomes the
38th president. He nominates Nelson Rockefeller as vice-president. They become
the nation's first non-elected presidential duo.
September 1974: President Ford grants Nixon a "full, free
and absolute pardon".
November 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats Ford to become the 39th
president.
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