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The Watergate Crisis Essay Research Paper Richard

The Watergate Crisis Essay, Research Paper


Richard Nixon’s presidency is one of the most examined,


analyzed and discussed, yet least understood, of all the


American administrations in history (Genovese 1). While


many factors still remain to be discovered, and many


mysteries are left to be resolved, we need to do the best that


we can to make sense of this secretive president of our past


and his era. He is the one American figure about whom very


few people don’t have strong feelings for. Nixon is loved and


hated, honored and mocked (Genovese 2).


The term ‘Watergate’, labeled by Congress in 1974, stands for


not only the burglary, but also for the numerous instances of


officially sanctioned criminal activity and abuses of power as


well as the obstruction of justice that preceded the actual


break-in (Kutler 9). Watergate involved the political behavior of


the President and his men, beginning during Nixon’s first term


and extending to his resignation. Some of the criminal


behavior was a result of the disastrous events of the 1960’s.


These events include the civil rights movement, the controlling


of cities and most importantly, the Vietnam War (Kutler 9). In


H. R. Haldeman’s book The Ends of Power, he quotes, ‘I


firmly believe that without the Vietnam War, there would’ve


been no Watergate’ (Haldeman 79). He goes on to say that


the Vietnam War destroyed Nixon as completely as it ruined


Johnson.


Originating in Kennedy’s term, Vietnam grew to be even more


of a disaster after his assassination. The tidal wave of


problems crashed abruptly on Johnson, who consequently


made them worse. The American society was dividing.


Furious protests made Johnson portray a scapegoat for the


nation’s anxieties (Kutler 10). Then Nixon stepped into the


picture in the presidential elections of 1968. He was


successful with 43.6 percent over Humprey’s 42.7 percent


and Wallace’s 13.5 percent (Genovese 6). He promised that


he would "bring us together". The riots grew and the divisions


widened.


The day it all began was a Sunday, May 28, 1972. The


contrasts that were taking place on this day were


extraordinary. President Richard Nixon was in Moscow,


nearing the climax of the first-ever summit to be held between


American and Soviet Presidents (Emery 3). Five thousand


miles away, in Washington, D.C., it was a different story.


There was also a first-time event happening in our nation’s


capital, but it was not something to be proud of. The first of


several illegal break-ins into the Democratic National


Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate Complex


was in effect (Emery 3).


In Moscow, Nixon was planning a television speech to


present to the Russian people, a speech that would be


considered one of his best. It was an inspiring speech that


would remove the fear that he believed restrained the


Americans and the Soviets from better relationships in the


past. Meanwhile, in Washington, the President’s election staff


was overcome with a different fear. Despite Nixon’s high


standing position for being reelected, his CREEP staff


(Committee to Reelect the President) was afraid that they


might not have as much ‘dirt’ on Nixon’s opponents as they


had on Nixon. The President laid upon his staff the


determination to do whatever possible to win the election


(Emery 4).


With this approval, Nixon’s staff, headed by G. Gordon Liddy,


began planning more ways of attaining information from the


DNC. What they named the ‘Plumbers unit’ was established


as a special task force for the President. The Plumbers’


purpose was to keep any secret information from being


discovered by reporters. In one situation, wearing CIA


provided disguises, they illegally broke into Dr. Field’s office,


a psychiatrist, for information on a patient, Daniel Ellsberg,


who had given private Pentagon papers to the New York


Times (Hargrove 25). It turned out that the doctor had already


been visited by the FBI and, taking precaution, removed the


files.


The White House also came up with an adversary list. Every


President from Washington to Johnson has had his list of


disapprovals, but Nixon’s was much more efficient and


threatening (White 152). The list originated on Charles


Colson’s desk, a White House mentor, and then was


circulated by John W. Dean III through the members of the


underground. John Dean was the White House attorney at the


time. The list’s total came to over three hundred names, the


prime list to twenty, in no specific order (White 152).


On June 17th, after several break-ins, police arrested five


burglars found in the offices of Larry O’Brien, the Democratic


National Chairman, at the Watergate complex. President


Nixon, immediately after hearing of the break-in, appointed a


top aide, John Ehrlichman, to uncover everything he could


about the break-in and denied any involvement (Kilian 119).


Among those arrested were Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, a


spy for the CIA, and James W. McCord, a CIA agent who was


hired by Nixon to be a security coordinator for his reelection


committee. Liddy, Hunt and the burglars all pleaded not guilty


and were released on bond. The police also turned up $4,500


in brand new one-hundred dollar bills, bugging equipment,


small tear-gas guns, cameras, rolls of unexposed film,


burglary tools and walkie-talkies. The motive of the burglary


was obviously to spy on Democratic headquarters and the


burglars were apparently getting paid for the duty (Hargrove


8). After this incident, Liddy, who put together the plan that


eventually became Watergate, told Dean that he was willing


to be shot if it would help matters (Kilian 119). Nixon then


fired Liddy from his job with the reelection committee.


The next advancement in the case was on August 1st, 1972.


On this day, the Washington Post revealed that a $25,000


check had been deposited into the bank account of one of the


burglars. It also contributed to President Nixon’s reelection


campaign. In the following eight months, over $400,000 in


cash was paid under the table to the burglars (Ben-Veniste


53). The people involved in these payments used code names


such as "the writer", the money was "the script", and the


other burglars were "the players". They communicated only


by pay phone and left the money for the burglars or their


lawyers in "dead drops" on top of pay phones or in luggage


lockers at National Airports. The burglars and lawyers kept


demanding money until the point where there was none left.


John Dean then received Haldeman’s, Nixon’s chief of staff,


permission to use a secret $350,000 White House fund. The


hush money was continually paid until the evening of March


21st, 1973, when the last amount of $75,000 was handed over.


Meanwhile, in the White House, on November 7, 1972,


President Nixon had been reelected, winning in a landslide


against Democrat Senator George McGovern. In every state


in the Union, except for one, Nixon had prevailed (White 169).


He had swept the nation, everyone from Catholics to


Protestants, and farmers to businessmen. Nixon could


invision a world of change at his fingertips – in housing, in tax


structure,

in welfare and in race-relations. He wanted to


achieve what he had already achieved in foreign affairs, but he


knew it would be difficult.


On January 8, 1973 the trial of the Watergate burglars opened


in the courtroom of the District Judge John J. Sirica (Kilian


120). Howard Hunt, right off the bat, pleaded guilty and four of


the five burglars followed his lead. The jury found Liddy and


James McCord, a CIA agent, guilty of conspiracy, illegal


wiretapping and burglary. They were the only two that did not


plead guilty. McCord later stated that he had been pressured


to plead guilty and to remain silent about others involved


(Hargrove 17).


Judge Sirica was dissatisfied with the findings. He felt that


there was much more going on than was being told. The


Senate’s feeling was mutual and voted to create a Senate


Select Committee to investigate the affair. They chose


Democratic Senator Sam Ervin to head the committee and


immediately began diligently working on the case.


In the meantime, Judge Sirica received an envelope from


James McCord. The envelope contained two letters. The first


was a duplicate of a letter that McCord had sent to the New


York Times denying an article linking him to the ’strong arm


tactics’ that they had published the day prior. The second


letter was addressed to the Judge himself. At the finish of the


message, McCord wrote:


"Be that as it may, in the interest of restoring faith in


the criminal justice system which faith had been


severely damaged in this case I will state the


following to you at this time which I hope may be a


help to you in meting out justice in this case."


"1. There was political pressure applied to the


defendants to plead guilty and remain silent.


"2. Perjury occurred during the trial of matters highly


material to the very structure, orientation and impact


of the government’s case and to the motivation of


and the intent of the defendants.


"3. Others involved in Watergate were not identified


in the trial when they could’ve been by those


testifying.


"4. The Watergate operation was not a CIA


operation. I know for a fact that it was not.


"5. Some statements were unfortunately made by a


witness witch left the Court with the impression that


he was stating untruths or withholding facts of his


knowledge when in fact only honest errors were


involved.


"6. My motivations were different than those of


others involved but were not limited to or simply


those offered in my defense during the trial. This is


not the fault of my attorneys but of the circumstances


under which we had to prepare my defense.


"The statements are true and correct to the best of


my knowledge and belief (Sirica 96)."


This letter indicated that McCord was willing


to break the silence that had frustrated


millions of people since the crime itself.


James McCord also indicated within the


letter that the cover up was so extensive that


he didn’t even trust the FBI or the


prosecutors (Sirica 97).


The only doubt that Judge Sirica had was


about the statement implying that the CIA


had no part in the scandal. McCord had


been a CIA employee for nineteen years and


was fiercely dedicated to his job. In


December of 1972 he had threatened the


White House that if they continued to blame


the CIA "every tree in the forest will fall. It will


be a scorched desert." Judge Sirica doubted


that he would ever admit the CIA’s


involvement even if they had taken part


(Sirica 98).


Deeper into the trial, the Court learned that


the FBI investigation had all along been


carefully limited and monitored by the White


House. They also learned that some of the


officials in Nixon’s campaign had lied before


the jury.


As the trial progressed, on July 16, 1973, a


White House aide, Alexander Butterfield,


revealed that President Nixon had all of the


White House conversations tape-recorded


since 1970 (Kilian 121). The Senate


Investigation Committee and Special


Prosecutor Archibald Cox immediately wrote


letters requesting to hear the tapes.


President Nixon initially refused to present


them but then was forced by Judge Sirica to


hand them over. The tapes, when eventually


given to the White House, contained an


eighteen minute, fifteen second gap that was


recorded three days after the Watergate


break in. The White House, under pressure


to release the tapes, copied down the


conversations on the recordings and


released the transcripts publicly (Kilian 123).


The House Judiciary Committee told the


President that the transcripts were not


enough but he still refused to turn them over.


In return, they approved three articles of


impeachment that accused the President of


abuse of power, obstructing justice in the


Watergate case and defying subpoenas for


the Watergate tapes.


On July 30, 1974 the President turned over


eleven of the sixty-four conversations to


Judge Sirica, and on August 2nd he


submitted thirteen more. Knowing that his


status was quickly deteriorating, President


Nixon made three transcripts of


conversations that he had had with H.R.


Haldemen on June 23,1972, public. The


conversations showed that Nixon tried to get


the CIA to restrain the FBI from investigating


the scandal (Kilian 23). On August 8, 1974


President Nixon resigned from office.


The next day at 12:03 p.m. Gerald Ford was


formally sworn in as President by chief


justice Warren Burger. Ford stated, "Our


long, national nightmare is over, Our


Constitution works. Our great republic is a


government of laws and not of men. Here,


the people rule (Kilian 110)."


The Watergate Scandal caused national


turmoil. Americans, as well as other


countries, lost faith in the United States and


its leaders. Nevertheless, the affair proved


that the American government works.


Watergate revealed Nixon at his worst. He


had many great accomplishments during his


presidency and set many great examples.


Unfortunately, none were part of Watergate


(Hargrove 31).


Bib:


Ben-Veniste, Richard, and George Frampton, Jr. Stonewall: The


Real Story of the


Watergate Prosecution. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977.


Emery, Fred. Watergate. New York: Times Books, 1994.


Genovese, Michael A. The Nixon Presidency: Power and Politics in


Turbulent Times. London: Greenwood Press, 1990.


Haldeman, H.R. The Ends of Power. New York: Times Books, 1978.


Hargrove, Jim. The Story of Watergate. Chicago: Children’s Press,


1988.


Kilian, Pamela. What was Watergate? New York: St. Martin’s Press,


1990.


Kutler, Stanley I. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of


Richard Nixon. New York:


Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.


Sirica, John J. To Set the Record Straight. New York: W.W. Norton


& Company,


White, Theodore H. Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon.


New York: Atheneum


Publishers, 1975.

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