what was president richard nixon trying to avoid when he claimed executive

Written by: Anthony D. Bartl, Angelo State University

Past the end of this section, you volition:

• Explain the causes and effects of continuing policy debates near the role of the federal government over fourth dimension

Richard M. Nixon was the first U.S. president e'er to resign. He did so under threat of impeachment in the wake of the Watergate investigation, named for the hotel and office complex that housed the Autonomous National Commission headquarters, which individuals continued to his assistants had broken into and tried to problems (i.e., electronically eavesdrop) in accelerate of the 1972 election. When the burglars were caught, their White House handlers engaged in a criminal comprehend-upwards, including perjury and obstruction of justice, in an effort to insulate the administration from the investigation. These efforts had the opposite issue, notwithstanding, making the Nixon assistants even more complicit and reflecting badly on a president under whose watch such criminality appeared to flourish. Since then, "Watergate" has become the symbol of high-level political scandal.

The road to Watergate begins with a covert White Firm unit chosen "the Plumbers," which was convened past Nixon's chief domestic advisor John Ehrlichman for the purpose of plugging information leaks from the White Firm. Charles Colson was i of the conspiracy'southward earliest and most enthusiastic volunteers. He (and Nixon) believed in that location was a "counter-regime" in the bureaucracy that was undermining the administration, with the help of the liberal-dominated media and the Democratic-controlled Congress. Only the "silent majority" who had voted for Nixon seemed to be on his side. "Some aspects of this perception were truthful, some were exaggerated, and some were neurotic," writes one Nixon biographer. In whatsoever case, the creation of the Plumbers was a Rubicon of sorts for the Nixon administration, which allowed people with questionable upstanding judgment to engage in illegal activeness to effort to thwart the president'southward alleged enemies.

John Ehrlichman, shown in 1969, was a loftier-level counselor to President Nixon at the fourth dimension of the Watergate scandal.

The most significant of the information leaks consisted of the "Pentagon Papers, " a summit-secret vii,000-page government report on the origins and conduct of the Vietnam War, which the New York Times began to publish in installments in June 1971. The source for the documents was Daniel Ellsberg, a forty-year-old analyst at the RAND Corporation, where he had access to a copy of the written report. Nixon wanted to ignore the whole episode considering information technology was damaging to his two Democratic predecessors, not to him, and he even hoped it might confirm President Kennedy's role in the 1963 assassination of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem (it did not).

This map of Indochina was a part of the Pentagon Papers, a secret government report nearly the Vietnam State of war leaked to the public in 1971.

Just Henry Kissinger convinced Nixon that the Pentagon Papers contained sensitive material that would compromise U.S. Cold State of war intelligence operations, brand the president look weak on the world stage (especially to the Vietnamese), and undermine ongoing secret negotiations (especially with Communist china). Nixon tried to utilize the courts to halt publication, but the Supreme Court ruled in New York Times v. United States (1971) that the Get-go Amendment forbids the government from restraining the freedom of the press, even when it exposes sensitive military machine and intelligence-gathering secrets. The Plumbers formed the following month, and Ehrlichman authorized them to break into and steal files from the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

Some of the crime Plumbers afterwards went on to work with another group, the Commission to Reelect the President (CREEP). Individuals affiliated with Pitter-patter had already cleaved into the DNC headquarters once and tapped the phones when they were caught and arrested during a second break-in on June 7, 1972. The often-assumed motive for the operation is that it was a standard instance of bugging political opponents to discover campaign strategies. Lyndon Johnson had used the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to exercise the same to the Republican National Committee and the Goldwater campaign in 1964 and, indeed, to Nixon's own campaign jet in 1968. (The practice was hardly invented past Johnson; Kennedy, Truman, and Franklin Roosevelt had all engaged in similar action.) Only there is no solid prove for this motive. In fact, Nixon considered his opponent George McGovern completely unelectable, and he inappreciably campaigned against him. When the election did come, Nixon won by one of the biggest landslide victories in presidential election history, losing merely the state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. With the additional loss of one "faithless elector" from Virginia, the final electoral college tally was 520 to thirteen.

Nixon had no direct knowledge either of the Watergate break-ins or of the earlier burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's function. He was aware that the Plumbers had generally engaged in certain "dirty tricks," in Ehrlichman'due south words, and information technology was surely understood from the showtime that they would be engaging in legally questionable activity. Much of this the president might have rationalized as a necessary response to the leaking of summit-underground information and other threats to national security. Just such a defence force could not exist plausibly invoked for Watergate.

A photo of the Watergate complex where the initial burglary at the Democratic National Commission headquarters occurred.

The connections between the burglars and Creep were shortly discovered. Because the FBI had jurisdiction over wiretapping, it took up the investigation. Mark Felt, the agency'due south 2d in command, began leaking information to Washington Mail service reporter Bob Woodward, who was covering the story with young man reporter Carl Bernstein (Felt'due south identity as the source dubbed "Deep Throat" remained secret until 2005). The media covered the investigation with interest, merely the Postal service, whose editor Ben Bradlee believed Nixon was impeding the newspaper's awarding for broadcasting licenses, pursued the story with special fervor. All the same, the investigation had little affect on the election and might accept petered out if Nixon had handled the affair better – for instance, if he had immediately ordered his subordinates to cut all ties with all those involved – or if the burglars had drawn a more lenient guess than "Maximum John" Sirica. Nether threat of severe sentencing, six of the seven individuals arrested in connection with the Watergate burglary cooperated with the prosecutors. Simply Yard. Gordon Liddy refused, and Sirica sentenced him to 20 years in prison, plus a $40,000 fine.

Connections to Creep soon led to the highest levels of the Nixon administration, including Ehrlichman, White Firm counsel John Dean, and Nixon's chief of staff H. R. Haldeman. Dean began to cooperate with the U.S. attorneys in charge of the investigation and afterward testified that he had destroyed evidence every bit office of a cover-up that involved Ehrlichman and Haldeman. When Nixon found out, he fired Dean and asked Ehrlichman and Haldeman to resign. Shortly after, newly appointed Chaser General Elliot Richardson named Archibald Cox as "special prosecutor" to investigate Watergate and related crimes. Cox was a close associate of Nixon'southward old political enemies, the Kennedy brothers, and he filled his investigative team with partisan Democrats, many of whom were hostile to Nixon.

During routine questioning by a Senate staffer, White House aide Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of a vox-activated taping arrangement in the Oval Function that stayed on at all times. Judge Sirica granted Cox's asking to amendment the tapes, but Nixon refused to comply with the amendment, claiming presidential executive privilege gave him total discretion over the privacy of the conversations. Nixon as well ordered Cox to drop the request, and when Cox refused, Nixon ordered Richardson to burn down him. Richardson resigned rather than comply, and when Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus refused to do information technology, Nixon fired him as well. This left Solicitor General Robert Bork in accuse of the Justice Department, and he carried out Nixon's society to fire Cox. The media dubbed this result the "Saturday Dark Massacre."

The political backlash from Cox'south firing led Nixon to let Bork appoint Leon Jaworski to replace Cox as special prosecutor, and Jaworski besides demanded the tapes. Nixon again refused, and the case went to the Supreme Court equally Usa v. Nixon (1974). In a unanimous opinion (minus Justice Rehnquist, who recused himself), the court said that a blanket claim of executive privilege, absent-minded any specific claims that national security would be jeopardized, could not justify a president'south refusal to comply with a judicial amendment. "The generalized exclamation of privilege," wrote Chief Justice Burger (a Nixon appointee), "must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for prove in a pending criminal trial." Nixon turned over the tapes.

Meanwhile, a grand jury had indicted Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and the rest of "the Watergate Seven" for crimes related to roofing up the Creep conspiracy or otherwise impeding the Watergate investigation – crimes such as conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. The House Judiciary Commission had as well been decorated gathering evidence, and it opened formal impeachment hearings on May 9, 1974. On July 25, Texas Democrat and Judiciary Committee member Barbara Jordan delivered a spoken language discussing the nature of constitutional checks and balances and the House'due south responsibleness to serve as a check on executive power. It is considered by some to exist one of the about important political speeches of the twentieth century.

View this video of Barbara Jordan's oral communication to learn more than.

At the end of July, the Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend articles of impeachment. On August viii, Nixon appear he would resign his role the post-obit day. In his televised resignation speech, he said he was stepping downwards against his personal inclination, because the nation needed a Congress and a president working full time on its behalf, and because "the interest of the Nation must always come up before any personal considerations". When Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, he expressed what was surely the mutual mood of the 24-hour interval: "Our long national nightmare is over." But it was not.

Erstwhile President Nixon parting the White House aboard Marine One shortly after his resignation on August 9, 1974.

Fearing the continuation of "bad dreams that go on to reopen a chapter that is closed," Ford granted Nixon "a full, free, and accented pardon" for crimes he "committed or may accept committed" during his presidency. Ford did not call up it was expert for the land to see an ex-president put on trial, nor did he retrieve Nixon could hope to get a fair trial under the circumstances. Ford's public approval plummeted equally a event, destroying any hopes he might have had of winning the 1976 presidential ballot. It was his plow to put the good of the nation before his ain interests.

When Nixon left the White House, as Henry Kissinger observed, "the presidency was in abattoir." The strong executive branch promoted by intellectuals like Arthur Schlesinger had given way to fears of an "imperial presidency" under Nixon, which, in turn, led to fears of an "imperiled presidency" nether the administrations succeeding him. The volume of Congressional legislation aimed at restraining executive power during this flow demonstrates the people's new distrust of government in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate. The sectionalisation and distrust that arose and so continues to ripple through American politics today.

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Review Questions

i. The meridian-clandestine report Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the New York Times was

1. the Warren Study
2. the White House tapes
3. the Pentagon Papers
4. the Ellsberg Dossier

two. The system that hired the Watergate burglars to intermission in to the DNC headquarters was the

1. Federal Bureau of Investigation
2. National Security Council
3. White House Plumbers
4. Committee to Re-Elect the President

three. What did President Richard Nixon cite to justify his refusal to manus over the White House tapes in response to the courtroom-ordered amendment?

1. Executive privilege
2. Prerogative powers
3. Confidentiality
4. National security

4. In U.s. v. Nixon, the Supreme Court adamant that

1. President Nixon could use a coating merits of executive privilege to go on secret the tapes of Oval Office conversations
2. the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox was justified
3. President Nixon needed to testify how national security would exist jeopardized past release of the tapes
4. Justice John Sirica was overstepping his authorisation equally a federal judge in regard to sentencing the "Watergate burglars"

5. The "Sat Night Massacre" resulted in the dismissal of

1. Attorney General Elliot Richardson
2. Deputy Chaser General William Ruckelshaus
3. Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox
4. Solicitor General Robert Bork

half dozen. Which of the following occurred as a result of the Watergate scandal?

1. The impeachment of President Richard Nixon
2. The resignation of President Richard Nixon
3. The firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox
4. Growing trust in the checks and balances system established by the Constitution

Gratis Response Questions

1. Analyze the events that led to the Watergate scandal.
2. Describe the significance of the 'Sabbatum Night Massacre.'

AP Practice Questions

Nosotros have elected to apply an adversary system of criminal justice in which the parties contest all issues before a court of law. The need to develop all relevant facts in the adversary system is both central and comprehensive. The ends of criminal justice would exist defeated if judgments were to be founded on a partial or speculative presentation of the facts. The very integrity of the judicial system and public conviction in the organisation depend on full disclosure of all the facts, within the framework of the rules of prove.

In this case nosotros must counterbalance the importance of the general privilege of confidentiality of Presidential communications in performance of the President'south responsibilities against the inroads of such a privilege on the off-white administration of criminal justice.

Nosotros conclude that when the ground for asserting privilege as to subpoenaed materials sought for use in a criminal trial is based only on the generalized interest in confidentiality, information technology cannot prevail over the central demands of due procedure of law in the fair administration of criminal justice. The generalized assertion of privilege must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial.

Majority Opinion by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, United states v. Nixon, July 24, 1974

Refer to the excerpt provided.

1. This Supreme Court decision was written in response to

1. the Saturday Night Massacre
2. the bombing of Kingdom of cambodia
3. President Nixon's refusal to hand over the White Business firm tapes
4. the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox

2. Which of the following is the reason given for the decision in this case?

1. Presidential privilege must replace the need for evidence in a criminal trial.
2. Due procedure and presidential privilege are mutually sectional.
3. Full disclosure of all facts is required for the judicial system to function properly.
4. Public conviction in the presidency must be maintained.

3. Which of the following was a direct result of the ruling of this example?

1. Public faith in the court system declined.
2. The Supreme Court proceeded with an impeachment trial of President Nixon.
3. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned.
4. President Nixon handed over all of the White House tapes.

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Primary Sources

Articles of Impeachment Adopted past the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, July 27, 1974. https://world wide web.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/articles-impeachment-adopted-the-house-representatives-commission-the-judiciary

Ford, Gerald R. "Address to the Nation Pardoning Richard Nixon," September 8, 1974. Text: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/geraldfordpardonofnixon.htm Video: https://www.c-span.org/video/?153623-1/president-gerald-fords-pardon-richard-nixon

Jordan, Barbara. "Statement on the Articles of Impeachment." July 25, 1974. Text: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordanjudiciarystatement.htm Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/UG6xMglSMdk

New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/403/713/

Nixon, Richard One thousand. "President Nixon'due south Resignation Address." August viii, 1974. Text: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/richardnixonresignationspeech.htmlVideo:https://world wide web.c-span.org/video/?320753-ane/president-nixons-resignation-address

Us 5. Nixon, 418 U.S. 663 (1974). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/u.s./418/683/

Suggested Resources

Bernstein, Carl, and Bob Woodward. All the President'due south Men. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Blackness, Conrad. Richard Thou. Nixon: A Life in Total. New York: PublicAffairs, 2007.

Buchanan, Patrick. Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles that Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever. New York: Crown Forum, 2017.

Kutler, Stanley 50. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1992.

Milkis, Sidney, and Michael Nelson. The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2018, Eighth ed. Washington, DC: CQ Printing, 2019.

Minor, Melvin. The Presidency of Richard Nixon. Lawrence, KS: University Printing of Kansas, 1997.

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Source: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/richard-nixon-and-watergate

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