Nixon: a criminal in the making?

Prior stories about Nixon?

1968 Election!

NIXONHUMPHREY

WALLACERFK

GOV OF ALABAMA

How did Nixon win?

Nixon only43.3%

1968 Election

• Nixon’s Goals:1.) Restore law and order 2.) Bring home troops3.) Streamline government 4.) Return to traditional values

1968 Election: Richard Nixon(R) Hubert Humphrey (D)

George Wallace (Independent)Wallace an experienced Southern politician and

supporter of segregation

• Gained southern support by promising S.C. senator Strom Thurmond he would do these things:– Appoint only conservatives to federal courts– Name a Southerner to the Supreme Court– Oppose court-ordered busing– Choose a vice president from the South

Spiro Agnew = Vice Pres

Nixon as President

Southern Strategy: attracting more Southerners to the Republican Party

– Followed through on promises to Thurmond– Took steps to slow desegregation – Overturned civil rights policies

• Reversed a decision made by Johnson that had cut off federal funds for racially segregated schools

The New Federalism

• Took federal programs and gave more control to state and local governments

• Created revenue sharing– Granted federal funds to state and local agencies

to use to give them more power

– Instead gave federal government power over time• The federal government could impose conditions on the

states that needed the money

• If conditions were not met, their money would be cut off

Nixon tries to increase power as president

• Nixon & Congress = not friends– Both the House and Senate controlled by

Democrats– Laws Nixon supported wouldn’t get passed

• Tried to work around Congress and use greater executive authority– Nixon impounded, or refused to release, funds

for programs he opposed that were given by Congress

• Supreme Court eventually declared impoundment unconstitutional

The Media did not love Nixon…

"The Nixons had their own style--simple, direct and fundamentally American. They were not flashy or flamboyant.

Sometimes they were a little self-conscious or uncertain. Their manner was strictly Middle American. They looked like the family down the block. To many Americans, they seemed upright,

religious and hardworking.“ -- from The Nixons (1992) by Cass R. Sandak

What were Nixon’s Accomplishments?

Ex 1.) He had a good relationship with communist nations.

Ex 2.) He removed troops from Vietnam = Vietnamization

1.) Nixon takes on the Cold War

• 1st US President to visit communist USSR and China since WWII!

• Détente = Nixon’s new way of dealing with the Soviets.– Goal of Détente = negotiate and relax

tensions between US and USSR…gradually work towards a peaceful end to the Cold War.

Did détente work?

SALT Agreement- Strategic Arms

Limitation Treaty (SALT)

A)USSR and US both agreed to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons being made.

B)Agreed to share scientific information with one another.

1971 1973

Henry Kissinger: Vietnamization

DétenteGradual relaxation of tension

between the US and leading

Communist Nations

NIXON VISTS RUSSIA

NIXON IN CHINA

“Ping Pong” DiplomacyNickname the media gave

To Nixon’s negotiationsWith China

2.) Nixon removed troops from Vietnam

• Vietnamization = removed troops from Vietnam

BUT…don’t forget• He expanded the war into Cambodia &

Laos• Increased bombings and bombed

Saigon• And Vietnam fell to communism anyway

What are Nixon’s Failures?

1.) The Watergate Scandal

2.) Violated the Constitution

3.) Was vengeful and insecure

4.) He was too focused on the Cold War, did not help the economy of other domestic issues.

1972 Election: Nixon wins on a landslide

TheWatergate

Scandal

WHY did Watergate Happen?

WHY did Watergate Happen?

1972 ElectionNixon (R) v. McGovern (D)

• Nixon = anxiety, feared he would not win– Kept an “enemies list” included everyone Nixon

thought was out to ruin his political career

• Nixon creates the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP) included all his top advisors and White House aides

• Purpose of Break-In = to steal important Democratic campaign information

The CrimeG Gordon Liddy

Committee to Re-Elect The President

(CREEP)

Howard Hunt

Stage 1: Watergate Break-in

June 17, 1972G. Gordon Liddy & Howard Hunt (Both members of

the CRP) ordered 5 men to break into Watergate• During break-in security guard sees that the lock

has been taped = calls the police• James McCord = one of the thieves who is

arrested. He was an ex-CIA member and Nixon supporter

• Once in police custody = everyone started “snitching”

HOW did Watergate Happen?

HOW did Watergate Happen?

This is the Watergate Building’s security guard’s log showing the time when the guard made an entry after noticing tape on a lock and calling the police.

The bottom picture is a magnified view of the entry from the log book shown at top.

Stage 2: Investigations Begin

Nixon wins the 1972 Election• Soon after Nixon takes office, the FBI begins

investigating Watergate.

Was Nixon Involved? Did he lie to Americans?

Carl Bernstein and Bob WoodwardBoth were journalists for the Washington Post. With the

help of an informant called “Deep Throat” = they are able to uncover facts that support that Nixon was

involved with covering up Watergate!

Watergate is DiscoveredWatergate is Discovered

Bernstein & WoodwardWashington Post

DEEPTHROAT

Stage 3: Congressional Hearings

June 1973• All of the defendants say Nixon was involved• Court discovers Nixon’s “Secret Tapes”

– When the court demands he hands over the tapes Nixon argues Executive Privilege = the idea that protecting the tape was a matter of national security

• July 1973 = Spiro Agnew resigns as VP, turns out he was taking bribes. Gerald Ford is appointed new VP.

Watergate goes to TrialWatergate goes to Trial

Stage 4: The Secret Tapes

The Secret Tapes

July 1974

• Nixon’s “Secret Tapes” record him ordering the Watergate Cover-Up. He had lied to the American people

• Discovered during the investigation: 18 ½ minutes of tape missing!

…Where did it go??

Oops…

• According to President Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, on September 29, 1973, she was reviewing a tape of the June 20, 1972, recordings when she said she had made "a terrible mistake" during transcription. While playing the tape on a Uher 5000, she answered a phone call. Reaching for the Uher 5000 stop button, she said that she mistakenly hit the button next to it, the record button. For the duration of the phone call, about 5 minutes, she kept her foot on the device's pedal, causing a five-minute portion of the tape to be re-recorded. When she listened to the tape, the gap had grown to 18½ minutes and she later insisted that she was not responsible for the remaining 13 minutes of buzz.

Rosemary’s Boo-Boo

Stage 5: Nixon Resigns

The Los Angeles Times newspaper refused to run this cartoon on Easter Sunday believing it was too offensive.

Watergate is Discovered

August 9, 1974

• Nixon resigned BEFORE he is impeached.

• Gerald Ford becomes President = pardons Nixon of all criminal charges

Obstruction of Justice& Perjury

Executive Privilege

The SentencingImpeach? Pardon?

“I am not a crook!”

Deep Throat

Mark Felt

FBI 2nd in Command

Revealed he was “Deep Throat” in 2005!

Spiro Agnew = Vice Pres

Agnew had alsoresigned.

SO, who Becomes

President?

Current Line of

Succession