The United States Of America

The Constitution And Democracy

Watergate Affair
Watergate Affair, the worst political scandal in U.S. history. It led to the resignation of a president, Richard M. NIXON , after he became implicated in an attempt to cover up the scandal. Narrowly, "Watergate affair"” referred to the break-in and electronic bugging in 1972 of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate apartment and office building complex in Washington, D.C. Broadly, the term was also applied to several related scandals. More than 30 Nixon administration officials, campaign officials, and financial contributors pleaded guilty or were found guilty of breaking the law. Nixon, facing possible indictment after his resignation, received from his successor, Gerald FORD , a full pardon "for all offenses" which he "has committed or may have committed."

Americans were deeply troubled by the scandal. Attempts by Republican officials to discredit Democratic leaders and disrupt their campaign threatened the political process. Electronic surveillance presented a threat to civil liberties. Abuse of "national security" and "executive privilege" to thwart the investigation suggested that those concepts needed more precise definitions. The misuse of large campaign donations suggested the need for further reform legislation. The willingness of Nixon and his aides to use the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in unlawful or unethical ways against their “enemies” was a reckless exploitation of the bureaucracy.

National Security 
The antecedents of Watergate were steps taken by Nixon from 1969 to 1971 allegedly in the cause of national security. To uncover the sources of leaked news about such matters as the bombing of Cambodia, Nixon authorized, without court approval, the wiretapping of the phones of government officials and newspapermen. But some of the men whose phones were wiretapped had no involvement with security matters, and taps on two men continued after they had joined the staff of Sen. Edmund Muskie (D-Me.), who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1971, Nixon approved an intelligence operation that contemplated burglaries and the opening of mail to detect security leaks. The author of the plan, Tom Huston, acknowledged that part of his plan was "clearly illegal." Nixon revoked the operation after a protest by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Also in 1971, Nixon created the Special Investigations Unit -- known as the "plumbers" to plug news leaks. In September, agents of the unit broke into the office of Dr. Lewis Fielding, the psychiatrist of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, who had given copies of the Pentagon Papers, a secret account of U.S. involvement in Indochina, to newspapers. After Nixon learned of the break-in, he and his top aides agreed to say that the break-in had been carried out for national-security reasons. But in 1974, Charles Colson, a former special counsel to the president, who had pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, admitted that the agents wanted to find derogatory information about Ellsberg before Ellsberg's espionage trial. Colson said that "on numerous occasions" Nixon had urged him to disseminate such information. Egil Krogh, Jr., head of the plumbers unit, pleaded guilty to violating Dr. Fielding's civil rights, saying that he could not in conscience assert national security as a defense. Colson and Krogh were imprisoned. Two other persons, including John Ehrlichman, former chief domestic adviser to Nixon, were convicted of conspiring to deprive Dr. Fielding of his civil rights. Ehrlichman, who had approved a "covert entry" into Dr. Fielding's office, also was imprisoned.

The Watergate Break-in 
In 1971, H. R. Haldeman, Nixon's chief of staff, was notified by an assistant, Gordon Strachan, that U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell and John Dean, counsel to the president, had discussed the need to develop a "political intelligence capability" at the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CRP). Some of the personnel and tactics identified with the activities described above became associated with efforts aimed at the Democrats. Early in 1972, Mitchell -- both before and after he assumed his new position as director of CRP -- discussed political espionage plans with Dean; Jeb Magruder, deputy director of CRP; and G. Gordon Liddy, counsel to the Finance Committee to Re-elect the President. Magruder later testified that on March 30, 1972, Mitchell approved a proposal by Liddy that included the Watergate break-in. Mitchell vehemently denied this. Long after the scandal was revealed, investigators could not determine:

(1) who gave the ultimate order to break into Watergate
(2)what the conspirators hoped to find there.

In any event, at 2:30 G on June 17, 1972, police arrested five men at the DNC headquarters. The men were adjusting electronic equipment that they had installed in May. One of those arrested was James McCord, security coordinator for CRP.

Cover-up 
Magruder later admitted that he and others began immediately to cover up White and CRP involvement in the break-in. He and others destroyed incriminating documents and testified falsely to official investigators. L. Patrick Gray later resigned as acting director of the FBI after admitting that he had destroyed documents given him by Ehrlichman and Dean. On June 23, 1972, Nixon learned from Haldeman of Mitchell's possible link with the operation. Nixon instructed Haldeman to stop an FBI inquiry into the source of money used by the wiretappers, using the excuse that the investigation would endanger CIA operations. Dean and others subsequently sought to induce CIA officials to cooperate with this plan. On July 1, Mitchell left CRP, citing personal reasons.
Nixon declared publicly on August 29 that no one in the administration, then employed, was involved in Watergate. Although money found in the possession of the wiretappers was traced to CRP, such evidence was insufficient to implicate high officials. On September 15, only the five men first arrested, plus Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, one of the plumbers, were indicted. Nixon congratulated Dean for "putting your fingers in the dikes every time that leaks have sprung here and sprung there."

Collapse of the Cover-up 
In January 1973, two months after Nixon's reelection, the seven indicted men were tried before Judge John Sirica in the U.S. district court in Washington, D.C. Five pleaded guilty, and McCord and Liddy were convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that the break-in was part of a broad program of political espionage. The U.S. Senate voted to conduct an investigation. The grand jury continued to hear witnesses.

During hearings on his nomination to be permanent director of the FBI, Gray revealed that he had given FBI Watergate files to Dean. His testimony suggested that other top White House aides were involved in clandestine activities.
In March and April, Nixon met often with his top aides to plan responses to the Gray revelations and to prepare for the investigations. On March 21, Dean warned Nixon of a cancer growing on the presidency. He said that Hunt had issued a thinly veiled threat to tell about the plumbers' activities unless he received hush money. Although Nixon later denied ordering such payments, he told Dean to “get it.” That night, $75,000 was passed to Hunt.

Nixon later stated publicly that he had begun a new investigation of Watergate on March 21. On March 22 he told Mitchell, “I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover-up or anything else, if it'll save it "save the plan." At other times he urged aides to tell the truth.

On March 23, Judge Sirica read a letter from McCord charging that witnesses had committed perjury at the trial and that the defendants had been pressured to plead guilty and remain silent. McCord, hoping to avoid a severe sentence, cooperated with investigators and implicated Dean and Magruder in the break-in. Dean and Magruder then abandoned the cover-up and implicated other White House and CRP officials. Investigators were told that Mitchell had approved the break-in, that transcripts of conversations taped at the DNC were given to Strachan for delivery to Haldeman, and that Ehrlichman had ordered the destruction of documents. On April 30, Nixon announced the resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resigned rather than prosecute men he knew.

Nixon and Elliot Richardson, the new attorney general, approved the creation of a special prosecutor's office, headed by Archibald Cox of the Harvard Law School. The Senate's Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, under the chairmanship of Sen. Sam Ervin (D-N.C.), opened public hearings in May. Dean's testimony linked Nixon to the cover-up. Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell denied wrongdoing and defended the president. The testimony revealed the president and his aides as isolated and as hostile toward and fearful of scores of "enemies."

Dirty Tricks 
Donald Segretti, a young lawyer, admitted trying to disrupt the campaigns of Democratic presidential aspirants. After pleading guilty, he served a short prison term. Segretti testified that he had 28 agents working for him in 12 states. He said that he had been hired by Strachan and Dwight Chapin, Nixon's appointments secretary, and paid by Herbert Kalmbach, Nixon's personal attorney. The “tricks” included planting stink bombs and writing a fake letter in which a U.S. senator accused two colleagues of sexual misconduct. Chapin was convicted of lying to a grand jury concerning his relationship with Segretti. He was imprisoned. In another "dirty trick," Hunt faked State Department cables in an effort to implicate President John KENNEDY  in the assassination in 1963 of South Vietnamese President Diem, a Catholic. Hunt tried to get the cables published in Life magazine in order to anger Catholic voters. 

Campaign Contributions 
By the fall of 1974, 18 corporations and 21 corporate executives had admitted making illegal contributions to Republicans and Democrats for the 1972 campaign. Kalmbach acknowledged raising and disbursing large sums of money that were subsequently used for illegal purposes. In 1974 he pleaded guilty to two counts, including one that he promised an ambassador a better assignment in return for a $100,000 contribution. Kalmbach was imprisoned. Investigators could not establish that the settlement of an antitrust suit against the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) was in return for ITT's pledge of money for the 1972 Republican convention. But former Attorney General Kleindienst pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of failing to testify fully before the Senate. He had denied, falsely, that he had been pressured by Nixon to drop the antitrust suit. California Lt. Gov. Ed Reinecke was convicted of testifying falsely that he had not discussed the ITT money pledge with Attorney General Mitchell until after the antitrust suit was settled. His conviction was reversed; a Senate quorum had not been present during his testimony.

In 1975 ex-Treasury Secretary John Connally was acquitted of charges that he had accepted a bribe from a dairy organization eager to have the Nixon administration increase price supports. Mitchell and Maurice Stans, chairman of the Finance Committee to Re-electthe President, were acquitted of charges that they had attempted to impede the investigation of a wealthy contributor. Stans later pleaded guilty to charges relating to illegal handling of campaign funds, as did former Montana Gov. Tim Babcock and former Nixon counsel Harry Dent.

Dispute over the Tapes 
Alexander Butterfield, a former White House official, testified in July 1973 that Nixon had taped conversations in his office. Prosecutor Cox subpoenaed tapes relevant to the investigation. Nixon refused to release them. Judge Sirica directed Nixon to let him hear the tapes. Nixon appealed the order, arguing that a president was immune from judicial orders enforcing subpoenas and that under the concept of executive privilege only he could decide which communications could be disclosed.

The U.S. court of appeals upheld Sirica, but Nixon then proposed that Sen. John Stennis (D-Miss.) listen to the tapes and verify an edited version that Nixon would submit to the grand jury and to the Senate committee. Cox rejected this proposal and Nixon's order that he make no further attempts to obtain tapes. Attorney General Richardson, having assured Congress that the prosecutor would be free to pursue the investigation, resigned rather than obey Nixon's order to fire Cox. On October 20, Nixon dismissed both Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus and Cox. This "Saturday night massacre" ignited a “fire storm” of criticism, and triggered serious moves to Impeach Nixon. Nixon then agreed to give the tapes to Sirica, and he appointed Leon Jaworski, a Texas attorney, to succeed Cox. Nixon guaranteed that Jaworski would be free of White House control.

One shocking disclosure followed another. The White House said that two subpoenaed conversations had never been taped. One tape contained an 18-minute gap. White House officials and Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, gave confusing testimony on how the gap might have occurred. Six court-appointed electronics experts said that at least five separate erasures had caused the gap. Many persons concluded that someone had deliberately destroyed evidence.

On March 1, 1974, seven former aides of the president -- Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Colson, Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson -- were indicted for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation. (The grand jury had named Nixon an unindicted co-conspirator, and Dean, Magruder, and lesser figures in the scandal had already pleaded guilty.) Colson later pleaded guilty to charges concerning the Ellsberg case and was relieved of the cover-up charges. Charges against Strachan were dropped. The remaining five went on trial in October 1974, and on Jan. 1, 1975, all but Parkinson were found guilty. In 1976, the U.S. court of appeals ordered a new trial for Mardian, and subsequently all charges against him were dropped. Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell exhausted their appeals in 1977. Ehrlichman voluntarily entered prison in 1976 and the other two entered prison in 1977.

Evidence against Nixon, given to Judge Sirica by the grand jury, was turned over by the judge to the House Judiciary Committee, which had begun its impeachment investigation. When the committee subpoenaed 42 more tapes in April 1974, Nixon agreed to release publicly and to the committee the edited transcripts -- but not the actual recordings -- of 46 conversations.
Legal experts disagreed on whether the transcripts established that Nixon was a part of the conspiracy. But most persons found the tone of the conversations to be distasteful, with the participants mostly concerned with how Nixon and his top aides could avoid being implicated. 

Meanwhile, Jaworski asked Sirica to subpoena 64 tapes and documents. Nixon refused to honor the subpoena, and Jaworski took the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a historic 8-0 decision on July 24, the court rejected Nixon's claim that he had absolute authority to withhold material from the prosecutor, and ordered him to obey the subpoena. Nixon did so.

The Culmination 
In late July the House committee approved three articles of impeachment. Shortly thereafter James St. Clair, the president's lawyer, learned that one of the 64 tapes that Nixon had been compelled to surrender was the June 23, 1972, conversation with Haldeman in which Nixon sought to thwart the FBI investigation. He insisted that Nixon publish the tape. Nixon did so, and his support in Congress virtually disappeared. Facing certain impeachment and removal from office, Nixon resigned, effective at noon August 9.

For Further Reading 
Bernstein, Carl, and Woodward, Bob, All the President's Men (Simon & Schuster 1974)
Dean, John, Blind Ambition: The White House Years (Simon & Schuster 1976)
Drew, Elizabeth, Washington Journal: The Events of 1973-1974 (Macmillan 1984)>
White, Theodore H., Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon (Atheneum and Reader's Digest 1975)