part 2
 

Then came the "Saturday Night Massacre." (10/20/73) Nixon compelled the resignation of Richardson and sent deputy William Ruckelshaus to find someone in the Justice Department willing to fire Cox. Solicitor General Robert Bork was appointed the new acting department head. His first act was to dismiss the special prosecutor.

Nixon's comment to 400 Associated Press managing editors at Walt Disney World in Florida on November 17 was,

"I am not a crook."

Nixon was forced, however to allow the appointment of a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who continued the investigation. While Nixon continued to refuse to turn over actual tapes, he did agree to release edited transcripts of a large number of them. The tapes largely confirmed Dean's account, and caused further embarrassment to the administration.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously (Justice Rehnquist had recused himself) in United States v. Nixon that Nixon's claim of executive privilege over the tapes was void and they further ordered him to surrender them to Jaworski. (7/24/73) Nixon complied with the order and released the subpoenaed tapes. (7/30/73)

The missing 18 minutes of tape

The Committee discovered that a crucial, 18 minute portion of one tape had been erased.. This tape had never been out of White House custody, The White House blamed this on Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, a Watergate East-South Bldg, resident, who said she had accidentally erased the tape by pushing the wrong foot pedal on her tape player while answering the phone. However, the explanation was not credible. For Woods to answer the phone and keep her foot on the pedal required a stretch that would have challenged many a gymnast. Later forensic analysis determined that the gap had been erased several-perhaps as many as nine-times over, refuting the "accidental erasure" explanation.

Articles of impeachment, resignation, and convictions

Nixon's position was becoming increasingly precarious, and the House of Representatives began formal investigations into the possible impeachment of the President. The House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 on July 27, 1974 to recommend the first article of impeachment against the President: obstruction of justice. The second (abuse of power) and third (contempt of Congress) articles were passed on July 29 and July 30.

The "smoking gun," another damaging tape

Then a previously unknown tape from June 23, 1972 was released. Recorded only a few days after the break-in, it documented Nixon and Halderman planning to block investigations by having the CIA claim to the FBI that national security was involved. With this last piece of evidence, Nixon's few remaining supporters deserted him. The ten congressmen who had voted against all three Articles of Impeachment in committee announced that they would all support impeachment when the vote was taken in the full House. There were enough votes to convict Nixon.

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Nixon leaves the White House
after his resignation, August 9, 1974

The president decided to resign. In a nationally televised address on the evening of August 8, 1974, he announced he would resign effective noon on August 9.

Though Nixon's resignation obviated the pending impeachment, criminal prosecution was still a possibility. However, Gerald Ford, who had succeeded Nixon, issued a widely-scoped pardon for Nixon. Two months after resigning, Nixon was thereby immunized from prosecution for any crimes he may have committed as President.

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Nixon proclaimed his innocence until his death, although his acceptance of the pardon was construed by many as an admission of guilt. He did state in his official response to the pardon that he "was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy."

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Aftermath

The effects of the Watergate scandal did not end with the resignation of President Nixon and the imprisonment of some of his aides. Indirectly, Watergate brought new laws into being and to extensive changes in campaign financing. It was a major factor in the passage of amendments to the Freedom of Information Act in 1986 and new financial disclosure laws by key government officials. This article is published in Wikipedia and has been edited for use here.

So, the next time you're asked where you live, be assured
that your reply will be a great conversation starter.

As for me, I always follow up with, "But, I'm not a crook."

One wonders whether living at the Watergate
make one a part of history?

Maybe so, but which part?

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How things played out for White House Staff and Associates:

• Colson pleaded guilty to charges concerning the Ellsberg case; in exchange, the indictment against him for covering up the activities of CRP was dropped, as it was against Strachan. The remaining five members of the Watergate Seven indicted in March went on trial in October 1974.

• In 1976, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Mardian; subsequently, all charges against him were dropped. Halderman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell exhausted their appeals in 1977. Ehrlichman entered prison in 1976, followed by the other two in 1977.

• Herbert Porter, Nixon campaign aide pleaded guilty to the charge of lying to the FBI during the early stages of the Watergate investigation. (1/28/74)

• Herbert Kalmbach, Nixon's personal lawyer pleaded guilty to two charges of illegal election campaign activities. Other charges were dropped in return for Kalmbach's cooperation in the forthcoming Watergate trials.(1/28/74)

• The Watergate Seven - Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson - former aides of the president, were indicted for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation. (3/1/74) All but Parkinson were found guilty. (1/1/75) Dean, Magruder and other figures in the scandal had already pled guilty.

• Ed Reinecke, Republican lieutenant governor of California, was indicted on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee. (4/7)

• Dwight Chapin, former Nixon appointments secretary was convicted of lying to the grand jury. (4/5)