The Committee also uncovered the existence of the secret White House tape recordings, sparking a major political and legal battle between the Congress and the President. In , the House of Representatives authorised the Judiciary Committee to consider impeachment proceedings against Nixon. The work of this Committee was again the spotlight a quarter of a century later when Bill Clinton was impeached. The House Judiciary Committee voted to accept three of four proposed Articles of Impeachment, with some Republicans voting with Democrats to recommend impeachment of the President.
The final blow came with the decision by the Supreme Court to order Nixon to release more White House tapes. Around the country, there were calls for Nixon to resign. At 9pm on the evening of August 8, , Nixon delivered a nationally televised resignation speech. The next morning, he made his final remarks to the White House staff before sending his resignation letter to the Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger.
He was the first Vice-President and the first President to ascend to both positions without being elected. When Cox refused to stop demanding the tapes, Nixon ordered that he be fired, leading several Justice Department officials to resign in protest.
These events, which took place on October 20, , are known as the Saturday Night Massacre. Eventually, Nixon agreed to surrender some—but not all—of the tapes. Early in , the cover-up and efforts to impede the Watergate investigation began to unravel.
In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. While the president dragged his feet, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution.
Finally, on August 5, Nixon released the tapes, which provided undeniable evidence of his complicity in the Watergate crimes. In the face of almost certain impeachment by Congress, Nixon resigned in disgrace on August 8, and left office the following day. Six weeks later, after Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, he pardoned Nixon for any crimes he had committed while in office.
Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, served four and a half years. Haldeman spent 19 months in prison while John Ehrlichman spent 18 for attempting to cover up the break-in.
Nixon himself never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, though he did acknowledge using poor judgment. His abuse of presidential power had a long-lasting effect on American political life, creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust.
While many Americans had been deeply dismayed by the outcome of the Vietnam War, and saddened by the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy , Martin Luther King and other leaders, Watergate added further disappointment to a national climate already soured by the difficulties and losses of the previous decade. These are animals. Including warrantless wiretapping of journalists and government officials.
See Watergate Report, p. Amending the Freedom of Information Act , S. Government Printing Office, , p. Nixon , U. See Edward H. Patricia W. Ingraham and David H. Rosenbloom, eds. Jerrell D. Government Printing Office, Julian E. Watergate Report, p. Ibid, p. Privacy Act of , Public Law , 92nd Cong. James N. Benedict and Leslie A. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of Eric Rosenbach and Aki J. William B. Spong Jr. Harold C.
You Might Also Like. May 24, Igor Volsky , Michele L. Feb 20, Maggie Jo Buchanan. Jul 18, Liz Kennedy , Danielle Root. After saying farewell to staff in the White House East Room on the morning his resignation came into effect - 9 August - Nixon and his wife Pat departed on Marine One. Before entering the helicopter he gave a famous v-sign salute which had become one of his best known trademarks while in office :.
Succeeded by Gerald Ford - who himself had succeeded Nixon's other vice president Spiro Agnew in '73 - the new incumbent issued a presidential pardon to Nixon ensuring that he would not face any criminal prosecution. Impeachment proceedings against Nixon had already been dropped following his resignation.
Ford explained that he felt the Nixon family's situation was "an American tragedy in which we all have played a part":. YouTube: footagefile In total the scandal resulted in 69 government officials being charged and 48 being found guilty including some of Nixon's most senior aides - chief of staff Bob Haldeman and special counsel Charles Coulsen along with two former attorneys general, and a number of other lawyers whose convictions severly tarnished the public image of the legal profession particularly in Washington.
Nixon continued to proclaim his innocence right up until his death in saying only that he had been wrong in not acting more "decisively" in dealing with the illegalities of the Watergate scandal. Famously he did a high-profile television interview with the British broadcaster David Frost in The interview included Nixon's answer to a question about the legality of his actions in which he said: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
YouTube: willfungku Watergate has led to the publication of hundreds of books, dozens of films and many, many references in popular culture including the use of the suffix -gate for any scandal. After 40 years it continues to resonate in modern day politics and acts as a warning to anyone in public life of the dangers of being too driven by power to not notice the moral, ethical and legal implications of what you are doing.
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