WATERGATE:
Was The Nixon White House Involved?
What was Watergate? "Watergate" is a term used to describe a complex web of political
scandals occurring between 1972 and 1974. On January 20, 1969, Richard M. Nixon had
become the thirty-seventh president of the United States. As Nixon entered the White
House, he was "full of bitterness and anger about past defeats, and about years of
perceived slights from others in the political establishment." Nixon, a Republican, once
stated that, "Washington is a city run primarily by Democrats and liberals, dominated by
like-minded newspapers and other media." Nixon's obligation to control his political
destiny and to forestall the damaging of his agenda by incumbents urged him toward the
development of what was, in effect, a "secret government" (Gettlin and Colodny 6). The
word, "Watergate", refers to the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. In addition to the
hotel, the Watergate complex houses many business offices. It was here that the offices
of the Democratic National Committee were burglarized on June 17, 1972. Five individuals
were arrested at the Watergate complex after the burglary. Charges were also pressed on
G. George Liddy and E. Howard Hunt ; the "Watergate Seven" were sentenced by Judge John
Sirica. Although Nixon was worried about the break-in, he advised the White House press
secretary, Ron Ziegler, to dismiss the incident as "a third-rate burglary" (Cannon 107).
In the years ensuing the invasion at the Watergate building, questions and controversy
have surfaced consequent to whether or not the White House, under the control of
President Nixon, was either directly or discursively involved in the planning and/or
performing of any illegal deeds. As the Watergate scandal unfolded, the Nixon
administration was quick to mitigate the responsibility for the occurrences, however, in
actuality, numerous facts and particulars ascertain White House involvement and justify
the repercussions.
The arrests of the "Watergate Seven" eventually uncovered a "White House-sponsored plan
of espionage against political opponents and a trail of complicity that led to many of
the highest officials in the land" (Jacobs, "Watergate"). These high political
executives included former United States Attorney General John Mitchell, White House
Counsel John Dean, White House Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman,
White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, and President Nixon himself. Evidence
corroborating White House involvement was ample and immense. On April 30, 1973, close to
a year after the burglary and subsequent to a grand jury investigation of the break-in,
President Nixon affirmed the resignation of H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and
announced the dismissal of John Dean; United States Attorney General Richard Kleindienst
resigned as well. The resignations and dismissal were all results of pressure placed
upon the White House to produce answers regarding the scandal that consummated in the
officials' insubordinations. However, the United States government is based upon a
system of "checks and balances" where no one person or party can make an ultimate
decision. The noncompliances of the White House and its administrators did not thwart the
public's progression towards the answers in the case.
Washington, no outsider to "political shenanigans and chicanery," had never had a
political burglary before. Four of the seven individuals apprehended for the Watergate
break-in were connected with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and were hired hands
"on call" to take care of the agency's "less tasteful work"; bugging phones or picking
locks (Cannon 107). When arrested and searched, in the pockets of two of the burglars
the police retrieved the name and phone number of E. Howard Hunt. Police traced the
number and found it to be in the Nixon White House. Bringing to question, what business
did members of a CIA task force that specialized in burglary and spying have with
officials in the White House? Also retrieved from the five individuals detained at the
scene, was, altogether, $2,300 in cash, primarily in hundred-dollar bills with the serial
numbers in sequence. This was coincidental because, John Ehrlichman once revealed, "Bob
[H.R.] Haldeman said nothing to the rest of us about $350,000 the President had him skim
off the top of the 1972 campaign funds to be held in a safe-deposit box (by Alex
Butterfield ) for 'emergencies'" (342). Perhaps, Nixon and his cabinet members and the
other officials who did "business" with Nixon, saw the Democratic campaign as an
"emergency" that they needed to take action against.
In May 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Activities opened hearings on
Watergate, placing Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina as chairman. John Dean was of the
first individuals to be interrogated. A series of startling revelations followed. Dean
testified, under oath, that John Mitchell had ordered the break-in at the Watergate and
that a major attempt was under way to hide White House involvement. Dean also claimed
that the president had authorized payments to the burglars to keep them quiet. The
payments can be justified by the evidence found on the five men when they were
apprehended at the scene of the crime. The $2,300 that the authorities had found on the
men were in exact order, by serial number. Throughout the whole ordeal, Nixon emphasized
his cabinet members to abolish the public's belief of a cover-up. Nixon stated, "A
cover-up is the worst thing; cover-up is how I nailed Truman. It can hurt deeply." Nixon
also directed his spokesman to, "Tell them, no one in the White House was involved.....At
the Committee to Re-elect, there is a possible involvement of a few lower-level
officials" (Ehrlichman 354). In these statements, Nixon reveals the need for him and his
administration to subterfuge their cover-up of the Watergate scandal.
The testimony of Alexander Butterfield was the affirmation that unlocked the whole
investigation and eventually became the most disastrous of all. "On July 16, 1973,
Butterfield told the committee, on nationwide television, that Nixon had ordered a taping
system installed in the White House to automatically record all conversations" (Jacobs,
"Watergate"). These tapes could have been the answer to all the questions in the
public's minds. If Nixon or his cabinet members were involved in the Watergate scandal,
their voices would be on tape. If they were not involved, they would be free of
conviction; the tapes helped either way.
Archibald Cox quickly subpoenaed eight relevant tapes to confirm John Dean's testimony.
However, Nixon refused to release the tapes, claiming that "they were vital to national
security." U.S. District Court Judge John Sirica ruled that Nixon must give the tapes to
Cox, and an appeals court reaffirmed the resolution (Jacobs, "Watergate"). Nonetheless,
Nixon held his ground and would not give in. If Nixon was indeed innocent of any and all
wrongdoings, so he claimed, why was he so preoccupied with the releasing of the tapes
that would set him free of questioning? On Saturday, October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered
Attorney General Elliot Richardson to dismiss Cox. Richardson refused and resigned
instead, as did Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Ultimately, the solicitor
general dismissed Cox. The actions on this day were classified as the "Saturday night
massacre."
Public protests and suggestions from his political advisors forced Nixon to turn over
the tapes to Sirica. Certain subpoenaed conversations were deficient, and one tape had
a mysterious gap of eighteen-and-a-half minutes. Experts analyzed the tapes and
concluded that the gap was the result of five separate erasures. Perchance, these
erasures removed the information which would have ended the controversy and brought to
life the truth of the White House's involvement in the Watergate scandal.
In March 1974, a grand jury indicted Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and four other
White House officials for their part in the Watergate cover-up and named President Nixon
as an "unindicted co-conspirator" (Jacobs, "Watergate"). In the subsequent months, Nixon
was instructed to, and later did, release transcripts for forty-two more tapes. The
conversations revealed Nixon's monumental concern with reproving political opponents and
thwarting the Watergate investigation. Succeeding investigations have also revealed that
the Nixon administration supplicated large sums of money in illegal campaign
contributions. The money was put forth to underwrite political espionage in addition to
paying more than $500,000 to the Watergate burglars. Also surfaced was, "a related group
that performed illegal activities for the administration," known as the "plumbers"
(Gettlin and Colodny 377). The group had been doing whatever necessary to "stop leaks to
the press" (Cannon 269). In an administration where, supposedly, no one is doing any
wrong, it does not seem reasonable nor does it seem justifiable to appoint a group that
specializes in hiding things from the public.
As the Watergate scandal unfolded, the Nixon administration was quick to mitigate the
responsibility for the occurrences, however, in actuality, numerous facts and particulars
ascertain White House involvement and justify the repercussions. The controversy
surrounding the conspiracy at Watergate is simply a matter of the public's lack of
awareness to the facts in the case. If the facts are carefully reviewed, it is nearly an
indisputable conclusion. It was obvious that the Nixon administration was indeed run in
a secretive manner. The officials were openly involved in espionage and many other
illegal acts. The president himself was approved for three articles of impeachment; he
was charged with: "Misusing his power in order to violate the constitutional rights of
U.S. citizens, obstructing justice in the Watergate affair, and defying Judiciary
Committee subpoenas" (Farnsworth, "Nixon's Watergate"). Rather than face almost assured
impeachment, Nixon resigned on August 9, the first U.S. president to do so. A month
later his successor, Gerald Ford pardoned him for all crimes he might have committed
while in office; Nixon was then immune from fedral prosecution. President Nixon and his
cabinet members failed to realize that the constitutional system of checks and balances
would work to prevent abuses as it was intended to by the Founding Fathers.
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