Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a significant political controversy in the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974, ultimately resulting in Nixon's resignation. It originated from attempts by the Nixon administration to conceal its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
"Watergate" redirects here. For the buildings, see Watergate complex. For other uses, see Watergate (disambiguation).
Following the apprehension of the five individuals involved in the break-in, both the press and the Department of Justice connected the funds found on those involved to the CRP (the fundraising organization of Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign).[1][2] Subsequent investigations and revelations during trials prompted the U.S. House of Representatives to grant the House Judiciary Committee expanded investigative authority.[3][4] Additionally, the Senate established the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee, which conducted hearings.
Witnesses testified that Nixon had sanctioned plans to cover up his administration's involvement in the burglary and that there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office.[5][6] Nixon's administration resisted the investigations, leading to a constitutional crisis.[7] The televised Senate Watergate hearings garnered nationwide attention and public interest.[8]
Numerous revelations and Nixon's efforts to impede the investigation in 1973 led the House to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.[9][10] The Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Nixon compelled Nixon to surrender the Oval Office tapes, which revealed his complicity in the cover-up. The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon,[11] who subsequently resigned from office on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so. His successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him on September 8, 1974.
The Watergate scandal resulted in 69 indictments and 48 convictions, involving several high-ranking officials from the Nixon administration.[12] The term "Watergate" has since become synonymous with various clandestine and illicit activities conducted by Nixon's aides, including the bugging of political opponents' offices, unauthorized investigations, and the misuse of government agencies for political purposes.[13] The addition of "-gate" to a term has since been used to denote public scandals,[14][15][16] particularly in politics.[17][18]
Aftermath[edit]
Final legal actions and effect on the law profession[edit]
Charles Colson pled guilty to charges concerning the Daniel Ellsberg case; in exchange, the indictment against him for covering up the activities of the Committee to Re-elect the President was dropped, as it was against Strachan. The remaining five members of the Watergate Seven indicted in March went on trial in October 1974. On January 1, 1975, all but Parkinson were found guilty. In 1976, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Mardian; subsequently, all charges against him were dropped.
Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell exhausted their appeals in 1977. Ehrlichman entered prison in 1976, followed by the other two in 1977. Since Nixon and many senior officials involved in Watergate were lawyers, the scandal severely tarnished the public image of the legal profession.[98][99][100]
The Watergate scandal resulted in 69 individuals being charged and 48 being found guilty, including:[12]
Purpose of the break-in[edit]
Despite the enormous impact of the Watergate scandal, the purpose of the break-in of the DNC offices has never been conclusively established. Records from the United States v. Liddy trial, made public in 2013, showed that four of the five burglars testified that they were told the campaign operation hoped to find evidence that linked Cuban funding to Democratic campaigns.[127] The longtime hypothesis suggests that the target of the break-in was the offices of Larry O'Brien, the DNC chairman.[128] However, O'Brien's name was not on Alfred C. Baldwin III's list of targets that was released in 2013. Among those listed were senior DNC official R. Spencer Oliver, Oliver's secretary Ida "Maxine" Wells, co-worker Robert Allen and secretary Barbara Kennedy.[127]
Based on these revelations, Texas A&M history professor Luke Nichter, who had successfully petitioned for the release of the information,[129] argued that Woodward and Bernstein were incorrect in concluding, based largely on Watergate burglar James McCord's word, that the purpose of the break-in was to bug O'Brien's phone to gather political and financial intelligence on the Democrats. Instead, Nichter sided with late journalist J. Anthony Lukas of The New York Times, who had concluded that the committee was seeking to find evidence linking the Democrats to prostitution, as it was alleged that Oliver's office had been used to arrange such meetings. However, Nichter acknowledged that Woodward and Bernstein's theory of O'Brien as the target could not be debunked unless the information was released about what Baldwin heard in his bugging of conversations.
In 1968, O'Brien was appointed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey to serve as the national director of Humphrey's presidential campaign and, separately, by Howard Hughes to serve as Hughes' public-policy lobbyist in Washington. O'Brien was elected national chairman of the DNC in 1968 and 1970. In late 1971, the president's brother, Donald Nixon, was collecting intelligence for his brother at the time and asked John H. Meier, an adviser to Howard Hughes, about O'Brien. In 1956, Donald Nixon had borrowed $205,000 from Howard Hughes and had never repaid the loan. The loan's existence surfaced during the 1960 presidential election campaign, embarrassing Richard Nixon and becoming a political liability. According to author Donald M. Bartlett, Richard Nixon would do whatever was necessary to prevent another family embarrassment.[130] From 1968 to 1970, Hughes withdrew nearly half a million dollars from the Texas National Bank of Commerce for contributions to both Democrats and Republicans, including presidential candidates Humphrey and Nixon. Hughes wanted Donald Nixon and Meier involved but Nixon opposed this.[131]
Meier told Donald Nixon that he was sure the Democrats would win the election because they had considerable information on Richard Nixon's illicit dealings with Hughes that had never been released, and that it resided with Larry O'Brien.[132] According to Fred Emery, O'Brien had been a lobbyist for Hughes in a Democrat-controlled Congress, and the possibility of his finding out about Hughes' illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign was too much of a danger for Nixon to ignore.[133]
James F. Neal, who prosecuted the Watergate 7, did not believe Nixon had ordered the break-in because of Nixon's surprised reaction when he was told about it.[134]
Reactions[edit]
Australia[edit]
Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam referred to the American presidency's "parlous position" without the direct wording of the Watergate scandal during Question Time in May 1973.[135] The following day responding to a question upon "the vital importance of future United States–Australia relations", Whitlam parried that the usage of the word 'Watergate' was not his.[136] United States–Australia relations have been considered to have figured as influential when, in November 1975, Australia experienced its own constitutional crisis which led to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government by Sir John Kerr, the Australian Governor-General.[137] Max Suich has suggested that the US was involved in ending the Whitlam government.[138]
China[edit]
Chinese then-Premier Zhou Enlai said in October 1973 that the scandal did not affect the relations between China and the United States.[139] According to the then–Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj of Thailand in July 1975, Chairman Mao Zedong called the Watergate scandal "the result of 'too much freedom of political expression in the U.S.'"[140] Mao called it "an indication of American isolationism, which he saw as 'disastrous' for Europe". He further said, "Do Americans really want to go isolationist? ... In the two world wars, the Americans came [in] very late, but all the same, they did come in. They haven't been isolationist in practice."[141]
Japan[edit]
In August 1973, then–Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka said that the scandal had "no cancelling influence on U.S. leadership in the world". Tanaka further said, "The pivotal role of the United States has not changed, so this internal affair will not be permitted to have an effect."[142] In March 1975, Tanaka's successor, Takeo Miki, said at a convention of the Liberal Democratic Party, "At the time of the Watergate issue in America, I was deeply moved by the scene in the House Judiciary Committee, where each member of the committee expressed his own or her own heart based upon the spirit of the American Constitution. It was this attitude, I think, that rescued American democracy."[143]
Singapore[edit]
Then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in August 1973 that the scandal may have led the United States to lessen its interests and commitments in world affairs, to weaken its ability to enforce the Paris Peace Accords on Vietnam, and to not react to violations of the Accords. Lee said further that the United States "makes the future of this peace in Indonesia an extremely bleak one with grave consequence for the contiguous states." Lee then blamed the scandal for economic inflation in Singapore because the Singapore dollar was pegged to the United States dollar at the time because Singapore had "unwisely" believed that the U.S. dollar was stronger than the British pound sterling.[144]
Soviet Union[edit]
In June 1973, when chairman Leonid Brezhnev arrived in the United States to have a one-week meeting with Nixon,[145] Brezhnev told the press, "I do not intend to refer to that matter—[the Watergate]. It would be completely indecent for me to refer to it ... My attitude toward Mr. Nixon is of very great respect." When one reporter suggested that Nixon and his position with Brezhnev were "weakened" by the scandal, Brezhnev replied, "It does not enter my mind to think whether Mr. Nixon has lost or gained any influence because of the affair." Then he said further that he had respected Nixon because of Nixon's "realistic and constructive approach to Soviet Union–United States relations ... passing from an era of confrontation to an era of negotiations between nations".[146]
United Kingdom[edit]
Talks between Nixon and Prime Minister Edward Heath may have been bugged. Heath did not publicly display his anger, with aides saying that he was unconcerned about having been bugged at the White House. According to officials, Heath commonly had notes taken of his public discussions with Nixon so a recording would not have bothered him. However, officials said that if Heath's private talks with Nixon were bugged, then he would have been outraged.[147]
Iran[edit]
Iranian then-Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi told the press in 1973, "I want to say quite emphatically ... that everything that would weaken or jeopardize the President's power to make decisions in split seconds would represent grave danger for the whole world."[142]
Kenya[edit]
An unnamed Kenyan senior official of Foreign Affairs Ministry accused Nixon of lacking interest in Africa and its politics and then said, "American President is so enmeshed in domestic problems created by Watergate that foreign policy seems suddenly to have taken a back seat [sic]."[142]
Cuba[edit]
Cuban then-leader Fidel Castro said in his December 1974 interview that, of the crimes committed by Cuban exiles, like killings, attacks on Cuban ports, and spying, the Watergate burglaries and wiretappings were "probably the least of [them]".[148]
United States[edit]
After the fall of Saigon ended the Vietnam War, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in May 1975 that, if the scandal had not caused Nixon to resign, and Congress had not overridden Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, North Vietnam would not have captured South Vietnam.[149] Kissinger told the National Press Club in January 1977 that Nixon's presidential powers weakened during his tenure, thus (as rephrased by the media) "prevent[ing] the United States from exploiting the [scandal]".[150]
The publisher of The Sacramento Union, John P. McGoff, said in January 1975 that the media overemphasized the scandal, though he called it "an important issue", overshadowing more serious topics, like a declining economy and an energy crisis.[151]