7 - The Post-Watergate Presidency : 1972-2000 Flashcards
The Watergate Scandal
Watergate (1974), is generally seen as the Apex of power of Congress in the history of the US because it is the unique case of a President resigning.
Nixon was never impeached : he resigned a few days before the vote in the House. On the other hand, Andrew Johnson in 1866 and Bill Clinton (1998-1999) were both impeached by the house and then they were acquitted by the Senate.
The Revival of Checks & Balances when ?
in 1970s
The Revival of Checks & Balances in the 1970s
Watergate was the starting point of a period of Congressional resurgence. Congress identified the several ways Nixon had abused the presidency & adressed each of them through of them through a series of historical reforms aimed at curbing the executive power.
List of problems
The obsession of Nixon with decision-making in secrecy
The problem of war power
The problem of corruption
The problem of domestic spying / surveillance
The obsession of Nixon with decision-making in secrecy
Nixon experienced a kind of paranoia against the democratic Congress & the supposedly – media.
He constantly invoked Executive Privilege (cf def) during the Watergate investigations applying, according to him, “to all documents produced or received by the President or any member of the White House Staff in connection with his official duties.” (BEcause he didn’t wanted to release the oval office tape).
In reaction to that there was an attempt from Congress at making the executive branch more transparent thanks to the Presidential Materials and Preservation Act in 1974 and the Presidential Records Act in 1978.
⇒ These 2 acts facilitated the access to presidential archive.
Executive Privilege def
The problem of war power
There was a kind of usurpation of Congress’s military prerogative by Johnson during the Vietnam War and then by Nixon concerning North Vietnam, Cambodia and –Wales ??. This resulted in the War Power Act in 1973 over Nixon’s veto.
⇒ It redefined the only 3 cases in which American troops can intervene abroad
→ A vote by Congress of a declaration of War
→ A vote by Congress of a statutory authorisation
→ After a direct attack against US troops as self defence : this last case does not require a vote by Congress.
If the President deploys troops abroad without asking Congress first, then Congress must review his decision and if Congress disagrees, the President must withdraw the troops within 60 days (or 90 if necessary for the security of the soldiers.)
The problem of corruption
The Ethics in Government Act was voted in 1978, it created the Office of the Independent Counsel sometimes also called Special Prosecutor, to investigate independently on all allegations of Corruptions related to public officials working for the Executive.
In 1972, The Nixon White House had used money from a slush (=secret) found, fianced by donations from Nixon supporters, to his re-election campaign in order to pay for the activities of the plumbers. (= the one who broke in the democratic party officis for the Watergate scandal).
⇒ This led to a campaigned finance reform with the strengthening in 1974 of the Federal Election Campaign Act which imposed
→ a limit to donations to political campaigns and created a
→ public system of campaign founding,
→ and finally created the federal electoral commission to apply those reforms
The problem of domestic spying / surveillance
Nixon never hesitated to use executive powers to spy on his opponents. For instance, FBI and CIA wiretapping hostile journalists ; or the RAS (In land revenue system) auditioning political enemies ; stealing the medical files of Daniel Ellsberg (who leaked the Pentagon papers) from his psychologist office.
⇒ That was enough for Congress to vote the Privacy Act in 1974 : to limit the right of Executive staffers to access citizen’s personal records.
⇒ They also voted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978 to regulate electronic surveillance within the US. When the government wants to wiretap American citizens suspected of intelligence or terrorist activities, the Department of Justice must officially ask for a warrant to a special court which is called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)
The weaknesses of Congress and the Advantages of a Strong Presidency
The Post Watergate years (1972-1980) can be seen as an interesting historical and institutional experiment.
What would happen if the US returned to the traditional order of things one defines by Congressional Supremacy ?
Weak presidency = weak country
The answer was national decline & national doubt because of the very weak presidencies of Ford & Carter.
These 2 presidents voluntarily adopted a humble style to stress their difference with Nixon. For instance, no chief of staff or reduction of White House staff.
But this new style did not appeal to the population and their presidencies were perceived by American people as nothing but a succession of crises.
The first oil shock in 1973 : economic crisis, inflation, gas shortage.
This is a bit unfair because Ford & Carter had nothing to do with these crises.
⇒ The consequence was the birth of a new equation in American minds : a weak presidency = a weak country.
The cost of such a crisis was the own fault of Congress which is in reality constitutionally bound to be inefficient.
The fragmented nature of Congress
The key structural distinction between the executive & legislative branches is that the executive is a united institution whereas Congress is, by definition, divided in 2 chambers. Each chamber is itself divided in committees and sub-committees.
Its slow decision making process
Since the executive only has 1 leader, whereas Congress is a collective institution, the President can make a decision much faster than Congress. This is a crucial asset in times of foreign policy emergency.
In reality, especially during the Nuclear age, only the President can retaliate if the US is attacked when Congress is not in session, regardless of what the constitution may say.
The weaknesses of Congress and the Advantages of a Strong Presidency
Weak presidency = weak country
The fragmented nature of Congress
Its slow decision making process
Lack of “institutional patriotism” of Congress
Parochial (narrow-minded) outlook on politics
Lack of “institutional patriotism” of Congress
One characteristic of Congress is that there is no party discipline. A member of Congress votes according to the interests of his / her district (=circonscription), or his/her state not according to the interests of his/her party or even of Congress itself.
The priority is re-election not some grand constitutional principles.
