Watergate NIxon's Downfall Flashcards
What did the Watergate Scandal Center on?
The Nixon administration’s attempt to Cover up a burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington DC
When do historians believe Watergate began?
They belive that it beganwith the personalities of Richard Nixon and those of his advisers as well as the changing role of the presidency
When Richard Nixon took office, what was the executive branch
The most powerful branch of government as a result of the Great Depression, world war 11 and the cold war
Many people believe that by the time Nixon became president, the executive branch was the
Branch that had taken on a role of an imperial thing
How did President NIxon settle in this imperial role
He settled into it with ease
What did Nixon do to the role of the president
He expanded it with little thought to constitutional checks as when he impounded funds for federal programs that he opposed or when he ordered the troops to invade Cambodia
What was the relationship between the president and Congress
It was fairly distant.
Who did Nixon confide in
A small and fiercly loyal group of advisers
Who did Nixon’s advisors include
H. R. Haldeman- the White house chief of staff
John Ehrlichman: Chief of domestic advisers
and John Mitchell: Nixon’s former attorney genera
All of these men played a key role in Nixon’s first term 1968 win. The men shared Nixon’s desire for secrecy and the consolidation of power
What did Critics charge the men with?
They thought that they were above the law
Throughout his political career, what did Richar Nixon live with
The overwhelming fear of losing elections. So, by the 1972 campaign, the people sought advantages by any means possible including an attempt to steal information form the DNC headquarters
What was the basic situation of the Watergate Scandal?
At 2:30 A. M on June 17th, 1972 a guard at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. caught five men breaking into the campaign headquarters of the DNC
What did the burglars plan to steal
They wanted to photograph documents outlining the Democratic Party strategy and to place wiretaps or bugs on the office telephones
The press soon discovered who was the leader
James mcCord- was a former CIA agent. He was a scurity coordinator for a group known as the Committee to Reelect the President
Who was the Committee to Reelect the PResident’s leader
John Mitchell
What was the cover up:
Workers shredded all the incriminating documents in Haldeman’s office.
What did the FBI do
They stopped the investigations at the Urging of the CIA (at PResident Nixon’s consent the white house asked them)
How much were the Watergate Burglars paid out
They were paid out 450,000$ dollars for the scilence. After they were indicted
Throughout the 1972 campaign, what interest level did the Watergate burglar generate among American people
Very little bit
Only the Washington Post and two of the reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstain kept on the story.
In a series of articles, what did the reporters uncover (Bob Woodward and Carle Bernstein)
They uncovered information that linked numerous members of the administration to the burgalary.
With each new Post allegation, what did the White House do?
They denied each new charge.
What proved to be effective in the short term for the white hosue
Denying the allegations. Nixon won
In what year did the Watergate burgalars trial begen
January 1973
John Sirica was
The trial’s presiding judge
What did Sirica believe
That the men had not acted alone
On March 20th, what happened
James mcCord sent a letter to Sirica indicating that he had lied under oath and he hinted that powerful members of the Nixon administration had been involved in the break in
What aroused Public interest in the Scadal
McCord’s elation of possible White house involvemen tin the burglary
On April 30th, 1973 what did Nixon do
Dismissed white house counsel John dean. He announced the resignations of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and replaced John Mitchell folliwing his resignation
When Nixon wen ton TV, what did he announce
ny attempt at a cover up. He announced that he was appointing a new attorney general, Elliot Richardson and was authorizing him to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate
A special committee chard by Senator________ of North Carolina began to call the administration officials to do
Samuel Ervin, give their testimonies. Throughout the summer, many of the American’s sat by their televisions
Who delievered the first revalation, and what was said
John dean. In lat June during more than 30 hours of testimoney Dean provided a startling answer to Senator “Howard Baker’s repeated question “What did the president know and when did he know it” Dean declared that Nixon had been involved in the cover up, reffering to a meeting in which he and the president along with several others discussed strategies to continue the decit
What did the White House do when Dean Charged them
They denied it once again
The hearings had suddenly reached an impasse as the committe attempted to sort out who was telling the truth. Who finally told the truth, and what did they say?
Presidential Aid Alexander Butterfield. He revealed tha tNixon had taped virtually all of his presidential conversations.
Who was Archibald Cox
The special prosecutor who Elliot Richardson had appointed to investigate the cause too k the president to court in October 1973 to obtain the tapes.
When Nixon refused to hand over the tapes, what did he order: Richardson to fire Cox. But what eventually became known as the Saturday Night Massacre
Richardson refused to fire Cox and resigned. The deputy attorney genneral refused the order and he was fired. Solicitor General Robert Bork finally fired Cox
Who was Cox’s replacement and what did he want
Leon Jaworski He wanted the tapes as well.
Several months after the Saturday Night Massacre, what did the House Judiciary Committee examine
the possibility of the impeachment hearing
Why did Spiro Agnew resign
because it was revealed that he had accepted bribes from engineering firms while governor of Maryland. Agnew pleaded (no contest to the chage)
Acting under the 25th Amendment, who did Richard Nixon nominate?
House minority leader Gerald R. Ford as his new vice president
In March 1974, a grand jury indicted seven presidential aides on charges of
conspiracy, obstruciton of justice, an dperjury.
In the Spring of 1974, what did President Nixon tell a television audience
That he was releasing a 1254 page of edited transcripts of White House conversations about Watergate
Even though nixon released the transcripts
He failed to satisfy investigators who demanded the unedited tapes
When nixon refused to give up the tapes what happpened
The case went before the court
On July 24, 1974 the high court ruled unanimously that
The presiden t must surrender the tapes. They rejected nixons argument that doing so would violate national security
Even though Presiden t nixon maintained that he did nothing wrong
Evidence involving criminal activity could not be: withheld
Even without holdng the original tapes, what was the house Judiciary committee determined to do
They though tthat there was enough evidence to impeach Richard nixon
On July 27th, what did the committe approve
Three articles of impeachment charging the president with obstruction of justice, abuse of poewr and contempt of COngress for refusing to obey a congressional subpoena to release the tapes
What did the House Judiciary committee charge Nixon with
When did Nixon release the tapes, and what did htey contain
August 5th, but they contained many gaps (One had an 18 minute ga)
What was the cover up by the White house wiht the tapes
That Presiden’t secretary had erased part of a conversation.
A tape from June 23, 1972 contained a conversation
Between nixon and Haldeman and disclosed the evidence that investagators needed.
What had the president known
He had known about ht erole of the members of his administraiton in the burglary and had agreeed to the plan to obstruct the FBIs investigation
On August 8th,, 1974 before the House vote on the Articles of impeachment began what did Presiden Nixon announce
He was not admitting any guilt when he announced his resignation from office
Who was sworn in
Gerald Ford
What did Watergate produce
It produced a deep disillusionment with the imperial presidency. 25 members of the Nixon administration and served prison terms for crimes.
What did the American public and media develop
A general cynicism about public officials. All scadals are compared to watergate
