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Richard “tricky dick” Nixon resigned the office of the President of the United States 35 years ago.
Saying that he could not waste the time of the Congress, or the nation defending himself against the false charges of the Justice department.
There was more than enough evidence to impeach President Nixon.
John Dean (legal counsel to Nixon) had testified to the Senate (on national TV) about the inner White House and the details of the criminal cover-up.
It all started when a group of men were arrested for breaking in and wire tapping the offices of the Democratic National Party in the Watergate Office building. Those men and their ties traced backed to the committee to reelect Nixon became the downfall of the President, because of his efforts to cover up the association of those burglars and his office.
People like G. Gordon Liddy (now conservative talk show host and “birther” member) spent time in jail for the crime. Names like Howard Hunt (former CIA) and the rest of the burglars had ties to Nixon from his past government experience.
The case blew wide open when Alexander Butterfield testified to the Congress, that there were recordings of all meetings in the White House including all Oval office meetings and all phone calls the President had made.
The Congress issued a warrant to obtain those recordings. Of course Nixon fought giving the tapes to Congress, and the case went to the Courts. When the courts decided against the President; the President decided he would not give the tapes to Congress and fired (Saturday night massacre) his Attorney General (and a succession of others who also refused) when he refused to go against the courts decision.
When the tapes were finally made available, there was an 18 minute gap on the tapes, that had been erased. The President’s secretary said she had mistakenly made the erasure, but no one believed it.
Anyways, it’s a long complicated case. One worth reading up on, and so is Richard Nixon’s biography.
When Gerald Ford was sworn in, his first words to the nation was, “Our national nightmare is over.”
Later, President Ford would pardon Richard Nixon for all crimes against the United States. Although, at that time President Nixon had not been convicted of any crime. It should be noted that the House had voted to impeach President Nixon, but he had resigned.
On a personal note: I always thought that Nixon should have been charged with crimes. We never did find out the total extent of who was involved and what else happened. My main concern was that many involved, but never exposed, worked in the highest offices of the government, for decades.
This week: PBS is running the original Frost – Nixon interviews. Great TV viewing.
