President Nixon's Pressure To Aggregate Scandal
A 60% approval rating for President Nixon ended abruptly on the night of June 17th, 1972. As a matter of fact, by the time the scandal was fully exposed to the public, his ratings had plummeted to 66% disapprove.The spiral of control that President Nixon lost over time started with his need for re-election in his second term. His actions against our constitution that were intended to ensure his reelection were committed in the most immoral ways and subsequently exposed to the public eye due to the diligent reporting of our press. The pressure from the press on Nixon and his administration forced him to resign after his only ten supporters in congress voted for his impeachment. Atrocities like these these acts and acts alike are the reasons that our country is in such division today. Nixon used such tactics as breaking and entering, laundering money, firing people designed to check and balance against him, investigating his competitors, and withholding or destroying evidence used against him. The footprint that is left behind from these acts and anything of a similar demeanor can be compared to that of a broken glass. Once the glass is broken, no
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matter how much you try, the cracks still show. If we go back to June 17th, 1972 we can see where this all started. 5 men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Police on site diligently searched and found them to be wearing surgical gloves and holding devices that are presumed to be used to capture sensitive audio tapes from the DNC. Officers also found the burglars to be held $2,300 in cash, which comes out to be about $13,000 today, all of which is in $100 bills. The question was posed to our country, why did these men do this? Who ordered them to do this? Little was known at the time of the investigation at this time, but when the rabbit hole was deeper investigated, this appeared to be more than a routine break in. First of all the money on site was a big question. What were these men doing with so much cash on hand? When the FBI investigated the cash they found on hand it appeared to come from a slush fund that is used by the Committee for re-election of the president (CRP). A slush fund is a term used to describe money from a bank account used for immoral and illegal acts. When the burglars were investigated the FBI found that one of them had deposited the amount of $146,000 in today’s money into a Mexican bank account on August 1st. This money was sent to the CRP by donations across the country in order to fund Nixon’s re-election, but instead it was used to fund the break into the DNC. In all of the other cases similar to this one the donation checks come out to be around $500,000 in money that was thought to be in the campaign. Upon this scandal’s discovery, mistrust and uncertainty were created across the country. When faced with the pressure of his scandal’s being released to the public eye, Nixon’s reaction didn’t fall out of character.
He was being investigated by a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. A special prosecutor is a lawyer that is designed specifically to handle cases where the person who they are prosecuting is very far above a regular lawyer in the case of power. During an event known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” Nixon appointed his secretary of defense, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Richardson declined the job and resigned from his position in Nixon’s cabinet. Nixon appointed the acting head of the Justice Department to fire Archibald and to America’s dismay, he did. The apparent untouchability of Nixon became apparent to the people of America and made them frightened as to what Nixon’s next move would
be. Among the many things that motivated Nixon to order the break into the DNC, one of the most apparent is the fact that he wanted to be able to sleep soundly knowing that he would be re-elected for president, however immoral it may be for him. He decided that the best way to ensure this was to bug the DNC for sensitive information. This apparently had become a pattern for Richard Nixon as he bugged several other committees and activist groups that are politically against him and his policies. An activist group is designed to be a sort of public road block for a politician. They rally, boycott, and protest against their desired politician or business. Nixon ordered these investigations against his known competitors, yet again, to ensure that the election is in his favor. Consequentially to all of Nixon’s actions, the public denounced him and pushed him to resign. Nixon, being the president, had almost complete control of the exact system that was trying to prosecute him. The country was left to wonder, what can we possibly do to incriminate this man who is in complete power? There was still hope. White house officials discovered that they could use their tape recording system that was installed in 1971 to incriminate Nixon further. Nixon was accused of hiding sensitive information on these tapes that would relate strongly to the Watergate scandal. He strongly denied all of these claims until the Supreme Court sent forth an injunction for Nixon to release edited transcripts of these tapes. Being president Nixon, he decided to “forget” about the injunction until his public pressure was enough for him to break. Upon reaching that point in time Nixon’s secretary, Rose Mary Woods, was appointed to transcribe these tapes with the freedom to “edit” them as she saw fit. The concern that Nixon used to be that sensitive government information would be released into the public, and it needed to be controlled. Among these transcripts of tapes released into the public was the infamous “Smoking gun” tape. This tape revealed to the public a conversation that President Nixon had with his chief of staff at the time, H.R. Hadleman. The topic up for discussion was whether it would be appropriate to see fit the CIA director is told to approach the FBI director to request a halt of the Watergate investigation. Nixon agreed that this would be appropriate which, when the tape was revealed to the public, sent America’s trust for their country straight into the ground. The special prosecutor at this time deemed the simple mention of this act obstruction of justice. Among many issues with the transcripts was one unavoidable truth to Nixon, information about his organization of the scandal and the execution of it would be seen by the public eye and it would lead to impeachment. Upon realising this truth, it is presumed that he decided the following: Delete a portion of the tapes that held incriminating information, cover up this act with as much lies as he can muster, and make sure that the truth is no more than suspected by America. He did just that. Upon transcribing the tapes a sort of “accident” occurred with secretary Rose Mary Woods. When she went to answer the phone she kept her foot on the tape recording button. She had accidentally pushed record on the machine as well. This resulted in her phone conversation being recorded over the top of the tape. This phone conversation lasted 5 minutes while there was an extra 13 ½ minutes of static. Woods says that she has no idea where the remaining 13 ½ minutes came from. A picture was later published showing her stretching across her office in order to recreate how such an accident could possibly happen. The infamously dubbed “18 ½ minute gap” is a nail in the coffin of cover-ups that make this scandal the earth shattering bombshell that it is known as today. Now as you may see, these events left quite a negative footprint on America that is still seen to this day. In the final years of Nixon’s presidency, he lost his only 10 supporters in congress as they voted unanimously for impeachment. Upon hearing this news Nixon couldn’t take responsibility and he resigned from the presidency; Nixon is the only president in history to resign from the Presidency. In the end Nixon failed to completely destroy our democracy, however he tried nonetheless. The mistrust that American people felt at that time is part of a greater whole that is responsible for our such division in these days. If you still can’t understand why, imagine this scenario; You live in a small middle class suburb with your family. Many people you know are off fighting to keep your freedoms in line in a war you know can’t be won. You go to get the newspapers and learn that the very country that thousands of people are dying to save is in it’s own massive form of dismay. You can't trust the people that are supposed to make absolutely sure that your life is a perfect as it can be. While this scenario may seem far fetched for 2018, the American people of 1972 lived it every day. The combination of terror and mistrust that swept through each and every American’s mind is part of the greater whole of emotions that divide our country into the sections we see today. This is not the only event to ever occur of its kind; it was neither the first nor will it be the last, but we need to recognize it for what it was. It was clear and cut obstruction of justice and is simply unconstitutional in every possible way. With our country acting as a fragile glass, June 17th, 1972 was the beginning of a massive crack that still shows its mark 46 years later.
matter how much you try, the cracks still show. If we go back to June 17th, 1972 we can see where this all started. 5 men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Police on site diligently searched and found them to be wearing surgical gloves and holding devices that are presumed to be used to capture sensitive audio tapes from the DNC. Officers also found the burglars to be held $2,300 in cash, which comes out to be about $13,000 today, all of which is in $100 bills. The question was posed to our country, why did these men do this? Who ordered them to do this? Little was known at the time of the investigation at this time, but when the rabbit hole was deeper investigated, this appeared to be more than a routine break in. First of all the money on site was a big question. What were these men doing with so much cash on hand? When the FBI investigated the cash they found on hand it appeared to come from a slush fund that is used by the Committee for re-election of the president (CRP). A slush fund is a term used to describe money from a bank account used for immoral and illegal acts. When the burglars were investigated the FBI found that one of them had deposited the amount of $146,000 in today’s money into a Mexican bank account on August 1st. This money was sent to the CRP by donations across the country in order to fund Nixon’s re-election, but instead it was used to fund the break into the DNC. In all of the other cases similar to this one the donation checks come out to be around $500,000 in money that was thought to be in the campaign. Upon this scandal’s discovery, mistrust and uncertainty were created across the country. When faced with the pressure of his scandal’s being released to the public eye, Nixon’s reaction didn’t fall out of character.
He was being investigated by a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. A special prosecutor is a lawyer that is designed specifically to handle cases where the person who they are prosecuting is very far above a regular lawyer in the case of power. During an event known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” Nixon appointed his secretary of defense, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Richardson declined the job and resigned from his position in Nixon’s cabinet. Nixon appointed the acting head of the Justice Department to fire Archibald and to America’s dismay, he did. The apparent untouchability of Nixon became apparent to the people of America and made them frightened as to what Nixon’s next move would
be. Among the many things that motivated Nixon to order the break into the DNC, one of the most apparent is the fact that he wanted to be able to sleep soundly knowing that he would be re-elected for president, however immoral it may be for him. He decided that the best way to ensure this was to bug the DNC for sensitive information. This apparently had become a pattern for Richard Nixon as he bugged several other committees and activist groups that are politically against him and his policies. An activist group is designed to be a sort of public road block for a politician. They rally, boycott, and protest against their desired politician or business. Nixon ordered these investigations against his known competitors, yet again, to ensure that the election is in his favor. Consequentially to all of Nixon’s actions, the public denounced him and pushed him to resign. Nixon, being the president, had almost complete control of the exact system that was trying to prosecute him. The country was left to wonder, what can we possibly do to incriminate this man who is in complete power? There was still hope. White house officials discovered that they could use their tape recording system that was installed in 1971 to incriminate Nixon further. Nixon was accused of hiding sensitive information on these tapes that would relate strongly to the Watergate scandal. He strongly denied all of these claims until the Supreme Court sent forth an injunction for Nixon to release edited transcripts of these tapes. Being president Nixon, he decided to “forget” about the injunction until his public pressure was enough for him to break. Upon reaching that point in time Nixon’s secretary, Rose Mary Woods, was appointed to transcribe these tapes with the freedom to “edit” them as she saw fit. The concern that Nixon used to be that sensitive government information would be released into the public, and it needed to be controlled. Among these transcripts of tapes released into the public was the infamous “Smoking gun” tape. This tape revealed to the public a conversation that President Nixon had with his chief of staff at the time, H.R. Hadleman. The topic up for discussion was whether it would be appropriate to see fit the CIA director is told to approach the FBI director to request a halt of the Watergate investigation. Nixon agreed that this would be appropriate which, when the tape was revealed to the public, sent America’s trust for their country straight into the ground. The special prosecutor at this time deemed the simple mention of this act obstruction of justice. Among many issues with the transcripts was one unavoidable truth to Nixon, information about his organization of the scandal and the execution of it would be seen by the public eye and it would lead to impeachment. Upon realising this truth, it is presumed that he decided the following: Delete a portion of the tapes that held incriminating information, cover up this act with as much lies as he can muster, and make sure that the truth is no more than suspected by America. He did just that. Upon transcribing the tapes a sort of “accident” occurred with secretary Rose Mary Woods. When she went to answer the phone she kept her foot on the tape recording button. She had accidentally pushed record on the machine as well. This resulted in her phone conversation being recorded over the top of the tape. This phone conversation lasted 5 minutes while there was an extra 13 ½ minutes of static. Woods says that she has no idea where the remaining 13 ½ minutes came from. A picture was later published showing her stretching across her office in order to recreate how such an accident could possibly happen. The infamously dubbed “18 ½ minute gap” is a nail in the coffin of cover-ups that make this scandal the earth shattering bombshell that it is known as today. Now as you may see, these events left quite a negative footprint on America that is still seen to this day. In the final years of Nixon’s presidency, he lost his only 10 supporters in congress as they voted unanimously for impeachment. Upon hearing this news Nixon couldn’t take responsibility and he resigned from the presidency; Nixon is the only president in history to resign from the Presidency. In the end Nixon failed to completely destroy our democracy, however he tried nonetheless. The mistrust that American people felt at that time is part of a greater whole that is responsible for our such division in these days. If you still can’t understand why, imagine this scenario; You live in a small middle class suburb with your family. Many people you know are off fighting to keep your freedoms in line in a war you know can’t be won. You go to get the newspapers and learn that the very country that thousands of people are dying to save is in it’s own massive form of dismay. You can't trust the people that are supposed to make absolutely sure that your life is a perfect as it can be. While this scenario may seem far fetched for 2018, the American people of 1972 lived it every day. The combination of terror and mistrust that swept through each and every American’s mind is part of the greater whole of emotions that divide our country into the sections we see today. This is not the only event to ever occur of its kind; it was neither the first nor will it be the last, but we need to recognize it for what it was. It was clear and cut obstruction of justice and is simply unconstitutional in every possible way. With our country acting as a fragile glass, June 17th, 1972 was the beginning of a massive crack that still shows its mark 46 years later.