A paranoid President taped conversations in the Oval Office eighteen minutes of which was later erased to avoid a subpoena and self-incrimination.
The Presidents Men, the Republican Committee to Re-elect the President, yes, CREEP, laundered money through a Mexican bank to pay for a truly entertaining break-in of the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate to gather information on an opposition candidate, George McGovern, remembered in 1972 for the second-largest electoral loss in history: 520 to 17 in the electoral college and 47 million to 29 million in the popular vote.
In six years the Nixon Presidency removed the Gold Standard, endured the 1973 oil embargo, the 1973 stock market crash (45% in 6 months), recognized China, started detente with the Soviet Union, had the Shah of Iran firmly in the bowl, supported Pakistan in the 1971 war with India, formed the basis of Middle East Peace talks between Egypt and Israel, and bombed parts of Southeast Asia along the Ho Chi Minh trail back to the stone age.
Inconveniently a psychiatrist named Ellsberg leaked what became known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971 providing a surprisingly detailed record of the secret war in Southeast Asia that made the cover of Time magazine and began the question of the cultural premise in the United States.
To avoid the sandbag or the sand trap of future leaks enlightened Presidential advisors embarked on intelligence-gathering operations named Sandwedge and Gemstone against political or other opposition that could be conjured over martinis.
The team of intrepid operators assigned the tasks and caught with both hands in the vestibule that night at the Watergate in 1972 were alumni of the CIA, FBI, and the Bay of Pigs. This was not Waterloo one hundred and sixty years later but Napoleon's need for dry ground was as fatal as CREEPS pursuit of information against a political foe challenging Alf Landon, the loser to FDR in 1938, for a footnote in Presidential elections.
The Nixon Presidency would have competed with the most popular in history after FDR save for Deep Throat, the source of information from inside the government, who encouraged reporters Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money which led to the indictment of Presidential aides for intent, design, and ineptitude, and a landmark Supreme Court decision US v Nixon (1974) ordering Presidential compliance with subpoenas.
The President opted to resign to avoid a trial for impeachment. And Gerald Ford courtesy of Artice II, Section I, Clause 6 of the Constitution took the oath of Presidency for the remainder of the term losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976, 297 to 240 in the electoral college and by 1.5 million popular votes, in no small part because Ford could not carry his home state of Michigan.
Fifteen years ago today the world learned of the identity of Deep Throat, the Assistant Director of the FBI, Mark Felt, who maintained his silence through seven presidents.
Mr Felt encouraged those, known as whistleblowers, to do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing and not for the accompanied renown.
Happy Anniversary
The Presidents Men, the Republican Committee to Re-elect the President, yes, CREEP, laundered money through a Mexican bank to pay for a truly entertaining break-in of the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate to gather information on an opposition candidate, George McGovern, remembered in 1972 for the second-largest electoral loss in history: 520 to 17 in the electoral college and 47 million to 29 million in the popular vote.
In six years the Nixon Presidency removed the Gold Standard, endured the 1973 oil embargo, the 1973 stock market crash (45% in 6 months), recognized China, started detente with the Soviet Union, had the Shah of Iran firmly in the bowl, supported Pakistan in the 1971 war with India, formed the basis of Middle East Peace talks between Egypt and Israel, and bombed parts of Southeast Asia along the Ho Chi Minh trail back to the stone age.
Inconveniently a psychiatrist named Ellsberg leaked what became known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971 providing a surprisingly detailed record of the secret war in Southeast Asia that made the cover of Time magazine and began the question of the cultural premise in the United States.
To avoid the sandbag or the sand trap of future leaks enlightened Presidential advisors embarked on intelligence-gathering operations named Sandwedge and Gemstone against political or other opposition that could be conjured over martinis.
The team of intrepid operators assigned the tasks and caught with both hands in the vestibule that night at the Watergate in 1972 were alumni of the CIA, FBI, and the Bay of Pigs. This was not Waterloo one hundred and sixty years later but Napoleon's need for dry ground was as fatal as CREEPS pursuit of information against a political foe challenging Alf Landon, the loser to FDR in 1938, for a footnote in Presidential elections.
The Nixon Presidency would have competed with the most popular in history after FDR save for Deep Throat, the source of information from inside the government, who encouraged reporters Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money which led to the indictment of Presidential aides for intent, design, and ineptitude, and a landmark Supreme Court decision US v Nixon (1974) ordering Presidential compliance with subpoenas.
The President opted to resign to avoid a trial for impeachment. And Gerald Ford courtesy of Artice II, Section I, Clause 6 of the Constitution took the oath of Presidency for the remainder of the term losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976, 297 to 240 in the electoral college and by 1.5 million popular votes, in no small part because Ford could not carry his home state of Michigan.
Fifteen years ago today the world learned of the identity of Deep Throat, the Assistant Director of the FBI, Mark Felt, who maintained his silence through seven presidents.
Mr Felt encouraged those, known as whistleblowers, to do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing and not for the accompanied renown.
Happy Anniversary
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