rubber soul

RICHARD NIXON (PART 2)





Election of 1972: Despite the problems with inflation, everything else seemed to be going quite well and President Nixon was relatively popular. After his goodwill trip to China his popularity swelled even more and there didn’t seem to be much doubt he’d win re-election.

But Nixon was also, arguably, the most insecure President in history as well, at least before Trump, anyway. So, his campaign group, the Committee to Re-elect the President, or CREEP for short, went back into their bag of dirty tricks.

And the biggest victim was Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. The former Vice Presidential candidate was considered the Democratic frontrunner in February 1972. So, Donald Segretti and Ken Lawson forged a letter, known as the Canuck letter, that suggested Muskie was prejudiced against French Canadians. This was printed in the Manchester Union Leader and Muskie was forced to respond. He was a bit emotional as Americans learned the important lesson that you’re not allowed to cry in politics, or you’ll be considered a loony bird. Muskie never recovered from the dirty trick.

Muskie did hang on until May, though, as other candidates vied for the Democratic nomination such as George Wallace, Shirley Chisholm, Hubert Humphrey, and George McGovern. The Nixon camp badly wanted the liberal, but flighty, McGovern as he seemed to be the easiest candidate to beat in November. The Democrats knew this too as they tried to do everything they could, short of a stop McGovern movement, even trying to deny him the California delegates that would have put him over the top.

Before the fun and games at the Democratic Convention though, a couple of matters of significant importance occurred. In Laurel, Maryland, George Wallace, still pushing his law and order against blacks mantra, was shot, and paralyzed by a weirdo not unlike John Hinckley really. Wallace would win the Maryland and Michigan primaries, but his presidential aspirations were over (and, on the positive side, a lot of that hateful racism was too).

The other major event didn’t get a lot of press at the time, but it would ultimately lead to the downfall of Nixon. On June 17, 1972, five men connected with CREEP were caught breaking in to the DNC offices at the Watergate Hotel. Nixon, through G. Gordon Liddy and others, tried to cover the incident up with mixed success, but enough to get them past November. This, of course, marked the beginning of the Watergate scandal.

But back to the election. After McGovern won his court battle, he was awarded the California delegates and he won the nomination. He then picked Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his running mate- for a week. Seems that he had been treated for depression in the past which is another lesson learned: Never see a psychiatrist or people will think you’re a loony bird, just kill yourself instead. The nervous nellies of the Democratic Party dumped Eagleton as a result and went with Sargent Shriver as the running mate instead. Shriver was a Kennedy in-law so what could possibly go wrong there?

As it turned out, nothing, but it didn’t matter. Nixon won in the biggest landslide to date with more than 60% of the popular vote, McGovern winning only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

So, America went with Nixon, and they got what they wanted, whether they liked it or not.

Second Term: The second term started out promisingly enough for President Nixon as he signed the Vietnam Peace Accords. There would still be some non-combatants in Vietnam for the next two years, but the fighting part of the war was over for Americans. Plus, the POW’s were all coming home.

The glad handing that the Vietnam War was over didn’t last very long, however, because after the Watergate burglars were sentenced to prison, the press, then Congress, began to jump on the scandal that was now becoming full blown. Several aides were connected to the break-in including Chief of Staff Hadleman and Attorney General (now former AG) Mitchell. Nixon too got involved by trying to cover up the cover up. He invoked Executive Privilege, ostensibly to protect his aides, but really, to protect himself. When that didn’t work, he threw his aides under the bus, notably his White House lawyer, John Dean, who was willing to tell the truth about the whole mess.

And, indeed, as the Senate held their Watergate hearings, it would be John Dean that would expose the scandal for what it was as he told the committee that he told Nixon that it was a cancer on the Presidency. Even worse, it was confirmed that Nixon had been taping practically everything in the White House. By now a special prosecutor had been assigned to the Watergate case and there was a battle between Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Congress, Judge John Sirica, and the White House, for rights to hear the tapes. Needless to say, the White House was stonewalling.

Meanwhile, Watergate wasn’t the only crisis brewing. In 1973, Israel was at war with Syria and Egypt again, this time in the Yom Kippur War. Again, Israel won out, but this time, the Arab nations decided they were going to stop selling gas to the West, thus, the Energy crisis had begun.

And yet, there was another scandal in the Administration, and it had nothing to do with Watergate. You see, Vice President Spiro Agnew of Maryland (don’t remind me), was being investigated for taking kickbacks from when he was a County Executive. As a result, he pleaded Nolo Contendre and resigned as Vice President.

Now, after Kennedy had been assassinated, they pushed through an Amendment giving the President the right to pick a new Vice President upon confirmation by the Senate. Nixon got to be the first President to do just that, but he also had to have the approval of the Democratic controlled Senate, so he wasn’t going to get one of his buddies in, that was for sure.

So, upon the advice of fellow Republicans, he made what may have been the best decision of his Presidency. He chose House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan, a conservative to be sure, but also a man of impeccable character. He would win confirmation easily.

Now back to Watergate and the beginning of the end. Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was still demanding the tapes and Nixon continued to stonewall to the point that Cox took him to court. Cox was also defying Nixon’s orders to basically lay off and drop the subpoena.

So, on October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered his Attorney General, Eliot Richardson, to fire Cox. Unfortunately, for Nixon, he appointed an honest man and Richardson refused and resigned. Likewise, so did his deputy AG when he was ordered. Finally, he got Robert Bork to do the dastardly deed. This act even outraged some Republicans and for the first time, serious talk of impeachment was on the table.

And impeachment hearings were the rage in 1974. The House now had their own special committee. Hillary Rodham was actually one of the aides. They were spirited hearings to say the least as the Republicans were split between Nixon loyalists and the ones more outraged at his behavior. Even the Democrats had a couple of Southern sympathizers (Nixon still held some popularity in the South).

After some back and forth between Nixon and the courts, the Supreme Court finally ordered Nixon to give up the tapes. He did, but not before the House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment. It was a foregone conclusion he would be impeached.

And, after hearing the tapes, it was pretty obvious the Senate was going to remove him from office as well as not only did most of Nixon’s defenders turn on him, but Senator Goldwater also told Nixon that there were only four Senators that would vote to acquit him- he was not one of them.

So, on August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon announced he would resign the Presidency the next day. As such, he became to first President to truly leave the White House in disgrace.


Post Presidency: After leaving Washington, the first thing people wondered was if he would be prosecuted. A pardon by President Ford would answer that question and, after a serious bout of phlebitis, Nixon set on his way to redeem his image. In 1977, he did a series of interviews with David Frost where he infamously said, “It’s not illegal when the President does it” Still, he was reluctantly accepted as an elder statesman and often would be asked about international issues, sometimes by the President of the day.

Though never fully regaining his dignity, Nixon would die less broken than he had been twenty years before.

Odd notes: Nixon had a bowling alley installed under the White House

Nixon almost won Charles Manson a mistrial

Nixon was in a photo op with Elvis Presley



Final Summary: Okay, this one is a little tough. It would be easy to give Nixon an F just for Watergate and the enemies list alone, but he does have some foreign policy accomplishments. He did do things to make the environment a little better (the first Earth Day was during his Presidency).

Still, even without Watergate, I don’t seem him rating better than a C (conservatives will probably disagree with me on this). He was paranoid to a fault, and it did affect how he ran the White House (it’s also probably why we got Watergate to begin with). He encouraged secret files on those he didn’t like, and he did play dirty when it came to politics, just ask Edmund Muskie.

But it is ultimately Watergate that not only brings Nixon down as a President, but as a man. And, really, when you rely on destroying people’s lives to get what you want rather than relying on your own strengths (which he actually had in abundance, he just never trusted himself), you just come off as a little man.

And, in the end, that’s what Richard Nixon was, a little man.

Overall rating: D

https://millercenter.org/president/nixon

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