All this is peanuts. Sensational, and overblown. At most, Nixon deserved a slap on the wrist. The whole investigation was just one big fishing expedition, revealing nothing about Nixon's role in the Watergate break-in -- because he had no role. Hence, the fishing expedition, egged on by the news media.Contrarian Expatriate wrote:Nixon was a tool. In addition to imposing the aforementioned price controls, he acted above the law:
The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. Those activities included "dirty tricks" such as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his close aides ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the FBI, CIA, and the Internal Revenue Service. The activities became known after five men were caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972.
In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had a secret taping system that recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office. These tapes were subpoenaed by Watergate Special Counsel Archibald Cox. Nixon refused to release them, citing executive privilege. With the White House and Cox at loggerheads, Nixon had Cox fired in October in the "Saturday Night Massacre"; he was replaced by Leon Jaworski.
However, one of the new tapes, recorded soon after the break-in, demonstrated that Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate burglaries soon after they took place, and had approved plans to thwart the investigation.
Cox was just another anti-Nixon Democrat who didn't know what he was looking for. He very likely knew that the tapes would reveal dirt on Nixon that did not pertain to the Watergate case. Nixon understandably refused to release the tapes, which only made him look like he was covering up something -- exactly the appearance the news media had wanted. Much of what the tapes later revealed was damaging to Nixon, but irrelevant.
As for the so-called "smoking gun" tape, of course they got him. But again, peanuts. The Washington Post was after Nixon in 1972, an election year, and Nixon figured (correctly) that if he didn't cover up White House involvement, the Post would damage his re-election chances by blaming him for the burglary, even though he had nothing to do with it.
Nixon went along with the cover-up, and allowed the Post to make an issue out of the precise date that Nixon said he had learned of the burglars's connection to the White House. The tapes revealed that Nixon had learned of the connection at an earlier date than the one he had claimed. That's how the news media nailed him. BFD.
Well, I never said Nixon was the greatest president of all time. Only the best since 1960, which isn't saying much.I put it to you that Nixon was the first to make Affirmative Action national policy. How you like him now?
