Presidents Highs and Lows: Richard Nixon
In January of 1973, Richard Nixon's approval rating stood at 66%, its highest point during his presidency. A year later, in January of 1974, it had fallen to its lowest point, 24%, the second lowest ever recorded since the Gallup company began tracking the statistic, and since. (Only Harry Truman's numbers had sunk lower, down to 22%). What happened in that year? It was the fallout from a bungled break-in to an office a building known as the Watergate Complex.
Nixon had probably never been perceived by the vast majority of the electorate as warm and fuzzy. He was often considered to be stiff and wooden, even when trying to appear relaxed and jovial. Many remembered his petulant and petty nature when in 1962, after losing the election to become Governor of California, he told the media at a press conference that they would not "have Nixon to kick around" any longer. People thought that this was his political death, but those people were wrong. Nixon was a shrewd politician and in 1968 he found the right path between the liberal and conservative wings of the Republican Party to win its nomination for president. To paraphrase one pundit, Nixon did not win the nomination because people loved him, but because he was the candidate that most of the party was willing to tolerate. He defeated incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey in a close election, though some would say that his victory was not without actions that earned him the pejorative nickname of "Tricky Dick", as he used backdoor channels to postpone a negotiated settlement of the Vietnam War that might have given Humphrey the impetus required to push him to victory.
Nixon proved to be a capable president in his first term. He was able to end American involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1973 and negotiated the return of American POWs. His visit to China in 1972 eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. He imposed wage and price controls for ninety days, enforced desegregation of Southern schools and established the Environmental Protection Agency. He took advantage of the Apollo 11 moon landing for political advantage, ending the race to the moon race. By the end of his first term, he was so well admired that he was reelected in one of the largest electoral landslides in U.S. history in 1972.
In his second term the good political times ended. In the aftermath of the election, a number of "dirty tricks" came to light that have tarnished Nixon's image and his legacy. Those activities were brought to light after five men were caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The Washington Post picked up on the story as reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an informant known as "Deep Throat" (later revealed to be FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt) to connect the men to the Nixon administration. Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, attacking the Post and other news media for being biased and misleading. But eventually it became clear that the Committee to Re-elect President Nixon, and later the White House, was involved in attempts to sabotage the Democrats. Senior aides to Nixon were implicated in these activities, and eventually a total of 48 officials were convicted of wrongdoing.
In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified under oath to Congress 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, meeting with objections from Nixon. He agreed to provide transcripts of the conversations but not the actual tapes, citing executive privilege. Nixon had Cox fired in October of 1973 as part of what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre". (The Attorney-General and Deputy Attorney-General who refused to follow Nixon's orders resigned as a result. Solicitor-General Robert Bork eventually carried out the deed.)
Cox was replaced as Special Prosecutor by Leon Jaworski. In November, Nixon's lawyers revealed that an audio tape of conversations held in the White House on June 20, 1972 featured an 18½ minute gap. Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's personal secretary, claimed responsibility for this. She said that she had accidentally wiped the section while transcribing the tape. This gap increased suspicion that Nixon was untruthful when he said that he had been unaware of the cover-up.
Nixon lost a lot of popular support, even within his own party. He tried to cling to power, insisting that he had made mistakes, but had no prior knowledge of the burglary. He said that he did not learn of the cover-up until early 1973. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned for reasons unconnected to Watergate. He was convicted on charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering that occurred during his time as Governor of Maryland. Nixon chose Gerald Ford, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to replace Agnew. Maintaining his innocence, on November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press, Nixon famously said, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." The public did not believe him and in January of 1974, Nixon scored his lowest approval rating.
In April 1974 Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides. The House Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings against the President on May 9, 1974. These were televised on the major TV networks. On July 24, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the full tapes, not just selected transcripts, must be released. The hearings unearthed additional allegations against Nixon, including the improper use of government agencies to accepting gifts in office and irregularities in his personal finances and taxes. Nixon paid $465,000 in back taxes in 1974.
As bleak as things looked, Nixon hoped to fight the charges. 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. This became known as the "Smoking Gun Tape". On August 5, 1974, Nixon accepted blame for misleading the country about when he had been told of White House involvement, stating that he had a lapse of memory.
Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, Senator Barry Goldwater, and House Minority Leader John Jacob Rhodes met with Nixon soon after this. The three told Nixon that he faced certain impeachment in the House. Scott and Goldwater told the president that he had, at most, only 15 votes in his favor in the Senate, much less than the 34 he needed to avoid removal from office. Finally seeing the writing on the wall, Nixon realized that he would almost certainly be impeached and removed from office.
Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. His resignation speech was delivered from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. Nixon stated that he was resigning for the good of the country and asked the nation to support the new president, Gerald Ford. Nixon went on to review the accomplishments of his presidency, and in his resignation speech, he quoted Theodore Roosevelt:
"Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, "whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly".
Nixon had probably never been perceived by the vast majority of the electorate as warm and fuzzy. He was often considered to be stiff and wooden, even when trying to appear relaxed and jovial. Many remembered his petulant and petty nature when in 1962, after losing the election to become Governor of California, he told the media at a press conference that they would not "have Nixon to kick around" any longer. People thought that this was his political death, but those people were wrong. Nixon was a shrewd politician and in 1968 he found the right path between the liberal and conservative wings of the Republican Party to win its nomination for president. To paraphrase one pundit, Nixon did not win the nomination because people loved him, but because he was the candidate that most of the party was willing to tolerate. He defeated incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey in a close election, though some would say that his victory was not without actions that earned him the pejorative nickname of "Tricky Dick", as he used backdoor channels to postpone a negotiated settlement of the Vietnam War that might have given Humphrey the impetus required to push him to victory.
Nixon proved to be a capable president in his first term. He was able to end American involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1973 and negotiated the return of American POWs. His visit to China in 1972 eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. He imposed wage and price controls for ninety days, enforced desegregation of Southern schools and established the Environmental Protection Agency. He took advantage of the Apollo 11 moon landing for political advantage, ending the race to the moon race. By the end of his first term, he was so well admired that he was reelected in one of the largest electoral landslides in U.S. history in 1972.
In his second term the good political times ended. In the aftermath of the election, a number of "dirty tricks" came to light that have tarnished Nixon's image and his legacy. Those activities were brought to light after five men were caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The Washington Post picked up on the story as reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an informant known as "Deep Throat" (later revealed to be FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt) to connect the men to the Nixon administration. Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, attacking the Post and other news media for being biased and misleading. But eventually it became clear that the Committee to Re-elect President Nixon, and later the White House, was involved in attempts to sabotage the Democrats. Senior aides to Nixon were implicated in these activities, and eventually a total of 48 officials were convicted of wrongdoing.
In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified under oath to Congress 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, meeting with objections from Nixon. He agreed to provide transcripts of the conversations but not the actual tapes, citing executive privilege. Nixon had Cox fired in October of 1973 as part of what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre". (The Attorney-General and Deputy Attorney-General who refused to follow Nixon's orders resigned as a result. Solicitor-General Robert Bork eventually carried out the deed.)
Cox was replaced as Special Prosecutor by Leon Jaworski. In November, Nixon's lawyers revealed that an audio tape of conversations held in the White House on June 20, 1972 featured an 18½ minute gap. Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's personal secretary, claimed responsibility for this. She said that she had accidentally wiped the section while transcribing the tape. This gap increased suspicion that Nixon was untruthful when he said that he had been unaware of the cover-up.
Nixon lost a lot of popular support, even within his own party. He tried to cling to power, insisting that he had made mistakes, but had no prior knowledge of the burglary. He said that he did not learn of the cover-up until early 1973. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned for reasons unconnected to Watergate. He was convicted on charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering that occurred during his time as Governor of Maryland. Nixon chose Gerald Ford, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to replace Agnew. Maintaining his innocence, on November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press, Nixon famously said, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." The public did not believe him and in January of 1974, Nixon scored his lowest approval rating.
In April 1974 Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides. The House Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings against the President on May 9, 1974. These were televised on the major TV networks. On July 24, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the full tapes, not just selected transcripts, must be released. The hearings unearthed additional allegations against Nixon, including the improper use of government agencies to accepting gifts in office and irregularities in his personal finances and taxes. Nixon paid $465,000 in back taxes in 1974.
As bleak as things looked, Nixon hoped to fight the charges. 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. This became known as the "Smoking Gun Tape". On August 5, 1974, Nixon accepted blame for misleading the country about when he had been told of White House involvement, stating that he had a lapse of memory.
Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, Senator Barry Goldwater, and House Minority Leader John Jacob Rhodes met with Nixon soon after this. The three told Nixon that he faced certain impeachment in the House. Scott and Goldwater told the president that he had, at most, only 15 votes in his favor in the Senate, much less than the 34 he needed to avoid removal from office. Finally seeing the writing on the wall, Nixon realized that he would almost certainly be impeached and removed from office.
Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. His resignation speech was delivered from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. Nixon stated that he was resigning for the good of the country and asked the nation to support the new president, Gerald Ford. Nixon went on to review the accomplishments of his presidency, and in his resignation speech, he quoted Theodore Roosevelt:
"Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, "whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly".