Nixon's Questionable Legacy: Lawbreaker Or Not?

Richard Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. He was the only president to resign from office, which he did in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office.

Nixon's resignation was the culmination of the Watergate scandal, which began with the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 and the Nixon administration's subsequent attempted cover-up of its involvement.

In 1973, the United States Senate established a Select Committee to investigate the break-in, and the House of Representatives granted its Judiciary Committee expanded authority to do the same. The Judiciary Committee began an official investigation into the president's role in Watergate and, in May 1974, commenced formal hearings on whether there were grounds to impeach Nixon.

Nixon was accused of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. He was also accused of using the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for political purposes and establishing a covert White House special investigative unit to violate citizens' constitutional rights.

In July 1974, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release tapes of White House conversations, which revealed that he had approved plans to obstruct the investigation into the Watergate break-in.

Faced with the likelihood of impeachment and removal from office, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.

Obstruction of justice

The impeachment process against Richard Nixon was initiated by the United States House of Representatives on October 30, 1973, during the Watergate scandal. The House Committee on the Judiciary soon began an official investigation of the president's role in Watergate.

On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against Nixon: obstruction of justice. The Committee recommended the second article, abuse of power, on July 29, 1974. The next day, on July 30, 1974, the Committee recommended the third article: contempt of Congress.

The first article of impeachment against Nixon charged him with obstruction of justice in attempting to impede the investigation of the Watergate break-in, protect those responsible, and conceal the existence of other illegal activities.

The article alleged that Nixon had worked with subordinates to "delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation" into the Watergate break-in; to "cover up, conceal and protect those responsible"; and to "conceal the existence and scope of other unlawful covert activities".

Nixon was also accused of making false or misleading statements to investigators, withholding relevant evidence, and interfering with the conduct of investigations by the Department of Justice, the FBI, and Congressional Committees.

The article further alleged that Nixon had approved the surreptitious payment of substantial sums of money to obtain the silence of witnesses and individuals who participated in the unlawful entry and other illegal activities.

Nixon's actions were seen as a violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

The article concluded that Nixon had acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, resulting in great prejudice to the cause of law and justice and manifest injury to the people of the United States.

The release of the "smoking gun" tape on August 5, 1974, proved Nixon's complicity in the Watergate cover-up and destroyed him politically.

Faced with certain impeachment and removal from office, Nixon decided to resign on August 8, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so.

Abuse of power

Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, was the first US president to be the subject of an official impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives since Andrew Johnson in 1868. While Nixon himself was not impeached, the impeachment process against him is the only one that has brought about a president's departure from office.

Nixon was accused of abuse of power by using the office of the presidency on multiple occasions, dating back to the first year of his administration (1969), to unlawfully use federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as establishing a covert White House special investigative unit, to violate the constitutional rights of citizens and interfere with lawful investigations.

The impeachment process against Nixon was initiated by the United States House of Representatives on October 30, 1973, during the course of the Watergate scandal, when multiple resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Nixon were introduced immediately following the series of high-level resignations and firings widely called the "Saturday Night Massacre".

The House Committee on the Judiciary soon began an official investigation of the president's role in Watergate, and, in May 1974, commenced formal hearings on whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Nixon of high crimes and misdemeanors under Article II, Section 4, of the United States Constitution.

The investigation was undertaken one year after the United States Senate established the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex during the 1972 presidential election, and the Republican Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement.

The abuse of power charge against Nixon was approved 28-10 by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, July 29, 1974.

Contempt of Congress

On April 11, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed 42 tapes of White House conversations relevant to the Watergate cover-up. However, Nixon refused to comply with the subpoenas, claiming executive privilege and national security concerns.

On May 15, the committee issued a third subpoena for additional tapes, which Nixon also refused to comply with. This refusal became the basis for the third article of impeachment, contempt of Congress.

On July 24, 1974, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Nixon, ordering him to release the tapes.

On July 30, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee approved the third article of impeachment, contempt of Congress, by a vote of 21-17. The article charged Nixon with:

> "fail [ing] without lawful cause or excuse, to produce papers and things as directed by duly authorized subpoenas issued by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, on April 11, 1974, May 15, 1974, May 30, 1974, and June 24, 1974, and willfully disobey [ing] such subpoenas."

On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned the presidency, avoiding the likely prospect of losing the impeachment vote in the full House.

Presidential pardon

Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency in 1974, becoming the only US president to do so. His resignation came in the wake of the Watergate scandal, which began in 1972 and involved members of a group associated with Nixon's re-election campaign breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The scandal led to impeachment proceedings against Nixon, and he resigned before he could be impeached.

On September 8, 1974, Nixon's successor, President Gerald Ford, issued a full and unconditional pardon to Nixon for any crimes he "committed or may have committed or taken part in" while in office. This was an official proclamation known as Proclamation 4311.

Ford's decision was controversial and was widely condemned at the time. It was seen as a corrupt bargain, with Ford granting the pardon in exchange for Nixon's resignation, which elevated Ford to the presidency. Ford's approval rating dropped from 71% to 50% following the pardon, and it is thought to have contributed to his failure to win the 1976 presidential election.

Ford defended his decision before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal. He also said that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the situation was an American tragedy in which we all have played a part.

Nixon himself initially hesitated to accept the pardon as he did not want to admit guilt, but he eventually agreed to do so. In his official response, Nixon said:

> I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.

Decades later, in 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation presented its Profile in Courage Award to Gerald Ford for his pardon of Nixon, stating that Ford had put his love of country ahead of his own political future.

Presidential resignation

The resignation of a president is an extremely rare event in the history of the United States. To date, only one president has resigned from office: Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, who served from 1969 to 1974.

Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974, following the Watergate scandal, which began in 1972. The scandal involved members of a group associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The burglars were arrested, and the press and the Department of Justice connected the money found on those involved to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign. Journalists from The Washington Post, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, pursued leads and uncovered a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage directed by White House officials and illegally funded by donor contributions.

Nixon dismissed the accusations as political smears, and he won the election in a landslide in November 1972. However, further investigation and revelations from the burglars' trial led the Senate to establish a special Watergate Committee and the House of Representatives to grant its Judiciary Committee expanded authority in February 1973.

In April 1973, Nixon appeared on television to deny wrongdoing on his part and to announce the resignation of his aides. It was then revealed that Nixon had installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office, and his administration refused to grant investigators access to the tapes, leading to a constitutional crisis.

In May 1973, Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor for Watergate. Cox obtained a subpoena for the tapes, but Nixon continued to resist. In October 1973, in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre", Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, after which Richardson resigned, as did his deputy, William Ruckelshaus. Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out the order.

In April 1974, Cox's replacement, Leon Jaworski, issued a subpoena for the tapes again, but Nixon only released edited transcripts of them. In July 1974, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he be impeached for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress.

In one of the tapes, later known as "the smoking gun", Nixon was recorded ordering aides to tell the FBI to halt its investigation into the break-in. Faced with the prospect of impeachment, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so.

Nixon's resignation brought an end to the impeachment process against him, and he was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford, who granted Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he may have committed while in office.

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