The cover-up cracks: reporters and the courts
In January 1973 the Watergate story seemed to be over. Seven men had been convicted and Nixon had started his second term. Two things kept the story alive.
📰 The reporters
Two young Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, kept digging when most newspapers lost interest. They followed the money. In August 1972 they showed that a 25,000 dollar cheque given to Nixon's campaign had ended up in a burglar's bank account. In October 1972 they reported that the break-in was part of a huge campaign of spying and sabotage. A secret source nicknamed 'Deep Throat' guided them. In 2005 he was named as Mark Felt, the number two man at the FBI.
📝 The judge
Judge John Sirica, who tried the burglars, did not believe they had acted alone. He threatened them with very long prison sentences. In March 1973 James McCord wrote to him. McCord's letter said the accused had been put under pressure to plead guilty and stay silent, that witnesses had lied in court, and that other people were involved.
The cover-up now began to fall apart as men tried to save themselves. On 30 April 1973 Nixon announced that his two closest aides, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, had resigned. He sacked John Dean on the same day. Nixon still said that he had known nothing.
Key terms:
- Special prosecutor: an independent lawyer appointed to investigate a case in which the government itself is involved.
- Subpoena: a legal order to give evidence or hand over documents.
- Executive privilege: the claim that a President may keep his private discussions secret.
- Impeachment: the way Congress can remove a President. The House of Representatives votes to bring charges, then the Senate holds a trial. Two-thirds of senators must vote guilty to remove him.
- Pardon: an order by the President that frees a person from punishment for a federal crime.
The Senate hearings, 1973
In February 1973 the Senate voted 77 to 0 to set up a committee to investigate Watergate. Its chairman was Senator Sam Ervin, a Democrat. From 17 May 1973 its hearings were shown live on television, and millions of Americans watched Nixon's men being questioned.
- John Dean gave evidence in June 1973. He said that Nixon had known about the cover-up and had talked with him about paying hush money. Nixon denied it. It was Dean's word against the President's.
- The Republican senator Howard Baker asked the question everyone remembered: 'What did the President know and when did he know it?'
- Alexander Butterfield, a White House aide, gave the answer to how this could be settled. On 16 July 1973 he revealed that since 1971 Nixon had secretly recorded conversations in his office.
The tapes could prove whether Dean or Nixon was telling the truth.
The battle for the White House tapes
The Senate committee and the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, both demanded the tapes with subpoenas. Nixon refused, claiming executive privilege.
- The 'Saturday Night Massacre', 20 October 1973. Nixon ordered the Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, to sack Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. So did his deputy. A third official finally sacked Cox. The public was outraged, and members of Congress began to call for impeachment. Nixon had to accept a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who also demanded the tapes. In November 1973 Nixon told reporters, 'I'm not a crook.'
- The gap. Nixon handed over a few tapes. One, recorded three days after the break-in, had a gap of 18 and a half minutes where the sound had been wiped.
- The transcripts, April 1974. Nixon published more than 1,200 pages of edited, typed-up versions of the tapes in place of the tapes themselves. They backfired. Americans were shocked by how the President schemed against opponents and by his swearing, which had been replaced by the words 'expletive deleted'.
- The Supreme Court, 24 July 1974. The Court ruled by 8 votes to 0 that Nixon must hand over the tapes. Not even the President was above the law.
The threat of impeachment and resignation, August 1974
Between 27 and 30 July 1974 the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives voted for three charges against Nixon: obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress for ignoring its subpoenas. The first charge passed by 27 votes to 11, with six Republicans voting against their own President.
On 5 August Nixon released the tape of 23 June 1972. It became known as the 'smoking gun' because it recorded Nixon agreeing to use the CIA to block the FBI's investigation. It proved that he had been part of the cover-up from the first week and had lied for two years.
His support collapsed. Republicans who had defended him now said they would vote to impeach. On 7 August senior Republicans, led by Senator Barry Goldwater, told Nixon that he did not have enough votes in the Senate to survive a trial. On the evening of 8 August he told the nation on television that he would go. He left office on 9 August 1974, the only President of the United States ever to resign.
Gerald Ford and the presidential pardon
Vice President Gerald Ford became President. Ford had not been elected to either post: Nixon had chosen him in 1973, after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned over a separate corruption case. Ford was seen as honest and told Americans, 'our long national nightmare is over.'
One month later, on 8 September 1974, Ford gave Nixon a 'full, free, and absolute pardon' for any crimes he had committed as President. Nixon would never face a trial.
🤝 Why Ford did it
Ford said a trial of a former President would drag on for years and keep the country bitterly divided. He wanted Americans, and his own government, to move on to other problems such as rising prices. He also believed Nixon had suffered enough.
📉 How people reacted
Many Americans were furious. Ford's approval rating fell from about 71 per cent to about 50 per cent in a few weeks. His own press secretary resigned in protest. Some suspected a secret deal: the presidency in return for a pardon. Ford went to Congress in October 1974 to deny it.
The pardon also looked unfair. Nixon never admitted a crime and went free, while men who had followed his orders, including Haldeman, Ehrlichman and John Mitchell, were convicted in 1975 and went to prison. The pardon damaged Ford badly, and in 1976 he narrowly lost the presidential election to the Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Common mistakes
Don't write that Nixon was impeached. He resigned before the full House of Representatives had voted, so he was only threatened with impeachment. Don't say the pardon proved Nixon was innocent: a pardon removes the punishment, not the offence. And keep the order clear: Senate hearings (1973), the fight for the tapes (1973-74), resignation (August 1974), pardon (September 1974).
Exam-style question
Explain two effects of the discovery of the White House tapes on President Nixon. [8 marks]
Model answer
One effect was that Nixon was drawn into a long fight to keep the tapes secret, which destroyed trust in him. After Alexander Butterfield revealed the taping system in July 1973, the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, demanded the tapes. Nixon refused, claiming executive privilege, and had Cox sacked in the 'Saturday Night Massacre' of October 1973. This led to public outrage and to calls in Congress for impeachment, because a President who fought so hard to hide the tapes looked as if he had something to hide.
A second effect was that the tapes gave the proof that forced Nixon to resign. In July 1974 the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 0 that he must hand them over. The 'smoking gun' tape of 23 June 1972 recorded him agreeing to use the CIA to block the FBI. Until then it had been John Dean's word against his. Now his own voice proved that he had obstructed justice, so Republicans in Congress deserted him, removal by impeachment became certain and he resigned on 9 August 1974.
What lifts this to the top level: there are two separate effects, each with precise names and dates, and each paragraph shows how the tapes led to that effect.
Exam tip
One effect alone cannot score more than 4 of the 8 marks, so always write two paragraphs. Here, don't just tell the story of the tapes. Use linking phrases such as 'this led to', 'because' and 'so' to show how the tapes caused each effect on Nixon: first lost trust, then lost office.