USHistory-WEB-850

836 30 • Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980
Washington Post, received information from several anonymous sources, including one known to them only as
“Deep Throat,” that led them to realize the White House was deeply implicated in the break-in. As the press
focused on other events, Woodward and Bernstein continued to dig and publish their findings, keeping the
public’s attention on the unfolding scandal. Years later, Deep Throat was revealed to be Mark Felt, then the
FBI’s associate director.
THE WATERGATE CRISIS

Initially, Nixon was able to hide his connection to the break-in and the other wrongdoings alleged against
members of CREEP. However, by early 1973, the situation quickly began to unravel. In January, the Watergate
burglars were convicted, along with Hunt and Liddy. Trial judge John Sirica was not convinced that all the
guilty had been discovered. In February, confronted with evidence that people close to the president were
connected to the burglary, the Senate appointed the Watergate Committee to investigate. Ten days later, in his
testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, L. Patrick Gray, acting director of the FBI, admitted
destroying evidence taken from Hunt’s safe by John Dean, the White House counsel, after the burglars were
caught.
On March 23, 1973, Judge Sirica publicly read a letter from one of the Watergate burglars, alleging that perjury
had been committed during the trial. Less than two weeks later, Jeb Magruder, a deputy director of CREEP,
admitted lying under oath and indicated that Dean and John Mitchell, who had resigned as attorney general to
become the director of CREEP, were also involved in the break-in and its cover-up. Dean confessed, and on
April 30, Nixon fired him and requested the resignation of his aides John Ehrlichman and H. R. Haldeman, also
implicated. To defuse criticism and avoid suspicion that he was participating in a cover-up, Nixon also
announced the resignation of the current attorney general, Richard Kleindienst, a close friend, and appointed
Elliott Richardson to the position. In May 1973, Richardson named Archibald Cox special prosecutor to
investigate the Watergate affair.
Throughout the spring and the long, hot summer of 1973, Americans sat glued to their television screens, as
the major networks took turns broadcasting the Senate hearings. One by one, disgraced former members of
the administration confessed, or denied, their role in the Watergate scandal. Dean testified that Nixon was
involved in the conspiracy, allegations the president denied. In March 1974, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and
Mitchell were indicted and charged with conspiracy.
Without evidence clearly implicating the president, the investigation might have ended if not for the testimony
of Alexander Butterfield, a low-ranking member of the administration, that a voice-activated recording system
had been installed in the Oval Office. The President’s most intimate conversations had been caught on tape.
Cox and the Senate subpoenaed them.
CLICK AND EXPLORE

Listen to excerpts (http://openstax.org/l/15NixonTapes) from Nixon’s White House tapes. Some of the
recordings are a bit difficult to hear because of static. Transcripts are also available at this site.
Nixon, however, refused to hand the tapes over and cited executive privilege, the right of the president to
refuse certain subpoenas. When he offered to supply summaries of the conversations, Cox refused. On October
20, 1973, in an event that became known as the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon ordered Attorney General
Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned, as did Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus
when confronted with the same order. Control of the Justice Department then fell to Solicitor General Robert
Bork, who complied with Nixon’s order. In December, the House Judiciary Committee began its own
investigation to determine whether there was enough evidence of wrongdoing to impeach the president.
The public was enraged by Nixon’s actions. A growing number of citizens felt as though the president had
placed himself above the law. Telegrams flooded the White House. The House of Representatives began to
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836 30 • Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980

THE WATERGATE CRISIS

CLICK AND EXPLORE

Access for free at openstax.org.

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