Political Science 3300, The American Presidency, April 16, 2012

Watergate

For a Watergate Chronology, click here
 

1. The Heroic President and the Limits of Power

2. The Setting: A Regime in Disarray

   

        Deep Divisions In The Nation, 1968-1969

        The Politics of Preemption
 

3. The Main Characters:

    Richard Nixon - An "Active-Negative" - assumes the Heroic Presidency

                - A self-reliant manager
 
 
    

    Nixon increasingly depended on loyalists in the White House staff, especially

    The H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman (The Palace Guard)
 
 

4. The Motive: National Security Leaks
 
 

        - Spring, 1970: Student demonstrations peak

        - July, 1970:
            Nixon approves the "Huston plan" to expanding domestic spying.
 
 

        - June 1971: The New York Times and other papers begin publishing
           

            The Pentagon Papers (here are excerpts) leaked by Daniel Ellsberg

5. The Plumbers Unit

6. The Crime

7. The Election and the Opening Months of Nixon's second term

8. The Investigations

        A Special Prosecutor: Archibald Cox

        The Senate Watergate Committee

        The tapes

9. The "Saturday Night Massacre"

        A new special prosecutor: Leon Jaworski

10. The Supreme Court and United States v. Nixon (1974)

The Dispute: Nation versus Leader

• Congress and the Special Prosecutor subpoena the White House tapes

• The President refuses, claiming executive privilege

• The Special Prosecutor: the President is not Above the Law

• Both sides claim that the nation's system of government is at stake

11. Impeachment Hearings

12. The Consequences