Watergate scandal

=== Release of the transcripts ===
[[File:Nixon E2679c-09A.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|President Nixon explaining release of edited transcripts, April 29, 1974]]

The Nixon administration struggled to decide what materials to release. All parties involved agreed that all pertinent information should be released. Whether to release unedited [[profanity]] and vulgarity divided his advisers. His legal team favored releasing the tapes unedited, while Press Secretary [[Ron Ziegler]] preferred using an edited version where "[[expletive deleted]]" would replace the raw material. After several weeks of debate, they decided to release an edited version. Nixon announced the release of the transcripts in a speech to the nation on April 29, 1974. Nixon noted that any audio pertinent to national security information could be [[redaction|redacted]] from the released tapes.<ref>Theodore White. ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1370091&referer=brief_results Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427094543/http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1370091%26referer%3Dbrief_results |date=April 27, 2009 }}''. Reader's Digest Press, Athineum Publishers, 1975, pp. 296–298</ref>

Initially, Nixon gained a positive reaction for his speech. As people read the transcripts over the next couple of weeks, however, former supporters among the public, media and political community called for Nixon's resignation or impeachment. Vice President [[Gerald Ford]] said, "While it may be easy to delete characterization from the printed page, we cannot delete characterization from people's minds with a wave of the hand."<ref name=woodward/> The Senate Republican Leader [[Hugh Scott]] said the transcripts revealed a "deplorable, disgusting, shabby, and immoral" performance on the part of the President and his former aides.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://articles.mcall.com/1994-07-26/news/2994945_1_mr-scott-white-house-hugh-scott |title=Obituary: Hugh Scott, A Dedicated Public Servant |date=July 26, 1994 |work=The Morning Call |access-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-date=December 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211142914/http://articles.mcall.com/1994-07-26/news/2994945_1_mr-scott-white-house-hugh-scott |url-status=live }}</ref> The House Republican Leader [[John Jacob Rhodes]] agreed with Scott, and Rhodes recommended that if Nixon's position continued to deteriorate, he "ought to consider resigning as a possible option".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19740510-01.2.43 |title=GOP Leaders Favour Stepdown |date=May 10, 1974 |work=The Stanford Daily |access-date=December 8, 2015 |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203125010/http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19740510-01.2.43 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The editors of ''[[The Chicago Tribune]]'', a newspaper that had supported Nixon, wrote, "He is humorless to the point of being inhumane. He is devious. He is vacillating. He is profane. He is willing to be led. He displays dismaying gaps in knowledge. He is suspicious of his staff. His loyalty is minimal."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patricia Sullivan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1123-2004Jun23.html |title=Obituary: Clayton Kirkpatrick, 89; Chicago Tribune Editor |date=June 24, 2004 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-date=December 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211002628/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1123-2004Jun23.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''[[Providence Journal]]'' wrote, "Reading the transcripts is an emetic experience; one comes away feeling unclean."<ref name=timemay20/><!-- COPY OF TIME EXCERPT: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg-Watergate%20Files/Tapes%20Release/Tape%20Release%2039.pdf --> This newspaper continued that, while the transcripts may not have revealed an indictable offense, they showed Nixon contemptuous of the United States, its institutions, and its people. According to ''Time'' magazine, the Republican Party leaders in the [[Western United States|Western U.S.]] felt that while there remained a significant number of Nixon loyalists in the party, the majority believed that Nixon should step down as quickly as possible. They were disturbed by the bad language and the coarse, vindictive tone of the conversations in the transcripts.<ref name="timemay20">{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740520,00.html |title=Time |date=May 20, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |issue=20 |volume=103 |archive-date=January 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104130807/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740520,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740513,00.html |title=Time |date=May 13, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |issue=19 |volume=103 |archive-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117202738/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740513,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>