Richard Nixon

==== Watergate ====
{{Main|Watergate scandal|Impeachment process against Richard Nixon}}
[[File:Richard M. Nixon press conference - NARA - 194551.tif|thumb|Nixon takes questions at 1973 press conference]]

The term ''Watergate'' has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. Those activities included "dirty tricks", such as bugging the offices of political opponents, and the harassment of activist groups and political figures. The activities were brought to light after five men were caught breaking into the Democratic party headquarters at the [[Watergate complex]] in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972. ''[[The Washington Post]]'' picked up on the story; reporters [[Carl Bernstein]] and [[Bob Woodward]] relied on an informant known as "[[Deep Throat (Watergate)|Deep Throat]]"—later revealed to be [[W. Mark Felt|Mark Felt]], associate director at the [[FBI]]—to link the men to the Nixon administration. Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, calling news articles biased and misleading. A series of revelations made it clear that the [[Committee for the Re-Election of the President|Committee to Re-elect President Nixon]], and later the White House, were involved in attempts to sabotage the Democrats. Senior aides such as [[White House Counsel]] [[John Dean]] faced prosecution; in total 48 officials were convicted of wrongdoing.{{sfn|Nixon Library, President}}{{sfn|''The Washington Post'', The Post Investigates}}{{sfn|''The Washington Post'', The Government Acts}}

[[File:Impeach Nixon retouched.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Demonstrator demands [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]], October 1973]]
[[File:Richard Nixon - "I'm not a crook.".oga|thumb|right|On November 17, 1973, President Nixon held a press conference at [[Disney's Contemporary Resort#Richard Nixon's 1973 press conference|Disney's Contemporary Resort]] and famously said "I'm not a crook"]]
In July 1973, White House aide [[Alexander Butterfield]] testified [[Perjury|under oath]] to Congress that Nixon had a secret taping system and recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office. [[Nixon White House tapes|These tapes]] were [[subpoena]]ed by Watergate Special Counsel [[Archibald Cox]]; Nixon provided transcripts of the conversations but not the actual tapes, citing [[executive privilege]]. With the White House and Cox at loggerheads, Nixon had Cox fired in October in the "[[Saturday Night Massacre]]"; he was replaced by [[Leon Jaworski]]. In November, Nixon's lawyers revealed that a tape of conversations held in the White House on June 20, 1972, had an {{frac|18|1|2}}{{nbsp}}minute gap.{{sfn|''The Washington Post'', The Government Acts}} [[Rose Mary Woods]], the President's personal secretary, claimed responsibility for the gap, saying that she had accidentally wiped the section while transcribing the tape, but her story was widely mocked. The gap, while not conclusive proof of wrongdoing by the President, cast doubt on Nixon's statement that he had been unaware of the cover-up.{{sfn|Aitken|pp=511–512}}

Though Nixon lost much popular support, even from his own party, he rejected accusations of wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office.{{sfn|''The Washington Post'', The Government Acts}} He admitted he had made mistakes but insisted he had no prior knowledge of the burglary, did not break any laws, and did not learn of the cover-up until early 1973.{{sfn|''The Washington Post'', Nixon Resigns}} On October 10, 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned for reasons unrelated to Watergate: he was convicted on charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering during his tenure as governor of Maryland. Believing his first choice, [[John Connally]], would not be confirmed by Congress,{{sfn|Aitken|p=555}} Nixon chose [[Gerald Ford]], [[Minority leader of the United States House of Representatives|Minority Leader of the House of Representatives]], to replace Agnew.{{sfn|Ambrose|1989|pp=231–232, 239}} One researcher suggests Nixon effectively disengaged from his own administration after Ford was sworn in as vice president on December 6, 1973.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Beckmann|first=Matthew N.|date=April 1, 2017|title=Did Nixon quit before he resigned?|journal=Research & Politics|volume=4|issue=2|pages=2053168017704800|doi=10.1177/2053168017704800|doi-access=free|issn=2053-1680}}</ref>

On November 17, 1973, during a televised question-and-answer session{{sfn|Frum|p=26}} with 400 [[Associated Press]] [[managing editor]]s, Nixon said, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."{{sfn|Kilpatrick|1973-11-18}}

[[File:Nixon edited transcripts.jpg|thumb|Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of the Watergate tapes, April 29, 1974]]

The legal battle over the tapes continued through early 1974, and in April Nixon announced the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between himself and his aides. The [[U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] opened [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]] hearings against the President on May 9, 1974, which were televised on the major TV networks. These hearings culminated in votes for impeachment.{{sfn|''The Washington Post'', Nixon Resigns}} On July 24, the Supreme Court [[United States v. Nixon|ruled unanimously]] that the full tapes, not just selected transcripts, must be released.{{sfn|Ambrose|1991|pp=394–395}}

The scandal grew to involve a slew of additional allegations against the President, ranging from the improper use of government agencies to accepting gifts in office and his personal finances and taxes; Nixon repeatedly stated his willingness to pay any outstanding taxes due, and later paid $465,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|.465|1974|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) in back taxes in 1974.{{sfn|Samson}}

[[File:Nixon Oval Office meeting with H.R. Haldeman "Smoking Gun" Conversation June 23, 1972.wav|thumb|Nixon Oval Office meeting with H. R. Haldeman: the "Smoking Gun" Conversation, June 23, 1972 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160729063732/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/exhibit_01.pdf Full Transcript])]]

Even with support diminished by the continuing series of revelations, Nixon hoped to fight the charges. But one of the new tapes, recorded soon after the break-in, demonstrated that Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate burglaries soon after they took place, and had approved plans to thwart the investigation. In a statement accompanying the release of what became known as [[Watergate tapes#"Smoking Gun" tape|the "Smoking Gun Tape"]] on August 5, 1974, Nixon accepted blame for misleading the country about when he had been told of White House involvement, stating that he had had a lapse of memory.{{sfn|Ambrose|1991|pp=414–416}} Senate Minority Leader [[Hugh Scott]], Senator [[Barry Goldwater]], and House Minority Leader [[John Jacob Rhodes]] met with Nixon soon after. Rhodes told Nixon he faced certain impeachment in the House. Scott and Goldwater told the president that he had, at most, only 15 votes in his favor in the Senate, far fewer than the 34 needed to avoid removal from office.{{sfn|Black|p=978}}
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