Nixon White House tapes

==="Smoking Gun" tape ===
[[File:Nixon edited transcripts.jpg|thumb|left|Nixon releasing the transcripts]]
On April 11, 1974, the [[U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary]] subpoenaed the tapes of 42 White House conversations.<ref>{{cite book| title=[[The Final Days]]| first1=Bob| last1=Woodward| author-link1=Bob Woodward| first2=Carl| last2=Bernstein| author-link2=Carl Bernstein| publisher=Simon & Schuster| location=New York| date=1976| isbn=0-6712-2298-8| page=124}}</ref> Later that month, Nixon released more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the subpoenaed tapes, but refused to surrender the actual tapes, claiming executive privilege once more.<ref name=Burglary2004CNN>{{cite news| title=A burglary turns into a constitutional crisis| url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/11/watergate/index.html| access-date=May 13, 2014| work=CNN| date=June 16, 2004| archive-date=November 26, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126023743/https://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/11/watergate/index.html| url-status=live}}</ref> The Judiciary Committee rejected Nixon's edited transcripts, saying that they did not comply with the subpoena.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Nixon to Rodino: Description| url=https://history.house.gov/HouseRecord/Detail/15032449719| publisher=Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=December 5, 2019| archive-date=October 19, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019070527/https://history.house.gov/HouseRecord/Detail/15032449719| url-status=live}}</ref>

Sirica, acting on a request from Jaworski, issued a subpoena for the tapes of 64 presidential conversations to use as evidence in the criminal cases against indicted former Nixon administration officials. Nixon refused, and Jaworski appealed to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] to force Nixon to turn over the tapes. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court [[United States v. Nixon|ordered]] Nixon to release the tapes.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/court-orders-nixon-to-yield-tapes-president-promises-to-comply-fully/2012/06/04/gJQAZSw0IV_story.html|title=Court Orders Nixon to Yield Tapes; President Promises to Comply Fully|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-date=March 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314072025/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/court-orders-nixon-to-yield-tapes-president-promises-to-comply-fully/2012/06/04/gJQAZSw0IV_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The 8–0 ruling (Justice [[William Rehnquist]] recused himself because he had worked for attorney general [[John N. Mitchell]]) in ''[[United States v. Nixon]]'' found that President Nixon was incorrect in arguing that courts are compelled to honor, without question, any presidential claim of executive privilege.<ref name=":0" />

[[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://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/exhibit_01.pdf Full Transcript] – via ''nixonlibrary.gov'')]]
The White House released the subpoenaed tapes on August 5. One tape, later known as the "[[Smoking Gun (Watergate)|Smoking Gun]]" tape, documented the initial stages of the Watergate coverup. On it, Nixon and Haldeman are heard formulating a plan to block investigations by having the CIA falsely claim to the FBI that national security was involved.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kopel |first=David |date=June 16, 2014 |title=The missing 18 1/2 minutes: Presidential destruction of incriminating evidence |language=en-US |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/06/16/the-missing-18-12-minutes-presidential-destruction-of-incriminating-evidence/ |access-date=December 6, 2022 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323014311/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/06/16/the-missing-18-12-minutes-presidential-destruction-of-incriminating-evidence/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=August 5, 2018 |title=Watergate 'smoking gun' tape released, Aug. 5, 1974 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/05/watergate-smoking-gun-tape-released-aug-5-1974-753086 |access-date=December 6, 2022 |website=Politico |language=en |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206050908/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/05/watergate-smoking-gun-tape-released-aug-5-1974-753086 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Andrew |date=May 16, 2017 |title=The Smoking Gun That Took Down Nixon: One From the History Books |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-16/the-smoking-gun-that-took-down-nixon-one-from-the-history-books |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112011845/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-16/the-smoking-gun-that-took-down-nixon-one-from-the-history-books |url-status=live }}</ref> This demonstrated both that Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate burglaries soon after they took place, and that he had approved plans to thwart the investigation. In a statement accompanying the release of the tape, Nixon accepted blame for misleading the country about when he had been told of White House involvement, stating that he had a lapse of memory.<ref>{{cite book| last=Ambrose| first=Stephen E.| author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose| year=1991| title=Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973–1990| publisher=Simon & Schuster| location=New York| isbn=978-0-671-69188-2| pages=414–416}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| author=<!--staff; no by-line.-->| agency=[[Associated Press|AP]]| title=Refusal-to-Resign Speech Was Prepared for Nixon| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/nixon/stories/nixon121696ap.htm| date=December 16, 1996| newspaper=The Washington Post| access-date=December 5, 2019| archive-date=February 6, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206154159/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/nixon/stories/nixon121696ap.htm| url-status=live}}</ref>

Once the "Smoking Gun" transcript was made public, Nixon's political support practically vanished. The ten Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee who had voted against impeachment in committee announced that they would now vote for [[Impeachment process against Richard Nixon|impeachment]] once the matter reached the House floor. He lacked substantial support in the Senate as well; Senators [[Barry Goldwater]] and [[Hugh Scott]] estimated that no more than 15 senators were willing to even consider acquittal. Facing certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction in the Senate, Nixon announced his resignation on the evening of Thursday, August 8, 1974, effective as of noon the next day.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part3.html|title=The Watergate Story {{!}} Nixon Resigns|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-date=November 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125171439/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part3.html|url-status=live}}</ref>