Watergate — ‘bug’ that became a monster

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33609, 10 August 1974, Page 17

Watergate — ‘bug’ that became a monster

The Watergate scandal began with what seemed at first to be a minor burglary. It ended with the first resignation of a President in American history.

The details of Watergate took more than two years to unravel. This summary gives an outline of the main episodes of those two years up to the eve of President Nixon's resignation.

The break-in On June 17, 1972, five men were caught attempting to "bug” the Democratic Party, National Committee Head-I quarters at Watergate, an apartment and office complex in Washington D.C. Seven men were charged on' September 19 in connection with the break-in. They were tned in January . 1973, before Judge John J. Sirica, found guilty, and sentenced in After being sentenced one of the defendants, James McCord, wrote to Judge Sirica alleging that political pressure had been put on him to plead guilty and remain silent. Charges had begun to appear earlier in the "Washington Post” and other newspapers that senior White House officials were implicated in the break-in.

• The cover-up In his first public statement about Watergate on August 29. 1972. President Nixon said that his counsel. John Dean, had established that no-one in the White House was involved in the break-in. The President had in face, been aware of the involvement of his senior aides from the start and had discussed with them how to prevent this from becoming publicly known as early as June 23. 1972 He did not admit this Until August 5, 1974. Not until March. 1973. did the President acknowledge publicly that he suspected the first investigations might have been incomplete. On April 17 he promised to suspend any members of his staff who were indicted on criminal charges, and on April 30. saying that “new information” had come to Ight. accepted the resignations of his top aides, John Ehrlichman and H. R. (Bob) Haldeman, and fired Dean. Elliot Richardson was ■PP nted Attorney-General •n the place of Richard Kleindiensi. In May. and again in August President Nixon •gain den.«d that he had had •nv pr> , r knowledge of the break-m or that he was involved in any cover-up or attempt to shield his aides. Special pro»ecutor On May 1, 1973. the Senate unanimously approved a resolution calling on President Nixon to appoint a •pecial prosecutor to take charge of the Watergate investigation. On May 18. Archibald Cox. a Harvard law professor, was appointed to this position. He at once began collect•ng evidence to present to the grand jury which had been aummcned to consider indictment. against those respons•b'e for covering up the mvoivemem of high officials m the original break-in. Senate committee The Senate voted on Feb7, 1973. to set up a •even-man Select Committee

to investigate the campaign , practices of the 1972 Presidential election. Senator Sam Ervin (Dem., North Carolina) was named chairman. The committee held its first hearings between May 17 and: August 7. Thirty-five witnesses were called. The! President refused to appear. I The committee held a second round of hearings between | September and November,; 1973, and extended its investigations to include the; Ellsberg break-in and the, “dirty tricks” campaign. The committee voted in; February, 1974, not to hold further public hearings and realeased a final report,; highly critical of the Presi-| dent, on July 13, 1974. The Watergate tapes On July 16 a White House official, testifying before the Select Committee, disclosed! that President Nixon had had, electronic recording devices installed in the White House in 1970 for “historical” purposes. The President at once ordered his aides not to yield any tape recorded information to the committee. On July 23 both the Select Committee and the special; prosecutor presented the | President with the first of i many subpoenas he was to receive asking for various tapes. President Nixon refused to comply with the subpoenas. Judge Sirica ruled a month later that the President had to yield the: tapes to the special prosecutor for the use of the grand jury. 1 The President appealed I against this decision, thus ensuring that the Supreme Court would probably have to rule on the constitutional issues involved. The Court of Appeals ruled against President Nixon on October; 12- • . After Professor Cox had rejected the “Stennis compromise,” whereby a senior Senator would verify the versions of the conversations the President was willing to make available. President Nixon directed Cox not to make further attempts to i secure any tapes. Saturday night massacre When Cox refused to obey this direction, he was dismissed by the President and the office of special prosecutor was abolished. Richardson and his deputy. William Ruckelshaus. resigned rather than dismiss Cox. Leading Democrats and some Republicans began calling for the impeachment of the President. Stunned by the popular outcrv against the dismissals. President Nixon agreed to surrender the tapes Cox had subpoenaed to Judge Sirica for the use of the grand jury and to appoint a new special prosecutor. A Texan lawyer. Leon Jaworski, was appointed on November 7. On October 31 it was revealed that two of the nine tapes Cox had subpoenaed did not exist and that one of the remaining ones had an 1 unaccountable 18-minute . “gap” on it. Judiciary committee After the introduction in the House of Representatives i of resolutions calling for the i impeachment of President

Nixon in November, 1973, the I Judiciary Committee began I preparing to consider grounds for recommending impeach-1 ment to the full House. .Formal hearings on this [question did not begin, however, until May 9, 1974. The indictments Before the grand jury brought down its indictments, two White House 'aides had already pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the cover-up. On March 1, 1974, after sitting for 20 months, the I grand jury indicted seven I 'former assistants of President Nixon on similar charges. The seven included i his two top aides, Ehrlichman and Haldeman, and a I former Attorney-General, John Mitchell. The seven .indicted pleaded not guilty 'before Judge Sirica on March 9. Their trial has been set for September 9. A special sealed report was handed to Judge Sirica with the indictments. It was 'disclosed later that in this 'report President Nixon was named an unindicted co- ’ conspirator in the cover-up.

Tapes released Later in 1973 and early in* : 1974, the Senate Select! Committee and the special • prosecutor served further ' subpoenas on the President 1 demanding tapes and docu- ■ ments. On February 6, 1974, the House of Representatives J gave the Judiciary Committee i authority to subpoena the ! President for whatever ! I material it needed for its i ■ impeachment inquiry. 1 On April 11, the Judiciary! Committee served a subpoena I

WASHINGTON, “I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow,” President Nixon told his television and radio audience. “Vice ■ President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.” Speaking in the same ' earnest and deliberate style which millions of j television viewers have come to associate with the President’s public < appearances, President Nixon said: “Good evening. “This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this nation. Each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest.! “In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I| have always tried to do what' was best for the nation.! Throughout the long and: difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty; to persevere, to make every j possible effort to complete! the term of office to which; you elected me. “In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political

on the President for the tapes of 42 conversations. Eleven of those requested were later alleged to be missing. The special prosecutor subpoenaed the .President for the tapes of 64 more conversations on April 16. In response to these subpoenas, President Nixon released, edited transcripts of the tapes on April 30.

He reiterated that he had no prior knowledge of the cover-up before John Dean informed him of it on March 21, 1973. The transcripts immediately came under suspicion.

The last weeks On July 24, after hearing arguments from Jaworski and the President’s lawyer, James St Clair, the Supreme Court ruled that the President must comply with Jaworski’s subpoena for the tapes he needed for the trial of the President’s aides on the cover-up charges. In the last week of July the House Judiciary Committee voted articles of impeachment. These dealt with the cover-up and other alleged Presidential malpractices which had come to light during the Senate committee hearings.

Debate on the articles was expected to start in the House about August 12 and to have ended two or three weeks later. On August 5, President Nixon, the release of incriminating tapes imminent, admitted that he had known about the Watergate cover-up from the outset and had helped to block the 1972 F. 8.1. investigation of the break-in.