It’s worth going back down the memory hole and remembering how swiftly it ended with Richard Nixon. It began in August of 1973 with his vice president, Spiro Agnew, who had been under investigation for taking cash pay-offs for construction contracts awarded when he was Governor of Maryland. The payments, it was alleged, continued into his vice presidency.
On August 6, Agnew and his attorneys met with Attorney General Elliot Richardson, and Agnew denied the charges. The Wall Street Journal broke the story later that day. On August 7, Richard Nixon expressed his support for Agnew, and on August 8, Agnew held a press conference and vociferously denounced the charges as “damned lies.”
Stories about Watergate and Agnew’s pay-offs dominated the news for the rest of the summer and into the fall. Agnew initially took the legal position that vice presidents cannot be indicted, and began giving speeches attacking the prosecution as corrupt and venal. But by early October, Agnew had decided he would not survive and began negotiations to cop a pea.
On October 10, Agnew appeared before a federal court in Baltimore and plead no contest to tax evasion. He was fined $10,000 and given a term of three years probation. After leaving court, Agnew submitted his letter of resignation and was gone.
Ten days later, on October 20, under pressure from congressional investigations and by the Watergate special prosecutor, Richard Nixon undertook what would come to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre. He ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refused, and resigned in protest effective immediately. Then Nixon ordered Deputy Attorney General (now acting attorney general) William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox.
Ruckelshaus refused and also resigned. Nixon then turned to Solicitor General Robert Bork, who had stepped in to assume control of the Department of Justice. Nixon sent a limousine from the White House to pick up Bork, and he was sworn in as acting attorney general. Bork then took the fateful step of firing Cox, and the Saturday Night Massacre was over.
Nixon’s downfall was only beginning. On November 1, under pressure, the White House appointed a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. On November 14, a federal judge found that the firing of Archibald Cox was illegal. On November 17, Nixon gave his famous speech at Disney World defending himself against Watergate charges, assuring the nation, “I am not a crook!”
In the coming months, Nixon’s associates fell one after another. See if any of this sounds familiar:
On January 28, 1874, Nixon aide Herbert Porter plead guilty to committing perjury. Hmmm...seems like I remember a more recent perjury plea deal . . .
On February 25, Nixon’s personal attorney plead guilty to two charges of illegal campaign activities. Sound like Michael Cohen to you? I thought so.
A few days later, on March 1, Nixon was named as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in charges against seven of his aides. I think I might have read something about “Individual 1” in the Cohen guilty plea. OMG! I did!
On March 4, those aides, called “The Watergate Seven” were indicted: former campaign chairman John Mitchell; former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John Erlichman; former White House counsel Charles Colson; and former White House aides Gordon Strachan, Kenneth Parkinson and Robert Mardian. Indictments piling up . . . hmmmm . . . this is all very familiar.
On April 5, White House aide Dwight Chapin was found guilty of lying to a grand jury. And another perjurer bites the dust . . .
Keep reading for the Coming Attractions:
On April 16, Special Prosecutor Jaworski issued a subpoena for 64 White House tapes.
On May 9, the House Judiciary Committee began hearings on the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
On July 24, the Supreme Court issued its decision in U.S. v Nixon, ordering him to release the White House tapes to Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski.
Between July 27 and 30, the House Judiciary Committee passed three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon.
On August 5, what became known as the “smoking gun” White House tape was released, on which could be heard Nixon and aide H.R. Haldeman planning to obstruct the investigation of the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex.
Shortly afterward, Senators Scott, Goldwater, and Rhodes drove to the White House and informed Nixon that he did not have the votes in the Republican caucus to survive trial on impeachment in the Senate.
On August 8, Nixon addressed the nation from the Oval Office, announcing that on the following day, he would resign the presidency.
On August 9, Nixon submitted his formal resignation and departed the White House on Marine One.