Watergate Explained - Richard Nixon Foundation | Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the June 17, 1972 Watergate break-in. This occasion presents an opportunity to explain Watergate — what we know, what we don’t know, and […]
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<iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-K2J694P" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe> Skip to content Plan Your Visit Open 10am - 5pm 7 days a week 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd, Yorba Linda, CA 92886 714.993.5075 [email protected] Join & Give Weddings & Private Events Tickets President Nixon About The Nixons Nixon Civics Academy President Nixon About The Nixons Nixon Civics Academy Upcoming Events Nixon & Social Foundation Store Upcoming Events Nixon & Social Foundation Store bars Watergate Explained This week marks the 50th anniversary of the June 17, 1972 Watergate break-in.This occasion presents an opportunity to explain Watergate — what we know, what we don’t know, and what we are still learning.To do this, the Richard Nixon Foundation has today released a new resource, “Watergate Explained,” now available on our website. This new historical resource guide takes you through the major elements of Watergate and references newly released documents from the National Archives that shed new light on this history today. Table of Contents Richard Nixon: An Introduction Richard Nixon first came to national prominence in 1947 as a freshman congressman from California’s 12th congressional district. Appointed to the House Un-American Activities Committee, he led an investigation into former senior State Department official Alger Hiss, exposing Hiss as a Soviet spy – and turning Nixon into a national figure.Nixon then experienced a rapid rise in national politics, winning election to the United States Senate in 1950 and twice as vice president of the United States, in 1952 and 1956, as the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower.In 1960, Vice President Nixon narrowly lost the presidential election to Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy. In 1968 Nixon achieved one of history’s greatest political comebacks, winning the presidency in a three-way contest. In 1972 he carried 49 states in his re-election bid, receiving 61 percent of the vote.Nixon’s second term unraveled amid the political fallout from what became known as the Watergate scandal. Months of investigations by Congress and federal prosecutors gradually eroded Nixon’s political support. Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974. back to table of contents The Washington, D.C. Environment, 1969-72 Richard Nixon was the first president since Zachary Taylor entered office in 1849 with both houses of Congress under the control of the opposition party.Nixon inherited a controversial and increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam. In just three years, from 1965 to 1968, the number of Americans in Vietnam had escalated from 16,000 to over 500,000.The environment in Washington, D.C. was one dominated by opposition to the war from members of Congress and among college students. Between 1967 and 1972, more than a dozen large-scale demonstrations against the war took place in Washington including well over a million people.Nixon also faced opposition in the Executive Branch of government. The Democrats had held the presidency for 28 of the previous 36 years. During those years the number of civilian employees in the Executive Branch more than doubled, to 960,000 by 1969. Democrats dominated these career positions in the federal departments and agencies.The president also dealt with a media largely uniform in its reporting and opinions. In an era before cable, television news was dominated by three major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. In the era before the Internet, just two newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post and two newsmagazines, Time, and Newsweek, set the national tone for coverage of the White House.Throughout his presidency, Nixon governed in a political environment that was, at best, unfavorable, and at worst, hostile. back to table of contents Leak of the Pentagon Papers On June 13, 1971, the New York Times ran a front-page story revealing the existence of a Top-Secret, classified Pentagon study of American policy in Vietnam from the end of World War II through 1968. Known as the Pentagon Papers, these documents had been illegally removed from the headquarters of the Department of Defense at the end of the Johnson Administration and were being held, without authority, by private non-governmental think tanks. Nixon was informed by the FBI that, at the same time the Pentagon Papers were offered to the New York Times and other newspapers, copies had been left at the Soviet Embassy in Washington.A former Pentagon official who had turned against the war in Vietnam, Daniel Ellsberg, was soon identified as the person responsible for the illegal leak. Until Ellsberg’s identity was discovered, the thief’s identity was a mystery. It was also clear that more than one person had to be involved with the theft and copying of so many thousands of pages of classified materials. Even after Ellsberg’s identity was known, his motive or motives, and those of any other possible conspirators, were unknown.The Times...
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