Nixon Reacts to Watergate
Nixon’s Last Days
- Nixon re-elected in November of 1973
- Nixon releases partial transcripts of the tapes on April 29, 1974
Nixon’s Last Days
- Judiciary Committee accepts 3 Articles of Impeachment
- Nixon ordered to release tapes by the Supreme Court
- One tape the day after the break-in had an 18 minute gap…erased
- August 9, 1974, Nixon resigns
- Due to the Watergate scandal, however, he left office in disgrace two years later. The event changed Americans’ attitudes toward government in a way that is still felt today.
- Nixon refused to turn over the tapes, citing executive privilege.
- The Supreme Court ordered him to turn them over.
- The tapes proved Nixon’s involvement so the House voted to impeach him.
- As a result, Nixon decided to resign in August of 1974, the first and only President to ever do so.
- During the scandal, Nixon abused his power and obstructed justice. The crisis centered on the issue of how the nation would handle a president’s suspected criminal wrongdoing.
- Nixon had the attorney general appoint a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, to help in the investigation.
- After Cox asked Nixon to give him the tapes, Nixon ordered the attorney general to fire Cox.
- In response to that, the attorney general resigned as well as top aides to him.
- Nixon finally found someone to fire Cox, this was called the Saturday Night Massacre.
- It proved to be a bad move for Nixon as the American public started to call for his accusation.