Pardoning Nixon: Obstruction Of Justice Or Punishment Enough?

Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal left no doubt to his involvement of being impeached. During the Nixon Administration, he was able to prevent colleges from being gender biased and allowing both male and female to have equal opportunity and receiving financial aid as well as competing in sports. He was able to establish the Environmental Protection Agency. He also worked to create a relationship between the U.S and the Middle East. Unfortunately, even with all of the accomplishments, he was able to have, everyone will remember Richard Nixon as the president who was involved in the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal left an asterisk by his legacy while being in the office, the results left him with having to resign and with him facing criminal charges as well, the Scandal became well known to the public in the summer of 1974. Through my essay, I will discuss why I am intrigued by the Watergate scandal, and discuss what if Richard Nixon never got caught on the audio tape?

On June 17, 1972, numerous intruders were caught red-handed inside the building of Democratic National Committee, also known as the Watergate Building in Washington, D.C. Consequently, the leader behind it all was President Richard Nixon. This inaction of justice that took place that day set about Nixon from the rest of the presidents. As a president, he abused his power for his own morals. Before he could be impeached, he resigned and showed the United States that he could not take full responsibility for his actions. Even after he was pardoned for his crimes, and further persuaded American citizens on the injustice he did. Not only did Nixon set apart from the rest he changed the political standard of the United States. He made people become

Unfortunately, the controversy did not stop with whether or not the pardon was constitutional. Political arguments were by far more compelling than the constitutional arguments. Politically, Ford knew there would be loss in “public standing, relations with Congress, and the Republican Party’s fortunes in the 1974 elections.”12 However, he also realized that because of media publicity Nixon would not receive a fair trial. This is where the controversy begins. People, such as Firmage and Mangrum, argued that the law must be “’applied to all persons equally’” and no one, not even a public official “’be permitted to violate the laws with impunity.’”13 What they failed to realize were the extreme circumstances in which Nixon fell under surrounding Watergate. As a former president Nixon was one of the most powerful figures in the world; the amount of ‘bad’ publicity he received would not allow for a fair trial. Special Prosecutor Jaworski was a firm believer that this type of publicity would make ‘innocent until proven guilty’ null and void if Nixon were to go to trial.14 Ford’s choice to pardon Nixon prior to a trial was a well thought out plan of action given the circumstances.

On September 8, 1974, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for all crimes committed while in office. There has been controversy over whether he should have or not. Timothy Noah, former Slate staffer and author of Why Pardoning Nixon Was Wrong, believes he should not have pardoned Nixon. Noah gives many reasons as to why pardoning Nixon was wrong. The main reason is that it set a bad precedent. Ford did not actually know what he was pardoning Nixon for. When you are pardoning somebody, it is probably a good idea to know what you are pardoning him for. Because Nixon was pardoned, we really do not know what would have happened if he even had stood trial. If he did, future presidents would quickly learn that they are not above the law.

During Nixon’s 1972 campaign for his second term, his administration was alleged to be a part of the infamous “Watergate scandal” (Richard M. Nixon, 2011). On the night of June 17, 1972, five men entered the Democratic National Committee offices inside the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. A night guard found the men in the offices and had them arrested at 2:30 am. After investigators began their interrogations of the men, they saw these men belonged to the Committee to Re-Elect President Nixon (The History Place, 2000). When investigators found this information about these men, red flags went up and the investigation turned to President Nixon. The reason for why these men were sent to Watergate is because in 1970, The New York Times revealed a secret bombing campaign against Cambodia was being directed as part of the American war effort in Vietnam. When Nixon heard of this, he ordered wiretaps of reporters and government employees to discover source of the news leaks (Ibid.). This decision made by Nixon cost his presidency.

With rumors of impeachment beginning to circulate, Nixon finally agreed to turn over the subpoenaed White House tapes. The committee listened to the recordings and discovered an 18-minute gap on one of the tapes. It was surmised that someone had erased part of the tape, but investigators were unable to determine exactly what had happened. In March 1974, seven former presidential aides were indicted on charges of conspiracy to hinder the Watergate investigation, and Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. On July 24, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to order Nixon to release the rest of the White House recordings, considering them evidence in the case that came to be known as the United States v. Nixon.

In the summer of 1972, 5 burglars broke into the Watergate hotel where the democratic convention was being held. The burglars were eventually captured and arrested, but one of the burglars implicated then President of the United States of America, Richard Nixon, in the planning of the break-in. After weeks of subpoenas from congress, demanding tapes that were used to record the activities in the White House. It was then that Richard Nixon would irrevocably change America’s future by doing something that every president had done before him, he would use executive privilege to block the investigation into the White House’s role into the Watergate break-in. By invoking executive privilege, Richard Nixon proved his guilt and permanently changed how Americans viewed the president’s use of executive privilege.

“No words can describe the depths of my regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes over Watergate have caused the nation and the presidency — a nation I so deeply love and an institution I so greatly respect.” - Richard Nixon (“President Ford Pardons Richard Nixon”). On August 8, 1974 the 37th President of the United States Richard Nixon was pardoned for the Watergate Scandal by President Ford. The Watergate Scandal was where four burglars were arrested for wiretapping and stealing documents from the Democratic National Committee, that was believed to be tied in with President Richard Nixon. President Ford was not justified for pardoning Richard Nixon in the event of the Watergate Scandal because, evidence was recovered from tapes in the White House, Richard Nixon resigned from Presidency Shortly following, and Nixon also tried to fire a lawyer investigating on the scandal, a special prosecutor appointed by the attorney general who was investigating on the scandal.

On July 24, 1974, President Richard Nixon was to be presented before the judge for his Impeachment. 7 of his closest closet members were involved in a scandal at the Watergate Hotel leading to the blame for spying landing in Nixon’s lap. Audio recordings within the oval office of Nixon talking with family members, oval office conversations, conversations within other offices and phones within the executive branch had caught the attention of congress. These tapes would later become the lead evidence in congress’s case; however, Nixon believed he could use his executive privilege of subpoena to withhold the evidence. The question that came up next was: Could Richard Nixon use this privilege to avoid conviction or evidence in his trial, or would

The US v. Nixon case decided was in 1974 and it all started when five men with armed cameras were arrested. They were arrested inside in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. When questioned, Nixon, along with his campaign, denied any connection with the incident. In 1973, an investigation was done and it became clear that members of the Nixon administration were involved in a cover-up. Also discovered was a taping system that recorded all of Nixon’s conversations. Nixon refused to release the tapes but he did released some. For the United States argument, the President’s claim for executive privilege is not absolute, therefore, the dispute can be heard in federal courts. Nixon’s argument, separation of power grants the President

His last endeavor at family relationship with the American individuals had a motivation and about 40 years after the fact there is a question on whether these last words talked in office achieved their objective. By and large there is little accomplishment to his last objectives sketched out in his discourse. The US military has more atomic weapons than any time in recent memory, constantly prepared for the skirt of war. The Middle East is at war continually with not a single perfect, serene end to be found. The exchange course with China is still open however national obligation and the assets owed number in the billions. Is this all to fault on a solitary man who withheld data and benefitted from open administration? A realist would make the contention that such global turmoil was inescapable and unavoidable. Be that as it may, the minor words conveyed by Nixon conveyed minimal definite weight to the inspiration of accomplishing his last trusts and objectives. It wasn't for absence of feeling, his words were suffocating in the goliath blame he had at losing office, but instead for the absence of believability he now wore disregarding his past achievements. His association with the American individuals was always spoiled. Notwithstanding when he was absolved of his wrongdoings by President Ford a couple of years after the

Watergate scandal remains one of the historical revelation of excessive use of power during the reign of President Richard Nixon. After the break-in at the Democratic National Committee at the Westgate offices, there was a remarkable series of rotten underbelly in the Nixon’s administration. Specifically, this scandal led to the discovery of the multiple abuses of the power under the articles of impeachment. Because of the unlawful approach used by this administration to thwart those who were critical of Nixon’s administration, human rights groups and political activities embarked on demanding for explanation and resignation of the president. Rightful, there was reasonable grounds to demand the president’s resignation because it became overt that he had used FBI, CIA and Internal Revenue Service to silence critics. Subsequently, this

In 1972, there was a rise of the “Watergate Scandal” which over the next couple years would prove to tarnish the image of the President of the United States. The office of the president was behind the scandal in the fact that it was responsible for the break in at the office of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. President Nixon’s reelection committee and members of the White House had made efforts to destroy the Democrat’s chances for running for office. During the investigation, it was brought to light that President Nixon knew of the break in at the Democratic National Committee office and tried to cover it up. After much pressing by Congress, the judicial branch ordered President Nixon to give up all the evidence. Once the

United States President Richard Nixon was involved in a major political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from a break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The scandal was known as the Watergate scandal. The scandal was called Watergate because it occurred at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon and his administration attempted to cover up the scandal, but the scandal was discovered and investigated by Congress. The scandal comprised of illegal activities such as bugging of offices, ordering investigations of activist groups and political figures with the use of the FBI, CIA, and IRS. There were several abuses of power during the scandal and the results of the scandal and investigation were indictment of sixty nine individuals and Richard Nixon resigning his office as President of the United States.

At the hearings, all the illegal activities done on the behalf of the president became known: wiretapping, harassment, bribery, and obstruction of justice. This prompted Nixon to defend himself with a 4000 word report that didn’t just deny the accusations, but claimed the security operations, “stemmed from national security needs.”10 But there was still no hard evidence until Alexander Butterfield, Nixon’s aide, revealed that there was a secret recording system in the oval office, leading the Senate and special prosecutor Archibald Cox requested the tapes from the president. Nixon refused to hand them over citing “executive privilege.” The struggle for the tapes proved to be the beginning of the end of his presidency. By August, the public would overwhelmingly turn against his duplicity with 73 percent believing he was involved in Watergate.11 Despite this pressure to relent, Nixon continued his tactics of blanketly dismissing the charges and blaming the media. In September, the Supreme Court called on Nixon to release the tapes which he would again refuse. This began the chain of events that would come to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre. That night, Nixon ordered his attorney deputy attorney general to fire special prosecutor Cox, which both would refuse to do and resigned instead. Solicitor General Robert Bork, however, did comply and abolished the special prosecutor’s investigation. Several days later the House of Representatives called for impeachment hearing. In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could not use executive privilege to withhold the tapes. From the tapes, it was apparent that Richard Nixon took part in the Watergate cover up and the subsequent obstruction of justice. With the impeachment proceedings in place, Richard Nixon was forced to announce his resignation as the president of United