The Watergate Scandal may seem tepid compared to recent presidential escapades, but in 1973, it shocked America to its core. One of the most disturbing episodes of abuse of power occurred on the evening of October 20th, 1973. The press would dub it The Saturday Night Massacre. 

President Richard Nixon ordered his Attorney General to fire the Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.  Cox was investigating Nixon and the White House’s role in the Watergate cover-up. The Special Prosecutor was demanding the release of Nixon’s Oval Office tapes. The AG, Elliot Richardson, and Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus both refused to comply with the President’s order, and instead both resigned. The Solicitor General ultimately fired Cox.

By 1973, Richard Nixon’s presidency was a slowly sinking freighter. The Watergate Scandal would be his legacy. At the time however, his Republican base, still considered it all a Democrat conspiracy, inflamed by the liberal press. They firmly stood by their man, Nixon. Democrats controlled Congress and his base saw the Senate Watergate Hearings as a partisan Witch Hunt out to get their president.

For those too young to know about the Watergate Scandal …

It began in June 1972, when 5 burglars broke into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC. They were trying to wiretap it on orders from the White House. The men were caught by a night guard and arrested. As part of the cover-up, the White House worked to hide the fact that the men were paid by the Republican Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP). Nixon conspired with his top White House aides to impede the FBI investigation in order to safeguard his victory in the 1972 re-election.

Nixon easily won a second term that November, but not without storm clouds brewing on the horizon.  Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, 2 young Washington Post reporters, began to investigate. They reported on the break-in and its shady connection to the White House. They had an informant whistleblower, memorably code-named ‘Deep Throat,’ who they met in a parking garage at night.  The burglars were convicted and, facing stiff prison sentences, began to tell the truth about who paid them.

In February 1973, the U.S. Senate voted to establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with Senator Sam Ervin as chairman. In April, Nixon fired or forced the resignation of 4 top White house aides instrumental in the Watergate Scandal. This included Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldemen, and close political aide John Ehrlichman. Nixon was trying to distancing himself from his own men. The Attorney General then appointed a Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox, to investigate the break-in and cover-up. 

Richard Nixon repeatedly lied and denied any involvement in the scandal. At Senate Watergate Committee hearings in the summer of 1973, fired White House counsel John Dean testified against the president on national TV. He said Nixon was involved in the cover-up from the start. At the very least, the President was guilty of obstruction of justice. It was Dean’s word against the President though. That is, until the Senate Committee learned that Nixon had tape recorded all his meetings in the Oval Office! Cox knew those tapes were the evidence he needed to prove the President of the United States was a criminal.

An angry Richard Nixon cited Executive Privilege and refused to hand over the audio tapes.

On October 12th, a federal appeals court ruled the White House must surrender 10 key hours of Oval Office tapes. Nixon was cornered and appealed to the Supreme Court seeking Presidential immunity. He knew he was guilty and the tapes would prove it.  Then the president panicked. When the Special Prosecutor refused to drop the investigation, Nixon ordered his Attorney General to fire Cox.

Thus began the Saturday Night Massacre of Oct. 20th, 1973. Nixon ordered his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, to fire Archibald Cox. Richardson refused and resigned on the spot. When the deputy AG, William Ruckelshaus, also refused, Nixon fired him that same night. The Solicitor General, Robert Bork, reluctantly complied with the President’s orders and fired Cox.

The White House Press Secretary issued a statement at 8:25 PM saying the President had ordered the Office of the Watergate Special Prosecutor abolished and its investigation turned over to the Justice Dept. The President discharged Cox because: “He refused to comply with direct orders of the President of the United States.”

The Justice Dept. ordered FBI agents to seal off the Special Prosecutor’s office.

News bulletins interrupted primetime TV. NBC’s anchor John Chancellor told viewers, “Our country tonight is in the midst of a Constitutional Crisis.” There were comparisons made to Third World dictator coups d’état.

“Whether ours shall continue to be a government of the rule of law and not of a single powerful man, is now for Congress and the American people to decide.”

Archibald Cox statement to the press, after his firing by President Nixon

The new White House Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, rightly predicted an impeachment stampede would begin in Congress. He was right. Newspaper editors across the country called for President Nixon to resign. 100,000 citizens sent angry messages to Washington. 21 members of Congress introduced resolutions for Nixon’s impeachment.

President Nixon had seriously miscalculated the American public’s outrage.

They looked at the Watergate Scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre and saw the actions of a guilty president using his power to fire those investigating him.  The president’s motives were obvious.  He had committed a crime with Watergate, attempted to cover it up, and was now out to save his own skin at any cost.

“People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

President Richard Nixon – November 1973 press conference

In the March 1974, a grand jury indicted Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldemen, political aide John Ehrlichman, and Chairman of Nixon’s Re-election Campaign, John Mitchell. In the weeks to come, a corned Nixon stated that some of the tapes Cox sought were “missing,” and that one in particular had a suspicious 18 minute gap.  Nixon retreated from his attacks on the investigation. Under pressure from his fellow Republicans in Congress, he agreed to appoint a 2nd Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski.

In July 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed Executive Privilege did not apply and the President must turn over the White House tapes. One tape in particular showed the president had colluded in the cover-up since the day of the burglars’ arrest. The House of Representatives voted to impeach the President for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and criminal cover-up.

With the Smoking Gun tape in the hands of an impeachment-hungry Congress, the President had few options remaining. Richard M. Nixon went on national television and shocked the nation by resigning as President on August 8, 1974. He flew to California the next very day to retire there in disgrace. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court swore in Vice President Gerald Ford as President the same day.  In September, Ford would issue a hugely unpopular full and unconditional pardon of Nixon.

America was stunned because, well … these things happened when dictators are overthrown in Third World countries, NEVER in America!

In the end, the American people, Republicans and Democrats alike, put their faith in the U.S. Constitution, the American Justice System, and the Free Press – NOT the President and the White House. It was not a political witch-hunt or a deep-state conspiracy. America was a country where the rule of law prevails. They trusted the facts and truth in the end, and that ultimately, justice had prevailed … this time. 

Today, the Watergate Scandal may give you an unsettling sense of deja vu. America has more political scandals today than they can count. That’s not surprising, as leaders and government generally do not learn from history. It has a sad tendency to repeat itself all too soon. The danger arises when there are so many scandals, trials, hearings, and impeachments that it becomes the weary norm. The public then grows numb to their seriousness, allowing those in power to behave above the law.

For more by historical writer Paul Andrews, click BOOKS.

The post Watergate – the Scandal that took down a President first appeared on LOST IN HISTORY.