In late July 1974, the White House released the subpoenaed tapes. One of these tapes, recorded six days after the Watergate break-in, was quickly dubbed the "smoking gun" tape after a transcript was publicly released on August 5, 1974.[36][34] In the recording of the June 23, 1972, meeting, Nixon agrees that administration officials should approach Richard Helms, Director of the CIA, and Vernon A. Walters, Deputy Director, and ask them to request L. Patrick Gray, Acting Director of the FBI, to halt the Bureau's investigation into the Watergate break-in on the grounds that it was a national security matter. The special prosecutor felt that Nixon, in so agreeing, had entered into a criminal conspiracy whose goal was the obstruction of justice.[citation needed]
Once the "smoking gun" transcript was made public, Nixon's political support practically vanished. The ten Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee who had voted against impeachment in committee announced that they would now vote for impeachment once the matter reached the House floor. He lacked substantial support in the Senate as well; Barry Goldwater and Hugh Scott estimated no more than 15 Senators were willing to even consider acquittal. Facing certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction in the Senate, Nixon announced his resignation on the evening of Thursday, August 8, 1974, effective as of noon the next day.[37]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_White_House_tapes#The_%22smoking_gun%22_tape
This seems not so different from what Trump has done, mueller report talked about obstruction of justice. Really tho, did so many house and senate politicians care so much about that? Even Goldwater? (((goldewater))) BTW. Nowadays they don't, pelosi won't start an impoeachment vote cuz most dems will vote against it, embarassing the dem party, because only 37% of americans support impeachment and if dems voted for it then they'd then get booted out of office.
Nixon had just won in 1972 via a landslide election so he must have been popular. More so than trump right now is. Would all of those politicians got voted out in 1974 an onwards if they did impeach nixon? I bet they would, so why then did they say they would do it, if it is true they did?
I think it had to do with vietnam. First (((butterfield))) is the one who said Nixon's office was taped, letting prosecuters know about it. Also Butterfield kept a memo from (((kissinger)
On January 3, 1972, Kissinger sent a one-page classified memo to Nixon as a routine update on the Vietnam War. After receiving the memo, Nixon tilted it sideways and wrote in pen to Kissinger:[6]
K. We have had 10 years of total control of the air in Laos and V.Nam. The result = Zilch. There is something wrong with the strategy or the Air Force. I want a 'bark off' study—no snow job—on my desk in 2 weeks as to what the reason for the failure is. Otherwise continued air operations make no sense in Cambodia, Laos etc. after we complete withdrawal. Shake them up!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilch_memo
This looks like Nixon was questioning the BS of vietnam, why were we losing, were the bombings even happening, what is a bark off study? Sounds like stripping bark off a tree to reveal the truth. He was asking too many questions for a puppet president. How excactly does a decade long bombing achieve zilch. How did the US govt lose a war to a bunch of guerillas hiding in the jungle. Cuz of vietnam being meant to last a long time just to get people killed.
TheGreatAustralian ago
Update - It seems very likely RN was "under the gun" of his Chief of Staff HR "Bob" Haldeman.
ardvarcus ago
Nixon wasn't any saint, but he didn't do anything the Democratic Party wasn't also doing, in spades. It's just that his misdeeds and political "tricks" got highlighted by the media, and the wrong-doings of the Democrats were ignored or covered up. Watergate was about looking for dirt on the Democrats that could be used against them in the election. Nixon's people weren't going to fabricate anything, they just wanted to find out what crimes the Democrats were committing. But they went about it in a criminal manner, and got caught, and then Nixon was betrayed by a man he trusted (a man who should burn in hell for eternity for his betrayal of trust).
Barfin ago
agreed. and why would trained CIA operatives bungle the op in such a way, you're telling me they couldn't get in and get out without being caught? Nixon himself might be lying here, but it is a good question don't you think:
Almost no one has better expressed reasons to doubt Nixon’s involvement
than Nixon himself. In his memoirs, Nixon described how he learned about
the burglary while vacationing in Florida, from the morning newspaper. He
recalled his reaction at the time:
It sounded preposterous. Cubans in surgical gloves bugging the
DNC! I dismissed it as some sort of prank . . . The whole thing
made so little sense. Why, I wondered. Why then? Why in such a
blundering way . . . Anyone who knew anything about politics
would know that a national committee headquarters was a useless
place to go for inside information on a presidential campaign. The
whole thing was so senseless and bungled that it almost looked
like some kind of a setup.
https://whowhatwhy.org/2012/05/08/watergate-revelations-the-coup-against-nixon-part-2-of-3/
TrialsAndTribulation ago
Nixon was a victim of the deep state, even back then, just as JFK was. In fact, it was Nixon's interest in JFK's assassination that put a target on his back. In the White House transcripts, he mentions "the whole Bay of Pigs thing" a few times, which may believe was code for Kennedy's assassination. He was screwed out of the 1960 election by massive vote fraud in Texas and Illinois and was deeply upset with the assassination, thinking it was a coup d'etat, and sought evidence of it.
There's much more, but you'd have to read Roger Stone's book on the subject. Stone knew Nixon better than anyone, and I think he has the final word on both JFK and Watergate.
JohnConnor ago
It was a physiological event for the American people , to make the public believe that no one is above the law and that even presidents can be brought down . The common sheep will refer to this event when talking about conspiracies as if nothing can be hidden from the public , this event and the Monica and Bill event in the 90's are the same , make the American public believe that any sort of secret can't be hidden
ardvarcus ago
Watergate was a lie. It wasn't about exposing the truth, it was about liberals and leftists using the media to destroy a conservative president.
JohnConnor ago
Both parties are controlled , it doesn't matter if its a conservative or a democrat they belong to the same group of people . You should know this by now otherwise what are you doing on VOAT.
Barfin ago
yess zinn said:
Chapter 20, "The Seventies: Under Control?", covers political corruption and American disillusion with the government during the 1970s. Zinn argues that the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the exposure of crimes committed by the CIA and FBI during the decade were done by the government in order to regain support from the American people without making fundamental changes to the system. According to Zinn, Gerald Ford's presidency continued the same basic policies of the Nixon administration. Other topics covered include protests against the Honeywell Corporation, Angela Davis, Committee to Re-elect the President, the Watergate scandal, International Telephone and Telegraph's involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, the Mayagüez incident, Project MKUltra, the Church Committee, the Pike Committee, the Trilateral Commission's The Governability of Democracies, and the People's Bi-Centennial.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People%27s_History_of_the_United_States