The Rise and Fall of Arrogance

The Rise and Fall of Arrogance

The decline and fall of President Richard M Nixon was not just a result of criminal investigations; it was also a result of his own arrogance. Although he accomplished many great things as President, his subversion of power, obstruction of justice and his final fall from grace will always taint his accomplishments.  But as Anthony Summers describes in his biography of the President, Watergate was just the culmination of years of arrogance and political manipulation ¹.

Richard Nixon began his political career in 1946 winning a Seat in Congress by painting his opponent as a communist. He soon came to national prominence as a member of the United States House Committee on Un-American Activities led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his pursuit of Alger Hiss, the US State Department official accused of spying for the USSR. An avowed foe to communism, in 1950 he won election to the US Senate, also by labeling his opponent as communist.  In fact he even referred to her as “The Pink Lady ².”  In an interesting twist of politics, fellow Congressman John F Kennedy presented Nixon with a check for $1000.00 from his father, who shared Nixon’s aversion to communism ³. Because of Nixon hiring an unscrupulous campaign manager and as a result of what she called many dirty tricks, his opponent, Democratic Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas is credited with first coining the term Tricky Dick to describe Nixon.

In 1952, this rising star in the Republican Party was tagged to run as Vice President to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Soon after, Nixon’s arrogance started to show when he was accused of diverting $18,000 in gifts from a California businessman to his own personal use. In what is now known as the Checkers Speech, when he went on National TV and admitted that he took the money; however he claimed it went to pay for political expenses that he felt the American Public should not have to pay not for personal use.  He stated it went to pay for trips back and forth from California to DC, publish political speeches and for other political uses ⁴. He also made claims that the entire flap over the issue was a result of a communist conspiracy to keep him out of the Executive branch. Although the fund was technically not direct violation of Senate rules at the time, it would currently be prohibited under campaign and ethics laws. The public overlooked his admitted moral failings and elected him as Vice President in 1952 and again in 1956, ten years after his first run for Congress.

In 1960, Vice President Nixon was nominated by the Republican Party to run against his former supporter Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Many people contribute his loss to the September debate where he looked pale and sickly compared to Kennedy, but following the loss he claimed he was a victim of the Kennedy campaign’s ruthlessness, corruption and dirty tricks.  His book Six Crises further made some of these same claims while painting his actions and political career as a proud and patriotic journey ⁵. His arrogance would not allow him to accept blame.

Following his 1962 loss in a race for Governor of California, Nixon made his now famous quote “You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore." As he had in the past, he blamed others for his loss as the reason he lost to incumbent Pat Brown. In his final press conference following that race he placed the blamed for the loss on the press and stated:

"I leave you gentleman now and you will write it. You will interpret it. That's your right. But as I leave you I want you to know — just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference. ⁶" 

Although most people considered this the end of his political career, in 1968 Richard Nixon received the nomination and subsequent election as the 37^th President of the United States.

Shortly after his election, he used a tactic similar to his Checkers Speech to quell opposition to his position on the Vietnam War.  He again went on National television claiming he was the victim of long standing enemies in the liberal East Coast Media.  He claimed that truth was being twisted by one sided coverage and that his policy of a gradual withdrawal was needed to prevent a Communist victory and to not show weakness to China or Russia. In this speech he called on what he termed “The Silent Majority” to rise up in his support and help him win the war and win the peace. The result was an outpouring of letters of support that bolstered Nixon’s ego but did nothing to change the media coverage of the still escalating war in Vietnam ⁷.

Almost from the beginning, the Nixon administration was plagued by leaks. In May 1969, a story revealing secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia was published in the New York Times. In June 1971 the same paper published the first excerpt of what became known as the Pentagon Papers. In response President Nixon ordered the FBI to tap more than a dozen phones in order to find who was leaking information.  When those wiretaps did not stop the leaks, he ordered the formation of a special investigations unit nicknamed the plumbers, for their task was to stop leaks. It was members of this unit that broke into the offices of psychiatrist Daniel Ellsberg and the Democratic National Party headquarters located at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.

When hush money was discovered as well as links to the Campaign to Reelect the President (CREEP) to the burglars arrested placing bugs in the DNC headquarters, a series of events that ultimately led to President Nixon’s resignation were set in motion. Although it is widely agreed that President Nixon had not ordered the break in or even had prior knowledge, he did order the FBI to stop its investigation which by itself constituted obstruction. In spite of his reelection in 1972, as information of his involvement finally became public, Nixon’s Presidency began to unravel.

On most nights, the lead story on the nightly news concerned Watergate; multiple investigations, ongoing  coverage by the Washington Post citing a close source to the administration known only as Deep Throat and persistent Congressional inquiries captured the minds of the public. Following the guilty pleas of five of the so called Watergate Seven, and the conviction of the remaining two in January 1972, the issue appeared at first to settle down but was not only resurrected, but the lid was blown off in March by a letter sent to Judge John Sirica.

James McChord, a former CIA agent and the Security Director for CREEP admitted in a letter to Judge Sirica that the court had been deliberately misled in an attempt to distance the White House from the scandal. He claimed that the Watergate seven committed perjury at the insistence of White House Council John Dean and former Attorney General John Mitchell. The pressure on President Nixon only increases and turns again to the American Public with a televised speech. In this speech he announces the dismissal or resignation of several key White House and Administration positions and the naming of Elliot Richardson as the new Attorney General. He also claimed complete ignorance of the cover-ups and his deep and personal sorrow that people close to him could have been involved in the Watergate affair.  He again used the tactic that worked so well with the Checker’s Speech, admitting something wrong occurred and asking the American Public to understand that he would do everything in his power to make sure it never happens again. As master of persuasive appeal, he again attempted to pull the American public to his side with the following excerpt ⁸:

“For the fact that alleged improper actions took place within the White House or within my campaign organization, the easiest course would be for me to blame those to whom I delegated the responsibility to run the campaign. But that would be a cowardly thing to do.

I will not place the blame on subordinates—on people whose zeal exceeded their judgment and who may have done wrong in a cause they deeply believed to be right.”

Eleven months to the day after the public first learned of Watergate break-in, On May 18, 1973 live televised hearings of the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities began including over 250 hours of testimony by many involved directly with the scandal ⁹. On May 25^th, an independent Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox was appointed by the Justice Department to oversee the investigation into the cover-up. In his testimony to the Senate Committee, former White House Council John Dean states he had multiple conversations with the President over Watergate and that the President was involved in the cover up within days of the burglary.  He also detailed additional political espionage that the White House had been involved in. One of the final straws was testimony by a former Whitehouse aide who revealed the existence of a secret taping system that was set up in the Oval Office. When Archibald Cox, the Special Prosecutor subpoenaed the tapes, Nixon refused to cooperate and then promptly fired Mr. Cox.

On August 15, 1973, Nixon again appealed directly to the American Public in a televised speech announcing he was releasing edited transcripts of these tapes claiming that unedited transcripts might threaten Executive Privilege and National Security. After a series of court battles that all went against President Nixon, the President offered a compromise of allowing Democratic Senator John Stennis be allowed to review the tapes and report the contents to Cox. When this was rejected he then ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Special Prosecutor Cox. When the AG instead resigned, he ordered Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus to do the same who then also promptly resigned. President Nixon then appointed Solicitor General Robert Bork as acting AG who then fired Special Prosecutor Cox. Three days later, President Nixon reluctantly releases some of the tapes.

On November 21, 1973, an 18 ½ minute gap in a taped conversation between President Nixon and Eric Haldeman is disclosed. Electronics experts claimed the gaps were the result of multiple erasures and most likely did not occur accidently as the White House tried to claim. By January, Congress seriously begins to consider the possibility of impeachment.

As the investigation starts to build towards a possible impeachment, new Special Prosecutor Ron Jaworski subpoenas the remaining 64 tapes and again Nixon refuses to cooperate. In another live speech to the American Public, he announces that he will release edited transcripts that he himself has reviewed as relevant to the case. He then went on for over 30 minutes denying his involvement, blaming Dean and others and laying out the case how he was the victim of political witch-hunts.

On July 27, 1973 the House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 to forward Articles of Impeachment on the Count of Obstruction of the Investigation. On July 29^th, they voted on the Second Article, Misuse of Power and Violation of His Oath of Office. The next day the Third and final article concerning his failure to comply with subpoenas was issued. On August 5^th, the transcripts tapes recorded a week following the break-in, including what was in the missing 18 ½ minutes gap is released.  With this release there is clear and compelling evidence that Nixon ordered the cover up including ordering the FBI to halt its investigation.  This convinces the 11 Republican members who were hold outs on impeachment to change their votes and forward all three Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.

On August 08, 1974, Nixon held his last nationwide broadcast as President.  In this broadcast he announced to a weary nation: “and so, effective at noon tomorrow, I shall resign my Presidency”. The following day he left Washington DC, not to fade into history. The following month, President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any and all crimes he may have committed effectively ending any remaining investigations.

In what some people saw as an attempt to save his legacy, former President Nixon agreed to a series of twelve interviews by British journalist David Frost.  These candid interviews were broadcast in four 90 minute segments in May, 1977. In the third segment, Nixon made the statement that many people feel best revealed his arrogance; in response to David Frost’s question about if he had in fact committed illegal acts, he commented “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal, ¹⁰”

Although Richard M Nixon will always be remembered for the Watergate Scandal, it was not the only demon that the President had in his memory.  Some people have made claims about mental illness ¹¹; others believe it was his lust for power that drove him to do what he did.  History has shown that he was capable of the crimes he was accused of; however his arrogance often led him to believe he was above the law and that his goals were more important to the nation than the law he had to bend or break to achieve it. Although he did accomplish many great things in office, his legacy will always be tainted, not just from criminal activity, but from his own arrogance.

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