who remembers the scenario that forced Richard Nixon to resign?

[CTyankee]

IIRC, his closest aides and advisors came to him and said he HAD to resign, given the circumstances. It was the last straw for them.

I see now why Trump is putting people in his cabinet who are extremist on his issues. It's gonna be vicious to deal with these scum. And his close advisors are vehement hard right people. Certainly not Ehrlichman or Haldeman who were just criminals. Trumps's people won't give up and will go down in their bunkers with the world they created just falls with them.

[Demit]

1. I believe he knew they were going to impeach him, so he resigned to avoid that.

Maybe he even got word that the Senate would most likely convict, altho I don't remember that part specifically, just that he wanted to avoid the stain of having been impeached.

[pinboy3niner]

2. I met John Dean once

It was after he had campaigned for Kerry in the '04 election. When I mentioned I'd vounteered for Kerry in Ohio, Dean started to chat. There were a lot of people waiting behind me to have books signed, and like a dummy I ended our brief chat and went on my way.

Regrets, I've had a few...

[trof]

16. I've always been of two minds about Dean.

I think he was mainly in CYA mode because he knew Nixon was going down and he didn't want to be prosecuted.

And then my better nature takes over (kinda) and I wonder if he did the right thing just because it was the right thing to do and he had a conscience.

I still lean towards the first.

[pinboy3niner]

19. I think he realized he was being set up as the coverup fall guy

Can't blame him for CYA when he saw what was happening. The experience really opened his eyes, and his testimony and and his oral and written contributions since that point have been valuable.

I just wish I'd stayed to chat longer. I seem to have a thing about not only avoiding celebrities, but disengaging. Maya Lin once came over and struck up a conversation with me at a reception my nonprofit org was doing in her honor...and I disengaged. I really need to work on that.

[trof]

21. I also remember his wife was a blond knockout.

[CTyankee]

29. Annie Glenn had a stuttering problem and John Gleen protected her from criticism for her

speech disability. I don't think she was all that much in the "knockout" category. She was sweet and lovely.

Oh, yes, she was deaf and her story was an inspiration for people with her condition and it was one of those times when people hid their deafness from any publicity. But she and John faced it together and she became an inspiration!

[Dave Starsky]

33. LOL whut?

John Dean. Here's his wife, Maureen.

[trof]

36. Hunh? How did Annie Glen get in this?

[CTyankee]

37. I shouldn't have taken that pain pill before posting!

Wow, DID I screwup bigly...

Thinking of John Glenn and posted in the wrong thread...I blame the Lyrica and Donald Trump.

[trof]

39. Happens all the time. No prob.

[CTyankee]

40. Oh, thanks trof. I've been medicated for days now leading up to having a little wire

being inserted in the back of my neck for my post herpetic neuralgia pain relief. This appears to be the latest pain relief method since the usual pain meds don't work on nerve pain. Lyrica is the med used to medicate this problem leadiing up to the insertion of the little wire in my neck on Jan.5. It is outpatient surgery.

Don't get shingles! I had a ferociously bad case of it last year and this is the outcome! Get a shingles shot right effin now! You don't want to risk getting this horrible condition. I was so sick I had to cancel Christmas with my daughter and grandkids.

[trof]

43. Thanks. Got the shot a couple of years ago. Posted on 'Seniors' about it.

[pnwmom]

42. I've done that too. I think it comes from not wanting to impose on the person.

But if we're getting positive signals to continue, then maybe we should pay attention to our instincts.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Nixon was about to be removed by force by his own people

if necessary. Something about the Navy exercising a clause in our Constitution to preserve the Nation.

[TBA]

4. This is not Barry Goldwater's Republican Party.

Just sayin'

[PoliticAverse]

5. Nixon was about to be impeached. He resigned rather than go through the humiliation...

of being the first President in US history to be convicted and removed from office.

[annabanana]

35. Pity that you can't humiliate someone who has no shame. . . n/t

[John1956PA]

6. Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) told Nixon that impeachment and conviction were inevitable.

Nixon resigned before the Democratic-controlled House got a chance to vote on the Articles of Impeachment approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

I believe that, if there had been an R majority in the House, it would have nonetheless voted to approve the Articles of Impeachment and send the case to the Senate for a trial. Also, I believe that, if there had been an R majority in the Senate, it would have voted for conviction on one or more of the counts.

As an aside, I note that the term "Impeachment" means a trial in the Senate, regardless of whether the President is found guilty on one or more of the charges contained in the Articles of Impeachment. Two United States presidents have been impeached: President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and President William Clinton in 1998.

[FarCenter]

8. Richard Nixon's resignation: the day before, a moment of truth

Forty years ago, a Republican delegation led by Barry Goldwater told Richard Nixon he had lost almost all his remaining support in Congress. The next day, he resigned.

...

Goldwater, along with House Republican Leader John Jacob Rhodes and Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott, entered the Oval Office around 5 p.m. The Arizona senator sat directly in front of Nixon’s desk, the others to the side. Goldwater told Nixon he had perhaps 16 to 18 Senate supporters left – too few to avoid ouster. Congressman Rhodes said House support was just as soft.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2014/0807/Richard-Nixon-s-resignation-the-day-before-a-moment-of-truth

[ChazII]

20. Rhodes was also from Arizona. n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. And there you go....Nixon was a well versed political animal

and he knew he had little support in Congress, and what that meant in the near future.

I think coming to the realization that he had lost, and that his only choice was the process of losing, must have been horrifically hard for him.

In the same situation, Trump would not act like that, cause he operates from behind a wall of denial, not to mention he has zero awareness of how the Gov't/Constitution actually works.

[CTyankee]

10. great historical report there in your post.

what a strange and different world we live in. We have foxes in hen houses in our government coming up. Everythiing we believe in goes to the executioner's block.

[John1956PA]

18. Nowadays, the right-wingers are lobbing grenades into the hen house.

Thank you for your kind reply.

From the beginning of the twentieth century to the 1970s, impeachment of a president was unthinkable. Before Watergate, those of us high school students who learned of the 1868 Andrew Johnson impeachment came away from that lesson with the opinion that the event was a quirky footnote in history and would never be repeated. Up until Watergate, both parties tacitly agreed that any impeachment of a president would be an exercise in political muscle on both sides. After all, what president could serve without committing some infraction which, in some lawyerly argument, could be said to be a "misdemeanor"? The thinking of the politicians was akin to Mutual Assured Destruction mentality. Everyone thought that, if the impeachment football were to allowed to become commonplace, neither side would be safe. As a corollary, the parties' unwritten rule was to take no action to challenge the outcome of a national election. Hence, it is said, the R's did not seek a recount of the Illinois votes in the 1960 election.

Watergate was a sea-change in the attitude of many politicians towards resorting to the impeachment process. The Clinton impeachment was a follow-through on that new attitude. In fact, in 1998, some pundits opined that the Clinton impeachment was, in the minds of some R's, suitable retaliation for the Democrats' pursuit of Nixon in Watergate.

Alarmingly, today's right-winger pols and their low-information admirers throw the "impeachment" word (and incarceration terminology) at their political opponents to vent their hate and to score political points. Politics, which to the public used to be akin to a harmless parlor game, has become more of a violent computer game. During this past campaign, Hillary haters spewed the nonsense that, on the grounds of her past emailing practices, she would be impeached if she won the election. Lost on those hate mongers was the premise that impeachable offenses apply to high crimes and misdemeanors committed while the president is in office.

If the impeachment process, or even the threat of it, become the norm, our government will be gridlocked.

[hfojvt]

17. as I remember it

a bunch of Republicans on the judiciary committee voted in favor of impeachment. His own party was not supporting him.

These days, they are all far too store-bought to not stick together. Now they do not even have to pretend to have any decency or integrity or principles.

[enough]

7. I remember it well, but we have to also remember that in those days there were

some principled Republicans in Congress who were willing to participate in the constitutional process. I doubt there are any in office today who would be willing to play that role.

[Lemon722]

9. It was must see TV but few were watching until everything exploded

I was just out of college, working my first job and no access to a TV so a radio was always on and we watched regular network news at night. Back then there were Republicans who actually had some decency and believed right wasn't automatically assigned because you were GOP. Still it took a mountain to turn them. Most of the GOP Senators were hanging in for Nixon until one remarked to John Dean (in my memory it was said sarcastically) when Dean testified about telling Nixon there was a "cancer growing on the Presidency" the senator said too bad there isn't a record of that or independent testimony and Dean said the Oval office was wired and the place went ape. Then everyone who HAD testified was called in again and verified yes there was a taping system. Then Nixon addressed the nation with a huge pile of bound books (our taxpayer funds at work) saying these were the transcripts, nothing to see here, move on. Then gaps were noticed special prosecutor wanted to hear the tapes. In desperation on a Saturday night Nixon ordered his AG to fire the special prosecutor, AG refused, he was fired, another in AG office appointed and I think two refused until the third one did fire Sam Ervin (sp) but new special prosecutor took up at the same point and demanded the actual tapes be made available and finally they were and the GOP listened to them and knew the ship was sinking fast so they bailed. They went to Nixon and said you will go on trial and you will be found guilty so he resigned. Ford had been appointed VP when Agnew was convicted of accepting bribes and Ford pardoned him. There is an argument that the pardon saved us a lot of pain but in my mind it was the turning point for the GOP to never face up to the truth Nixon never admitted wrong doing just resigned to spare the country. Dean, Hunt, etc. got jail time but not the #1 guy. Just as GOP never accepted or learned from their mistakes they carried that through W's disaster. I understand President O had too much on his plate but something should have been done to find W and group guilty of torture, etc.

[CTyankee]

12. I remember. Jeez what a time it was. I wasin the antiwar movement at the time and I remember

working with some great people such as the Rev. William Sloane Coffin when he was at Yale in charge of the Div School (as we called the Divinity School). Oops, no, he was the Yale Chaplain.

I worked with the religious left antiwar movement. It was a great and momentous time in my life and I treasure the memories...

[pinboy3niner]

13. In college, I cut classes to watch the Watergate hearings on TV

I couldn't tear myself away.

Welcome to DU, Lemon722!

[fleabiscuit]

22. Paragraphs friend, paragraphs. nt

[Freddie]

26. Thanks for the great explanation

I was in HS then and too busy with teenager stuff to pay that much attention. Watergate was 75% of the news for years (it seemed) and after awhile many of us got overload and just tuned it out.
I don't see impeachment happening now. The old adage "Republicans fall in line" was never truer.
Remember too that while Gerald Ford was a good man and not a bad President, by 1976 the public just had enough of their party and turned them out. They know that's what would probably happen to Pence in 2020 under the same circumstances.

[geek tragedy]

11. more importantly, there are maybe 5-10 Republicans with any integrity in Congress now.

As long as he signs their tax cuts like a trained monkey, they'll never pay attention to any of his exploits.

[Greybnk48]

14. I think the plan always was to put Pence in the WH.

And Ayn Ryan as VP.

[jberryhill]

15. "IIRC, his closest aides and advisors came to him and said he HAD to resign"

I don't recall any of his advisors saying that at the time or in their later books on the topic.

Which aides or advisors told him that?

[CTyankee]

24. I truly believe that his inner circle pleaded for him to resign. It seems to me the handwriting on

wall...I gathered this from a number of sources. I think Haldeman and Ehrichman wanted to cover their asses when they advised Nixon to give up. But I may be wrong. I'll check at the library.

[JI7]

23. a HUGE difference is the media. watergate would be a non story today

[Freddie]

28. Agreed

Since nobody gave a s*it about Putin's influence on Trump, something like this would be totally ignored by the MSM.

[CentralMass]

27. What is it that tRump would be impeached for?

[Hekate]

31. Violating the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution, for one

Trump is a criminal and now a traitor, though investigating the latter would reveal that McConnell and others are as well.

I've been saying to watch the veep pick all along. DTs wanted Christie, but was tricked and/or pressured into taking Pence. Pence is a horrible theocratic anti-choice mysogynist, but he knows government and he is sane. Afaik he isn't a criminal, either, except in the ethical sense.

I am quite sure that the GOP is betting they can control Trump, but if that fails (and imo it will) they have Plan B, which is a dossier a foot thick of things they can use to impeach Trump.

[CentralMass]

38. Well I hope that this is thoroughly investigated and there is some "teeth" to it.

However, I doubt that it.

[madokie]

30. Watergate was when I became politically aware

to the point of wanting to know more. Vietnam opened my eyes but watergate opened my mind
Nixon resigned because he knew that he was fixing to be impeached by the house and in his heart of hearts, if he had a heart that is, told him that the Senate would convict him and nixon was a lot like tRump, Crazy, insecure, lonely and not able to take no for an answer.

tRump will go down and go down hard at some point in time. imo
Whether its soon enough before he tanks the country and the world is anyones guess but the CON man will go down hard.


Its been a long time ago for the Watergate hearings. I was working evenings, went to work at 4:30 in the afternoon and worked until 1 am. I'd finally get to sleep about day light and sleep until about noon and day time tv sucks so the only thing on that interested me was the Watergate hearings so I watched a good portion of that.

[Vinca]

32. This is beginning to remind me of Watergate. I'm wondering what Manafort's role was.

It's becoming very clear this election was a sham.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. If the GOP controlled the Senate he would have never resigned.

And if the GOP controlled the House there never would have been an impeachment.

[duffyduff]

41. It wasn't his aides. It was REPUBLICANS like Barry Goldwater who said

he had to resign for the good of the country.

It was the "smoking gun" tape:

http://watergate.info/1972/06/23/the-smoking-gun-tape.html