When was the breaking point in Watergate?

[Jara sang]

I mean the moment when everyone in the Nixon administration started resigning. What precipitated that? Was there one key piece of information in the puzzle that came to light that forced the resignation of so many in Nixon's administration?

[Joey Liberal]

1. The investigation began to catch people lying

That's when the shit hit the fan in Watergate. People were caught lying, then they began to admit the truth.

[iconoclastic cat]

12. We've been catching Bushco lying every day.

Why haven't people cared about that?

[question everything]

19. Because there was a Democratic Congress

and because the representatives of those days were not driven by blind ideology. Howard Baker - who was close to the White House - is a notable honorable Republican Senator. Even Goldwater, from this vantage point, was more honorable than all the miserable Republicans currently holding office in Congress.

The Republicans of those days did believe in small government which, really is tied to "live and let live." Not so today bible thumpers who think that they have a right to tell others how to live their lives - down to the most personal and intimate detail.

[mourningdove92]

2. Gee, my memory is a bit fuzzy.

I was still pretty young and wild back then...living in a drug/alcohol haze...but it seems to me it was the Saturday night massacre.

Any other oldies out there who remember?

[Old and In the Way]

13. Hazy for me too......

But I agree that the firing of Richardson was seen as the act of a desperate President....when impeachment reached a critical mass, there was no turning back. We are not there yet, but one or 2 more revelations might provide the critical mass. The media seems to have begun a reassessment of this administration. I see that there are a lot more critical and investigative stories being reported. Could it be the media sharks are started to smell blood in the water? We can only hope.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. I hope so

Maybe they aren't afraid of being fired anymore.

[Jane Eyre]

24. Yep, I think it was the Saturday Night Massacre

Nixon's actions made it all too clear that he was willing to do whatever it took to hang on to power. I guess it was the press who came up with the term "Saturday Night Massacre", or maybe it was the Democrats. Wherever the term came from, it stuck in the public's memory and was something that people could overwhelmingly see as a very bad thing to do even if they could not articulate all the details of the Watergate scandal.

Another thing that helped to put Watergate upfront in the public eye was the publication of the first "instant book" when the transcripts of Nixon's tapes were made public in the form of a summer-reading paperback. I recall first seeing the books in a specially made paperback display carton at Eckerd's drugstore, and it was a very unusual marketing display for the time. The big news in my corner of the world at the time was that Nixon was caught saying BAD WORDS!!! That seemed to be enough for Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public, and it was something that everyone could understand. It did a lot to tarnish Nixon's reputation among the "Silent Majority" types who voted for him.

[Cassandra]

3. I think the acknowledgement of the tapes...

was the breaking point and Nixon fought like hell to keep them covered-up.

[displacedtexan]

4. April 30, 1974

April 30, 1974
The White House releases more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes to the House Judiciary Committee, but the committee insists that the tapes themselves must be turned over. Post Story

July 24, 1974
The Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president's claims of executive privilege. Post Story

July 27, 1974
House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice. Post Story

August 8, 1974

Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumes the country's highest office. He will later pardon Nixon of all charges related to the Watergate case.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/chronology.htm

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. 1971 burglary at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office

[1932]

15. Nixon won the election in 72, so nothing before 72 mattered much to people

[lisa58]

6. When the Judge threw the book at McCord

and McCord spilled his guts.

[ThoughtCriminal]

7. Saturday Night Massacre

When President Nixon discharged Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus.

----------

We're not quite there yet.

[mcscajun]

9. That was it...that was the big tipping point...

...when the slide into the abyss became inevitable.

[blondeatlast]

22. I was a very young political wonk; about 12, but already interested

and that's the event that I would choose.

[sellitman]

8. Breaking point in Watergate was...

The breaking point was the so-called "smoking gun," a transcript of a secret tape made in the Oval Office. Released August 5, 1974, it showed that six days after the June 17, 1972 Watergate break-in, Nixon had tried to use the Central Intelligence Agency to block the Federal Bureau of Investigation's work in investigating the burglary.

That connected Nixon directly to the burglary -- the fact he long had denied.

[H2O Man]

10. The tapes were huge.

Equally important was when some in the administration tried to blame others: the finger-pointing that wounded the Nixon White House is going to be repeated this year.

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. Without the tapes, Nixon would have never been forced to resign

I had just turned on the TV the morning that the fellow (can't remember name), testified that Nixon had a tape system installed in the Oval Office and that everything had been recorded. The Senate hearing was in an uproar, it was incredible. Up until then it was mostly he said, she said and with the administration stonewalling it was very difficult to prove what Nixon knew and when he knew it. Once the tapes were discovered everyone knew that there would be no question whether or not Nixon knew and how he responded.

[two gun sid]

11. John Dean's testimony in front of the Senate Watergate ...

Committee, The 'Enemies List' (Huston Plan), McCords immunity, and the existence of the tapes and Nixon's refusal to release them. What I remember was not so much one single thing, but, the constant drumbeat of new revelations in the news everyday.

[pacalo]

14. When Alexander Butterfield testified about the Oval Office's listening

devices. It led to the firing of Archibald Cox & the infamous Saturday Night Massacre.

[Somawas]

16. When Alexander Butterfield admitted to the existence of

a taping system in the Oval office. That was while the Ervin committee was still investigating. Dean's testimony had shaken the whole crowd, but they could have survived that, probably.

The question was asked by Gene Boyce, a Raleigh, NC attorney, and friend of mine, who pretty much admits that he asked it on a hunch. Had no idea what Butterfield would say, or whether anybody as low on the totem pole as Butterfield would know. When Butterfield said there was a taping system, the path was clear for the discovery of the tapes. And the tapes were what brought Nixon down. Part of it was that the content of the tapes was so different from the image that Nixon had so carefully cultivated among his own faithful.

[Grillydad]

18. We need to be cautious in comparisons

We live in significantly different political times than the early 70s. There is partisan 24 hour news now, bloggers, a tidal wave of information (much of it wrong or untrue) at our fingertips. The landscpae is different now and we need to react differently rather than expect the events to follow the same course.

All the more reason to keep pounding any to get the word out any way we can. Remember the last election was close (despite what the neo-cons say). We don't have to convince everyone, only about 55% of the population, 49% of which already agree with us.

[Jara sang]

20. A comparison in so much that Plame/Rove/Miller has the potential

to be a Presidential scandal along the same scale. The past is prologue.

[longship]

21. Watergate Turning Point Timeline

There were multiple breaking points. It was more than two years between the break-in and Nixon resignation. Here are some of the biggies.

• 17 Jun 1972 -- The break-in at the DNC at the Watergate.
  
• 19 Jun 1972 -- Break-in connection to White House reported
  
• 29 Sep 1972 -- Former Atty Genl Mitchell connected with break-in.
  
• 30 Apr 1973 -- Nixon aides Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Atty Genl Kleindeinst resign. Dean fired.
  
• 18 May 1973 -- Nationally televised Senate Watergate Committee hearings begin. Atty Genl Elliot Richardson appoints Archibald Cox as special prosecutor.
  
• 25 Jun 1973 -- John Dean testifies before Senate Watergate Committee. Claims Nixon cover-up. Everybody is watching this.
  
• 13 Jul 1973 -- Alexander Butterfield informs Watergate Committee of WH taping system.
  
• 9 Aug 1973 -- Senate Watergate Committee takes legal action against Nixon for failure to comply with subpoena.
  
• 10 Oct 1973 -- Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Veep after pleading nolo contendre to income tax evasion.
  
• 20 Oct 1973 -- Constitutional Crisis -- The Saturday Night Massacre -- Atty Genl Elliot Richardson resigns; Deputy Atty Genl William Ruckleshaus fired; Solicitor Genl Robert Bork fires special prosecutor Archibald Cox. A very big tipping point.
  
• 21 Nov 1973 -- 18 minute gap discovered in the 20 Jun 1972 tape.
  
• 6 Feb 1974 -- House of Reps authorizes Judiciary Committee to investigate grounds for impeachment.
  
• 1 Mar 1974 -- Seven WH aides indicted by grand jury. Nixon is named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
  
• 16 Apr 1974 -- Special prosecutor Jawarski issues subpoena for 64 WH tapes.
  
• 30 Apr 1974 -- Nixon refuses to comply with subpoena but releases edited transcripts. Foul language by the President!
  
• 9 May 1974 -- Impeachment hearings commence in House Judiciary Committee.
  
• 24 Jul 1974 -- SCOTUS rules 8-0 against Nixon -- he must surrender tapes.
  
• 27 Jul 1974 -- House Judiciary Committee adopts first Article of Impeachment, charging Nixon with obstruction of the investigation.
  
• 29 Jul 1974 -- A second Article of Impeachment is adopted, charging Nixon with misuse of power and violation of his oath of office.
  
• 30 Jul 1974 -- A third Article of Impeachment adopted charging Nixon with failure to comply with House subpoenas.
  
• 5 Aug 1974 -- Nixon releases transcripts of tape of 23 Jun 1972, six days after Watergate. This tape demonstrates that he knew about involvement in break-in. In this transcript Nixon conspires to order the FBI to abandon its investigation of the break-in. It instantly becomes known as "The Smoking Gun" of Watergate.
  
• 5 Aug 1974 -- Three senior Republican congressmen meet with Nixon, pronouncing his outlook to prevail over impeachment and trial, "gloomy".
  
• 8 Aug 1974 -- Nixon resigns.
  

Most important events are in italics. Corrections would be appreciated.

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. Let me add one more critical event

Oct 10, 1973 - Agnew resigns.

There is no way Congress was going to remove Nixon, if it meant putting that screwball in charge.

[Zorbuddha]

25. The Pentagon Papers

When Daniel Ellsberg slipped through Nixon's net, slipped the handcuffs (barely) after Bill Bradley received the incriminating evidence and broke it in WaPo, the jig was up.

http//www.ellsberg.net/