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Post From Tumblr How Nixon Fell - May 18, 2017 at 04:53PM
politicalprof:
Since many of my followers will have been far too young to have gone through the Nixon years, a brief history of how he fell from power. It may prove instructive.
After the break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters, which was housed in the Watergate office building near the Lincoln Memorial, in June 1972, a vigorous, multi-pronged investigation of the break-in and related issues began. Reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post took one prong; the Department of Justice took another, and Congress took a third. (Recent references to the “Saturday Night Massacre” refer to Nixon’s efforts to forestall the Justice Department’s probe by firing the special investigator looking into Watergate. The other two probes were unaffected.)
For over two years, Republicans in Congress mounted a vigorous defense of Nixon despite being the minority party in both the House and the Senate. They supported Nixon as the tapes came out, as the stories of “the plumbers” emerged, as the general vileness of the Nixon administration was revealed. (Nixon was a racist, an ethnic and religious bigot, a paranoid and a drunk, so it was quite a scene.)
Finally, however, in late July 1974, a tape emerged in which Nixon was heard to order the head of the CIA to contact the head of the FBI and inform the FBI that Watergate was a matter of national security and so the FBI should abandon its investigation. This tape, which had been made in June 1972, became the so-called “smoking gun” that proved Nixon had obstructed justice.
Once the smoking gun tape was released, a delegation of senior Congressional Republicans, most of whom had been defending him, went to the White House and told Nixon that if he did not resign, he would be impeached by the House of Representatives, and then would be convicted by the Senate. Nixon mulled it over and announced his resignation in a televised speech on August 8, 1974. He left office at noon the next day.
And was promptly pardoned by President Ford for any crimes he (Nixon) committed or may have committed while President. (There were allegations of tax fraud, too, that never got explored.)
The takeaway? When the Republicans start going to the White House, it’s game over for Trump. Until then? We all wonder: what the fuck is going on? What does it take?
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Since many of my followers will have been far too young to have gone through the Nixon years, a brief history of how he fell from power. It may prove instructive.
After the break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters, which was housed in the Watergate office building near the Lincoln Memorial, in June 1972, a vigorous, multi-pronged investigation of the break-in and related issues began. Reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post took one prong; the Department of Justice took another, and Congress took a third. (Recent references to the “Saturday Night Massacre” refer to Nixon’s efforts to forestall the Justice Department’s probe by firing the special investigator looking into Watergate. The other two probes were unaffected.)
For over two years, Republicans in Congress mounted a vigorous defense of Nixon despite being the minority party in both the House and the Senate. They supported Nixon as the tapes came out, as the stories of “the plumbers” emerged, as the general vileness of the Nixon administration was revealed. (Nixon was a racist, an ethnic and religious bigot, a paranoid and a drunk, so it was quite a scene.)
Finally, however, in late July 1974, a tape emerged in which Nixon was heard to order the head of the CIA to contact the head of the FBI and inform the FBI that Watergate was a matter of national security and so the FBI should abandon its investigation. This tape, which had been made in June 1972, became the so-called “smoking gun” that proved Nixon had obstructed justice.
Once the smoking gun tape was released, a delegation of senior Congressional Republicans, most of whom had been defending him, went to the White House and told Nixon that if he did not resign, he would be impeached by the House of Representatives, and then would be convicted by the Senate. Nixon mulled it over and announced his resignation in a televised speech on August 8, 1974. He left office at noon the next day.
And was promptly pardoned by President Ford for any crimes he (Nixon) committed or may have committed while President. (There were allegations of tax fraud, too, that never got explored.)
The takeaway? When the Republicans start going to the White House, it’s game over for Trump. Until then? We all wonder: what the fuck is going on? What does it take?
http://ift.tt/2qC9Evy
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2qCdhl9
via IFTTT