Early in 1972, there was a burglary at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate hotel. There were some suspicions, the president was obsessed about leaks, but White House council, assigned to investigate, found no connection to the White House. A few months later, Richard Nixon was re-elected with the largest majority in American history. He carried 49 states. The stock market surged. Some accused the Republican’s Committee to Re-elect the President (abbreviated as CReeP, aka The Dirty Tricks Squad) of unduly influencing the selection of the Democratic candidate.
As the investigation proceeded, it came out that the burglary had been perpetrated not for the usual reason, but to spy on the Democratic presidential campaign. It eventually gave the suffix “gate” a special new meaning. The trial proceeded uneventfully at first, but as it progressed the plot thickened. It turned out that the burglars were connected if not to the president, at least to the GOP. There were still more questions than answers and it began to dominate the news.
Unexpectedly, two of the burglars decided to confess. The stock market tumbled. Soon other henchmen decided to tell all. Nixon famously added the defense “When the President does it that means it’s not illegal” and executive privilege suddenly became part of our legal language, although nothing like it appears in the Constitution, or any federal law.
Obviously, there is much more to the history than will fit in this space, or the entire paper, all month. There were more twists and turns than a barrel of fish hooks. The president continued to stonewall the investigation, but it began to dominate the news and there was talk of impeachment, for obstruction of justice. The administration pretended to cooperate, by submitting audio tapes of everything said in the oval office. It began to look like the president would survive the scandal, until investigators discovered an 18-minute gap in one of the tapes. The gap had been erased so thoroughly that it was impossible for the best experts to reconstruct what was missing. The tape earned the nickname “smoking pistol.”
A lot of people, 48, went to prison, Club Fed, but still prison. Nixon resigned, rather than face an impeachment process and trial which, many suspect, would have revealed even more high crimes and misdemeanors and put even more people possibly even Nixon in prison.
By mid 1974, it seemed no one admitted voting for him in the first place. Gerry Ford became president and pardoned Nixon of all crimes, past present and apparently future. Nixon retired to his mansion in San Clemente and the Secret Service spent $300,000 (about $1.5 million today) on security improvements. Then, he sold it for about a million-dollar profit and moved to an apartment in New York forcing the Secret Service to spend about a million on security improvements. Then he sold it at a profit and moved to New Jersey and adulation among the faithful, as an elder statesman. Did he resign to save the republic, the party, or himself? Is there a pattern here that seems to be repeating today only much more quickly?
What ultimately brought Nixon down was not the original crime, a burglary, but the persistent obstruction of justice. He could have confessed, apologized and got on with his presidency, but his persistent stonewalling and crumbling defense convinced his party to recommend resigning to save the party from further embarrassment. Today we have a President who confesses daily, but proudly proclaims, “If the president does it it’s not against the law.” “I can do anything I want.” His defenders claim the quid-pro-quo does not rise to impeachable, but fail to explain what would. The GOP impeached Clinton for far less, and failed to convict.
So, what motivates Senators’ votes? Protect the republic, the Republicans, the Constitution, their careers, their legacy, their conscience or the most expensive president in American history? We might know next week, or next election. In sports, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” In politics, maybe not then or ever.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com