The Legacy Of Watergate And The Nixon Presidency

This book examines the Nixon presidency, reviews the events surrounding Watergate and the President’ resignation, and unpacks the effects of Watergate on our politics and public attitudes about the political process. Genovese, a prolific scholar of the American presidency who has published three previous books on Nixon and Watergate, argues that the roots of modern political dysfunction and slash-and-burn politics can be traced to the impact of the Vietnam War, the Watergate Crisis, the policies and activities of the Nixon presidency, and the hyper-partisanship they spawned. Now, 50 years on from the scandal, it is time for a reappraisal of Nixon’s impact and a review of the impact he has had on our political system and political culture.

Twenty-five years after Richard Nixon's resignation, investigative journalist Bob Woodward examines the legacy of Watergate. Based on hundreds of interviews - both on and off the record - and three years of research of government archives, Woodward's latest book explains in detail how the premier scandal of US history has indelibly altered the shape of American politics and culture - and has limited the power to act of the presidency itself. Bob Woodward's mix of historical perspective and journalistic sleuthing provides a unique perspective on the repercussions of Watergate and proves that it was far more than a passing, embarrassing crisis in American politics: it heralded the beginning of a new period of troubled presidencies. From Ford through to Clinton, presidents have battled public scepticism, a challenging Congress, adversarial press and even special prosecutors in their term in office. Now, a quarter of a century after the scandal emerged, the man who helped expose Watergate shows us the stunning impact of its heritage.

This volume brings together a distinguished group of scholars, journalists, and former Nixon Administration officials to examine the Watergate controversy and its legacy. Particular attention is paid to Nixon's misuse of government power for political ends, his administration's obsession with secrecy and the control of information, and the impeachment proceedings in Congress. This is the second in a trilogy of titles based on the Hofstra Presidential Conference on Richard M. Nixon (the first, Richard M. Nixon: Politician, President, Administrator [Greenwood, 1991], was also edited by Friedman and Levantrosser). Watergate and Afterward includes a final assessment of the Nixon Presidency by a group of biographers who have written extensively about the man and his politics, as well as appraisals of Nixon's accomplishments and failures by both administration figures and outside historians. Special effort was made throughout to incorporate opposing points of view on the various issues under discussion, making this one of the most comprehensive and balanced assessments of the Watergate scandal and its aftermath available in print. The book begins with essays that describe the political reactions to Watergate and Nixon's attempt to remove the first special prosecutor on the case. In the discussion section that follows, new insight into what the break-in was supposed to accomplish is provided by Reverend Jeb Stuart Magruder, speaking for the first time in a public forum. Subsequent papers discuss the different efforts by the Nixon Administration to uncover information about political opponents, the politicization of the Justice Department, the constitutional confrontation in the Supreme Court over the Nixon tapes, and the Pentagon Papers case. Discussants include Charles Colson, who was in the White House at the time, Tom Brokaw of NBC, and Ron Ziegler and Gerald Warren of the White House press office. Finally, the impeachment proceedings are reexamined in chapters that explore the specific charges against the president and the political coalitions that formed in Congress around them. Ideal as supplemental reading for courses on the presidency and modern American politics, Watergate and Afterward is an important contribution to our understanding of this critical period in postwar history.

*Includes pictures. *Includes Nixon's most notorious quotes. *Includes footnotes for further reading. Best known as the 37th President of the United States, and the only president in American history to resign his office, Richard Nixon's lengthy political career would put him, during various times, at the center of regional, national and international politics for several decades. It was to be a career filled with unexpected twists and turns, high-profile defeats and unlikely resurrections, in which he made exhaustive efforts to reinvent himself in the public eye. From humble beginnings filled with disparate influences, Nixon's extraordinary intellect, strategic brilliance and imposing style of confrontation saw him through a stellar academic career at Duke Law School to seats in both the House and Senate, the vice-presidency and finally, the presidency, where he was and is considered by many to be among the strongest foreign policy presidents in the history of the United States. By 1972, Nixon appeared to be well on his way to reelection, and sure enough, he enjoyed one of the biggest landslides against George McGovern that year. However, despite the fact that Nixon's reelection seemed a cinch, the seeds of his destruction were being sown in the months leading up to the election. Increasingly and mistakenly viewed as a single scandal within the United States government, what is commonly referred to as the Watergate scandal serves as an overarching term for a series of scandals beginning in 1971 and extending through 1974, although more than any other, it refers to the specific break-in at the Watergate Hotel and office complex in Washington, D.C. The crisis, originating in a secretive battle between the two major political parties, the Nixon White House's paranoia, and the ensuing conflict concerning the release of confidential information to the public, induced senior government officials into committing crimes (most notoriously petty burglary) and coverups for the purposes of character assassination and inter-political espionage. Ultimately, Watergate resulted in the first and only resignation of a sitting American president, but only after Nixon had tried at seemingly every turn to hinder investigations and coverup crimes committed by senior officials in his own administration. Watergate has since become so synonymous with scandal that "gate" is typically added to the end of words associated with scandals even today. For the last 40 years, President Nixon has been mostly reviled, and understandably, he's ranked among the country's worst presidents, but this view of the President and the Watergate scandal was not and still is not necessarily unanimous. A growing number of Republicans, led by conservatives such as former Nixon speechwriter Pat Buchanan, describe the bringing down of the president as a quasi-coup generated by the press and liberal social forces from within the anti-war movement, which gravitated to the release of information on Vietnam, an increasingly unpopular war, and tapping the widespread campus unrest throughout the country. Paul Johnson, in his book, Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000, referred to the whole affair as nothing more than "this Watergate witch hunt." Richard Nixon and Watergate examines the life and legacy of America's most controversial president, and provides a comprehensive analysis of the country's most famous political scandal. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Nixon and Watergate like never before, in no time at all.

As the fortieth anniversary of the Nixon resignation approaches, it is time to take a fresh look at Watergate's impact on the American political system and to consider its significance for the historical reputation of the president indelibly associated with it.

Richard Nixon was the consummate politician. Growing up as a poor Quaker in California, Nixon decided early on to pursue a career in politics. Struggling from the bottom, Nixon worked his way through law school and eventually into politics. Richard Nixon embodied the American Dream. He would also embody the American Nightmare. Richard M. Nixon made it to the pinnacle of political power in the United States through effort and determination. Then, in the blink of an eye, he lost everything. Nixon's story, far from being one of triumph, is a story of tragedy. The story of Nixon is the story of one bad decision determining the fate of an American President. For the misfortune of Nixon didn't just affect him; if profoundly affected the American Government, and the Office of the Presidency. To a nation already suffering from governmental distrust after the Vietnam War, the Scandal of Watergate would forever shatter the trust Americans had in their leaders. Nixon's legacy on the Presidency would be a cautionary tale. Even the mighty fall, and even those who work their entire lives for something can lose it all in an instant.

A veteran White House reporter reveals our 37th president was even more sinister and haunted than we knew. Richard Nixon left the White House in 1974 as our most disgraced president, but the American people never knew the full extent of his demons, deceptions, paranoia, prejudices, hatreds, and chicanery. Calling on his work in covering Nixon, scores of interviews with members of Congress, White House staffers, and others close to our nation's thirty-seventh president, and invaluable, newly declassified documents and recordings, veteran journalist Don Fulsom sheds new light on "Tricky Dick." The author's revelations include: - That the future president sabotaged the 1968 peace talks for political gain - By the time Nixon became president in 1969, he had linked to the mob for more than two decades and, as president, had a close connection with New Orleans boss Carlos Marcello, the most powerful Mafioso in the nation - The president had a drinking problem and top aides referred to him as "Our Drunk" - Nixon had a misogynist streak and was abusive toward first lady Pat Nixon - The intimate and possibly homosexual nature of Nixon's relationship with confidante Charles "Bebe" Rebozo, a banker with mob ties - Testimony alleging that the president had ordered the killing of White House reporter Jack Anderson Fulsom's examination of these and other startling aspects of Nixon's personal and political dimensions paint an unflinching portrait of a leader who was once the most powerful man in the world. Nixon's Darkest Secrets provides a chilling final chapter in literature on our most troubled president.

"Topical essays by political, legal, history, and communications scholars examine the effects of the crisis over time. Primary source materials, including transcripts from oral interviews, Nixon's speeches, the infamous Watergate tapes, excerpts from congressional hearings, the proposed articles of impeachment, U.S. Supreme Court opinions, political cartoons, and more are put in context with explanatory headnotes. The foreword by John W. Dean, former Nixon White House counsel, provides valuable insight into the scandal and its historical implications."--Jacket.