I was politically active, aware, and THERE for Watergate...

[PCIntern]

I watched almost every minute of the Senate Select Committee hearings from Day 1, and I'm going to put to rest a myth which seems to be circulating everywhere: that the Republicans were righteous and searching for the Truth, no matter what it might be. The fact is that until the Smoking Gun appeared in the form of the taped conversations demonstrating once and for all that Nixon had obstructed justice, attempted to subvert the FBI, and other felonies, the Republicans with the lone exception of the "Maverick" Republican Lowell Weicker of Connecticut, defended Nixon wholeheartedly and unceasingly. Howard Baker and Edward Gurney were extremely solicitous of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, Mitchell and the crew, as was minority counsel Fred Thompson, later to become a third-rate actor and a worse Senator and Presidential Candidate.

The prevailing consideration by us "Liberals" when Howard Baker uttered his famous "What did the President know and when did he know it?" was that he was laying the groundwork to exonerate Nixon by saying that he had come late to the affair: that he was not privy to the conception or the planning or the execution of the burglary, the cover-up, the bribing, the undue influences. When that all blew up, it gave Baker cover to say that "See, I asked the great question." Both Houses were controlled by Democrats so when Goldwater, Scott, and Rhodes went it was because they knew they were outvoted and were going to be disgraced as a Party so they cut loose the aberrant Nixon and started this sanctimonious PR effort to make it seem that there was an anomaly in the WHite House. Ford of course, pardoned Nixon, part of the deal, in order that the REAL details would never be revealed of so many crimes and misdemeanors (outlined in the terrific expose Secret Agenda, which told the true story of the perfidy that went FAR beyond Watergate) and the nation "moved on".

Yeah...moved on eventually to Reagan (after Carter was torpedoed) the Bushes, and now this fascist. What a progression...

[Hekate]

1. Off to the Greatest page with you, and with my thanks...

We must be about the same age. I watched the hearings, too.

[FakeNoose]

2. This - the GOP walked on eggshells for most of the Watergate hearings

There was a lot of stonewalling and back-peddling going on, until finally the secret tapes came out. That was the clincher and they knew the game was up. It's always a game with the Repukes isn't it?

[5X]

3. I was there too and just eligible to vote.

that is what turned me into life long Democrat.

[lastlib]

9. same with me.

Although Kent State and Vietnam had gotten my attention, it was the Watergate hearings, and later the Judicary Committee's impeachment hearings that solidified me as a liberal Dem. I was just shy of 17 when Nixon resigned. Since my senior year in high school, all I've ever wanted to be was a member of the liberal Democratic establishment.

But with tRump, I think I want to go into demolition work. I want to be the guy that pushes the plunger to level the Repuglikan national headquarters--with the last two living repuglikans inside.

[moniss]

4. Thank you

for being so straight forward in describing this. I too lived through it and it is a source of great frustration for me how media types and others give such an incorrect skew to what took place and why. I have repeatedly said that the deal for Nixon to resign and be pardoned was not accountability by any stretch. He lived out his years in very luxurious surroundings in San Clemente with the best of everything. As you rightly point out we got Reagan/Iran-Contra and once again no real accountability. Because this keeps repeating we find ourselves here where they've figured out how to put an iron grip on elections with gerrymandering, voter suppression, propaganda hacks and foreign assistance. So now they know that they can come into office and commit unimaginable horrors and then just run out the clock by stonewalling. Nixon should have spent the rest of his life in a prison cell not walking the beach in the California sunshine.

[MFGsunny]

24. Thank you. n/t

[NBachers]

6. And each of them - Nixon, Reagan, W, & Trump, were elected by committing profound crimes against us.

[geardaddy]

17. Exactly.

Nixon with his secret meetings with the North Vietnamese, Reagan with the agreement to release the hostages in Iran, and Drumpf with the Russian vote hacking.

[Midnight Writer]

39. Exactly. Which is why I keep saying Trump is not an "anomaly". He is simply a Republican.

[hlthe2b]

7. It is a testament to how far Republicans have fallen that by comparison they look heroic then.

Some ultimately did the right thing, but they did have to be brought along generally kicking & screaming or did so only when they were soon to be exposed for their own complicity.

My Mom was absolutely transfixed by those hearings. At first, my sister and I were too young to be more than merely bored. But, I must have picked up the "bug" since I have spent years studying and understanding what happened.

[True Blue American]

8. To hear the Media

Rant today blaming Democrats for not taking action, it took 2 long years to force Republicans to act.

Nixon did not do anything 1/100th what Trump has, but he was as paranoid and devious as Trump.

But Trump is a master criminal and so are many who support him. Mitch McConnell is the worst. Lindsey Graham comes in a close second.

In case you miss it I am reposting this video.

[Bettie]

15. Wow, that is a great ad

I don't live in SC, but he looks like a good candidate.

[True Blue American]

21. Please spread!

We need all to see it! Thanks.

[geardaddy]

18. What an awesome ad!

Is he running in 2020?

[True Blue American]

22. Yes!

One of the reasons he switched to backing Trump! His ratings went up. We need to bring them down again.

[cyclonefence]

10. I was there, too

and while I certainly agree with your conclusions, I want to point out that as far as I recall, Alexander Butterfield was the first witness to testify before the Ervin committee hearings, and he revealed the existence of the recording system in the Oval Office. A member of the committee asked him if there were such a system, and Butterfield said, "I was afraid you would ask about that" and proceeded to reveal that all conversations in the OO were taped. So the existence of the recordings were known early on, on day one of the hearings.

There was great distaste among the Republicans of that day for Nixon, not because they disagreed with his goals but because he was personally offensive. Repubs back then were dignified old guys who acted like gentlemen, at least where people could see them. Once they realized there was no saving Nixon (because of the tapes) they were not as protective of him as they might have been.

[PCIntern]

23. By no means was he anywhere near the first

You can take that to the bank

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. He wasn't the first witness to testify during those hearings.

Dean testified on June 25, 1973, and Butterfield testified on July 13 and again on the 16th, when he revealed the existence of the taping system. Bob Woodward wrote a book about Butterfield, "The Last of the President's Men," which is quite fascinating, and reveals more information about what a weird character Nixon actually was.

[ColesCountyDem]

11. I watched them, too.

I was recovering from surgery for both a mastoid ear infection and infectious mononucleosis, so I spent the summer on the couch in our living room, watching the hearings, reading, and sleeping. My parents were staunch Democrats who LOATHED Richard Nixon, so the TV was turned to the hearings every minute they were being televised. I found them fascinating, and they came to play a large part in my decision to go to law school, after I graduated from college.

What I learned by watching those hearings lies behind my cautious approach to holding hearings now. I find the prospect of uncovering a 'smoking gun' every bit as exciting as anyone else, but the innate caution that came as a result of my legal training makes me want to be wary of our going off half-cocked. What I think Trump, et al, have done warrants impeachment, but we aren't there yet.

[Honeycombe8]

12. I was around but young, so didn't recall that. Thanks. But Carter wasn't torpedoed.

If what you mean is that he was torpedoed in some unfair way. It was obvious that Carter was going to lose. Carter was well liked personally, but was immensely unpopular at the end because of the economy. His approval rating was a very low below-30.

It was all about the economy. You know the saying, "It's the economy, stupid." As a young person, buying a car or house or anything with financing was impossible at the time because interest rates were double digit. 15%, then 16%, then 18%. I swear I saw on the news that interest rates hit 22% for a short time. Can you imagine trying to afford a car with an 18% interest rate? The stock market had a huge decline, as well.

Inflation was double digit in the teens, too. I could literally see grocery prices rising on a weekly basis.

I was standing in front of the tv ironing, when I saw Reagan on tv giving a speech. I was very young, but when I saw and heard Reagan, I knew it was over for Carter. I was perplexed how Carter couldn't see what most Americans could see, and baffled that the Democratic Party was letting him be the nominee, when they surely knew that he was going to lose. (Ted Kennedy had challenged him to be the party's nominee.) But Carter was the nominee, and the rest, as they say, is history. Reagan won by an historical landslide, winning almost all states.

[ego_nation]

13. The GOP may not have changed since Nixon

but I think the definition of “smoking gun” has. When you have an organization like Fox News that can broadcast a counter narrative to anything damning to Trump, there will never be enough to sway McConnell and the rest of the GOP in the Senate. If we are waiting for a smoking gun, we will not be seeing impeachment before the 2020 elections.

[bigbrother05]

20. Smoking gun? There are smoking craters

Until there are GIF-able snippets to drive memes, "wired" America won't get it.

[TruckFump]

14. Did not miss one word, one day, one second!

I had a portable radio with me when I could not be glued to the TV.

It was the tapes that were the smoking gun. IMO, you could feel the wind change direction on the issue of the impeachment of Nixon.

[MuseRider]

16. I was in college during all this

and as a music major I did nothing but play music and study and work 2 jobs so I missed a lot of the actual hearings but even by just paying attention it was obvious that every thing you said was true.

Moved on. Damn it has been a long and disappointing ride. I remember that whatever anyone thinks of Jimmy Carter as president he was at least thoughtful and kind. After Nixon and Ford he felt like a chance to return to some of the good human values that were slipping away. They certainly did torpedo him. It was not even disguised. By that time I had 2 kids and was working and still managed to learn that much. It has all been very obvious.

Nice summary. Thanks.

[3Hotdogs]

35. The torpedo was when Iran was told to hang on to the captives. Ronnie will give you a better deal.

[bigbrother05]

19. Voted for McGovern in '72

Moved to Germany in '73 when my bother & I took a college "break". Had started listening before heading overseas to live with our parents, got our mom to start listening too. She never forgave Nixon or any of the GOP. Both my brother and dad served in VN, the bastards sold them out along with the Constitution.

Trump is worse and doesn't even care enough to hide it. There should be a new level of Hell for this crowd.

[cab67]

25. I was way too young.

All I knew was that the grownups around me were very angry at someone named Nixon over something called Watergate.

Since then, I’ve seen Republican presidents get away with shit at least as bad as Watergate, if not worse. And i’ve seen Democratic presidents investigated exhaustively over nothing.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. Exactly right. That there were many "honorable" GOPers at that time is a myth,

as this NYT op-ed also explains:

In early 1973 Senate Democrats led the charge to form a special committee to focus on Watergate. While the Senate Watergate Committee was being created, Republican Senator Edward Gurney of Florida belittled the investigation as “one of those political wing-dings that happen every political year.” Ted Stevens, a Republican senator from Alaska, repeated Mr. Ford’s warning that the investigation could become a “political witch hunt,” according to Mr. Kutler.

Meanwhile, the ranking Republican on the Senate Watergate Committee, Howard Baker of Tennessee — a man often lauded for putting principle over party — met with Mr. Nixon to discuss strategy. To “maintain his purity in the Senate,” Mr. Baker didn’t want anyone to know about meeting Mr. Nixon, wrote the White House counsel, John Dean, in a memo before a meeting with Mr. Nixon. Once the hearings started in late spring of 1973, Mr. Baker’s staff leaked information about the committee’s witnesses and plans to Mr. Nixon.

When Mr. Baker famously asked, “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” during the Watergate hearings, he meant to protect Mr. Nixon in the mistaken belief that the president didn’t know about the Watergate cover-up until many months after it occurred. The question backfired once evidence mounted that Mr. Nixon was involved in the cover-up from the start, and Mr. Baker eventually became a critic of the president...

Most congressional Republicans rallied around Mr. Nixon when the White House released edited transcripts of those tapes in April 1974 that showed Mr. Nixon scheming with his aides. As the House Judiciary Committee began debating possible impeachment in July, Representative Delbert Latta of Ohio said the evidence failed to prove Mr. Nixon’s direct involvement in Watergate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/opinion/watergate-republican-party.html

[underthematrix]

28. I was there too and recently rewatched the hearings.

I was definitely for impeachment based on the daily revelations about Nixon's criminality.

[trof]

29. "Summer of Judgement"...The Watergate Hearings

"

[spanone]

30. I was too my friend.

Last edited Thu Jun 6, 2019, 11:10 PM - Edit history (1)

And when nixon got on that helicopter, I couldn't have been more proud of America

[stillcool]

31. so much going on back then...

to me, Watergate, actually the entire political apparatus was a joke. Sometimes it seems like when I was a teenager I was wiser, saw things clearer, than at any other time in my life. Could have been the drugs.

[sharedvalues]

32. TAPED conversations. Video and audio matter!

[ffr]

33. They really are the party of shame.

Thank you for the context!

[MasonDreams]

34. I was naive enough to think that he might not have done it

Until the tapes. Then it became obvious that he had betrayed us all. The anger anger anger just burned, not then, but when he was pardoned. His life became a retirement vacation? I'm still angry about it. Seven years of American history, religious studies, and just 15yrs of life in the USA. Now it was all bullshit, the bad guys walk and laugh along the way.
You'd better think twice mr. trump, World War II did not end well for the V2 rocket man. Resign and get pardoned now. Fascism is not your friend, and the world is not to blame, because you don't have any. They'll start turning on you, just before you turn on them. You knew this was coming, you saw it in that nightmare you keep having. Quit now loser.

[certainot]

36. the difference is talk radio, and that's also why we've regressed the last 30 years

from deifying the traitor reagan and rewriting history on iran contra to getting trump even close to the white house that the left and dems have done NOTHING to challenge 1500 coordinated radio stations dominating 40 states with 80 senators - that is truly the biggest political mistake in history

[SunSeeker]

37. K & R

[cutroot]

38. Not a single one of them ever apologized.

Still waiting.