So now that you know the story of Watergate, what exactly did Nixon do to cover up the event?
The first time Nixon directly injected himself into the Watergate Scandal was when he had told the CIA to intervene and put the FBI's investigation of the Watergate break-in to a halt. As suggested to him by his aides, he had told the CIA to tell the FBI that the investigation was a national security risk, which it clearly was not.
At this point, Nixon had very little knowledge about what had happened at Watergate. He had no idea that he had just set up the beginning of the end.
Next, as Nixon had started to learn more and more about the Watergate Burglary from his aides...
On March 23, 1973, Nixon had taken a more active role. The White House, of course, had to deny that it knew anything about the Watergate break-in. Unfortunately for Nixon, people who do illegal things and then get cut off from the people who hired them, have a habit of getting very irritated. As a result of being sent to jail, the burglars were not working, had no money, and still had to pay legal fees - they became very upset. Later, a Presidential aide approached Nixon and told him that the burglars might need a lot of money to keep them quiet. "How much?" asked Nixon. The aide pulled a number out of thin air and said $1,000,000 (over $5,000,000 adjusted for inflation). Nixon had simply responded with "It could be arranged." Not exactly what you want to hear from your President.
Later...
A man named John Dean (one of Nixon's aides) was being heavily investigated, and was given the credit for orchestrating the Watergate Burglary. Dean had felt that his battle was now going to be over. Nixon had called Dean to his office for a private meeting. Nixon asked Dean to write a report on EVERYTHING that had happened involving Watergate - supposedly so that he (not being involved in the actual decision making) would know exactly what was going on. The report would have John Dean's name on it. Dean got the feeling that everything was about to be pinned on him.
Note: At this time, the trials were being publicly televised and the media, which had been playing a huge role in publicizing the Watergate break-in. America was on its toes. People wanted to know what would happen next.
As aides were being interviewed and their stories were being crossed with Dean's report.
An aide named Alexander Butterfield was being interviewed. Butterfield had told officials that Nixon had ordered for every single conversation to be tape recorded. This was unthinkable at the time. Imagine, every single lie and cover up would be uncovered when the tapes were seized.
Nixon now knew that one of his aides had told investigators about the recording tapes. Uh-Oh. He realized that every conversation he had with aides would soon be shown to the public - the cursing, the yelling, and most importantly, the cover ups.
Things now got interesting...
Nixon did not want to give up the tapes, but he couldn't hold off investigators for ever. To limit the people who reviewed the tapes, he needed to get rid of the the "Special Prosecutor (Archibald Cox)" that Nixon himself had earlier appointed (as a requirement). By getting rid of the Cox, Nixon would temporarily break a connection between The White House and the investigators. However, Nixon could not directly fire Cox himself. He went to the net Attorney General (Previous Att. Gen. had left his position and joined CREEP - what a coincidence) and told him to fire Cox. The Attorney General refused, and resigned. The Deputy Attorney General said that he couldn't do it, and was fired. Third time is a charm. Third in line was Robert Bork. Bork said that it was 'not illegal to follow the President's wishes'. Cox was fired.
As the trials of those involved in Watergate continued, the public had seen many strange things. The "Saturday Night Massacre", as it became known as, left everyone in awe. Did Nixon actually think that this would help his cause...?
Nixon was forced to re-appoint a Special Prosecutor.
With pressure for the tapes building up, Nixon had a brilliant idea! - Well, in this case, brilliant meant "a stall"... Nixon released partial transcripts of the tapes. Yes, PARTIAL transcripts. Who was Nixon trying to fool? This stall only worked for a while...
Nixon took his case to the supreme court (the third branch of Government was finally involved).
The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to give over all tapes to investigators, which included hours secrets and cover ups. Among these tapes was the smoking gun tape.
When Nixon had finally given the tapes over, they were played and evidence against Nixon grew and grew.
Nixon was in deep trouble... or so it seemed.
Nixon resigned not to long after the tapes were released.
The first time Nixon directly injected himself into the Watergate Scandal was when he had told the CIA to intervene and put the FBI's investigation of the Watergate break-in to a halt. As suggested to him by his aides, he had told the CIA to tell the FBI that the investigation was a national security risk, which it clearly was not.
At this point, Nixon had very little knowledge about what had happened at Watergate. He had no idea that he had just set up the beginning of the end.
Next, as Nixon had started to learn more and more about the Watergate Burglary from his aides...
On March 23, 1973, Nixon had taken a more active role. The White House, of course, had to deny that it knew anything about the Watergate break-in. Unfortunately for Nixon, people who do illegal things and then get cut off from the people who hired them, have a habit of getting very irritated. As a result of being sent to jail, the burglars were not working, had no money, and still had to pay legal fees - they became very upset. Later, a Presidential aide approached Nixon and told him that the burglars might need a lot of money to keep them quiet. "How much?" asked Nixon. The aide pulled a number out of thin air and said $1,000,000 (over $5,000,000 adjusted for inflation). Nixon had simply responded with "It could be arranged." Not exactly what you want to hear from your President.
Later...
A man named John Dean (one of Nixon's aides) was being heavily investigated, and was given the credit for orchestrating the Watergate Burglary. Dean had felt that his battle was now going to be over. Nixon had called Dean to his office for a private meeting. Nixon asked Dean to write a report on EVERYTHING that had happened involving Watergate - supposedly so that he (not being involved in the actual decision making) would know exactly what was going on. The report would have John Dean's name on it. Dean got the feeling that everything was about to be pinned on him.
Note: At this time, the trials were being publicly televised and the media, which had been playing a huge role in publicizing the Watergate break-in. America was on its toes. People wanted to know what would happen next.
As aides were being interviewed and their stories were being crossed with Dean's report.
An aide named Alexander Butterfield was being interviewed. Butterfield had told officials that Nixon had ordered for every single conversation to be tape recorded. This was unthinkable at the time. Imagine, every single lie and cover up would be uncovered when the tapes were seized.
Nixon now knew that one of his aides had told investigators about the recording tapes. Uh-Oh. He realized that every conversation he had with aides would soon be shown to the public - the cursing, the yelling, and most importantly, the cover ups.
Things now got interesting...
Nixon did not want to give up the tapes, but he couldn't hold off investigators for ever. To limit the people who reviewed the tapes, he needed to get rid of the the "Special Prosecutor (Archibald Cox)" that Nixon himself had earlier appointed (as a requirement). By getting rid of the Cox, Nixon would temporarily break a connection between The White House and the investigators. However, Nixon could not directly fire Cox himself. He went to the net Attorney General (Previous Att. Gen. had left his position and joined CREEP - what a coincidence) and told him to fire Cox. The Attorney General refused, and resigned. The Deputy Attorney General said that he couldn't do it, and was fired. Third time is a charm. Third in line was Robert Bork. Bork said that it was 'not illegal to follow the President's wishes'. Cox was fired.
As the trials of those involved in Watergate continued, the public had seen many strange things. The "Saturday Night Massacre", as it became known as, left everyone in awe. Did Nixon actually think that this would help his cause...?
Nixon was forced to re-appoint a Special Prosecutor.
With pressure for the tapes building up, Nixon had a brilliant idea! - Well, in this case, brilliant meant "a stall"... Nixon released partial transcripts of the tapes. Yes, PARTIAL transcripts. Who was Nixon trying to fool? This stall only worked for a while...
Nixon took his case to the supreme court (the third branch of Government was finally involved).
The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to give over all tapes to investigators, which included hours secrets and cover ups. Among these tapes was the smoking gun tape.
When Nixon had finally given the tapes over, they were played and evidence against Nixon grew and grew.
Nixon was in deep trouble... or so it seemed.
Nixon resigned not to long after the tapes were released.