Political Platforms & Watergate

Fair Deal• Truman’s domestic policy• Had lofty goals to add progressive reform, but opposition in

Congress only allowed for a few changes– Desegregate military (modern civil rights begins with him?)– National Housing Act

• Provided low income housing• Raised minimum wage from $.40 to $.75/hr

• Tried to implement the following, but failed– Weaken segregation– Lynching a federal crime– Outlaw poll tax– National Health Insurance

New Frontier• Camelot – the influx of new, young minds in the Kennedy

administration were idealists discussing change• Economic downturn in early 60s

– Modest increase in minimum wage to $1.25/hr – Increase in Social Security benefits (encourage early retirement)– Low income housing building (slum clearance) – created jobs– Manpower Retraining Act – retrain the unemployed

• Area Redevelopment Act targeted poor areas like Appalachia• Favored lower taxes on business to allow growth and therefore

employment• Water Pollution Control Act/ Clean Air Act• Women’s Rights

– President’s Commission on the Status of Women: Eleanor Roosevelt – examine employment policies in place for women

Great Society• Two goals: social reform & elimination of poverty/racial injustice• War on Poverty – Poverty is the bane of society. Drain on economy,

malnutrition, – Felt he could get rid of poverty

• Civil Rights– Civil Rights Act 1964– Voting Rights Act 1965

• War on Poverty– VISTA – Volunteers in service to America – train poor and illiterate to read

and write– Food Stamp Act– Head Start (teach preschool urban kids)– Upward Bound (assisted poor high school kids entering college)

• Highway Beautification Act – clean up highways• Medicaid & Medicare

Watergate

Nixon

• Insecure man• Felt he was unfairly treated by the press• Loss to JFK in 1960 was due to ballot box

stuffing in Chicago and Texas.• This made him very paranoid that the

democrats were cheating.• Wanted to know everything about political

opponents• Justified his actions by saying he was

playing by their rules.

Leaks in the Administration

• The Pentagon Papers were leaked to NY Times by State Department officer, Daniel Ellsberg in June, 1971– internal government study tracing evolution of US policy in

Vietnam and analyzing mistakes– Nixon was upset about this (even though the papers had

nothing bad to say about Nixon or his administration). • He disliked the fact there were leaks in his administration

• Hired the Plumbers – Ex-CIA and Ex-FBI hired to stop leaks– Set up office in the White House– E. Howard Hunt – Ex-CIA– G. Gordon Liddy – Ex-FBI

• Plumbers found out that Ellsberg was seeing a psychiatrist. They broke into the doctor’s office to find this information out.

The Break In

• US Atty General, John Mitchell – Committee to re-elect the President (CREEP) – authorized the break-in

• Liddy and Hunt placed wire taps on the chairman of the Democratic National Convention’s phone.

• Liddy and Hunt recruit James McCord and a couple of Cuban to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee.

• The crew is discovered by security and arrested

Controversy

• Republicans tried to cover up the break-in which is why it was blown up to the magnitude it was

• White House staff waned to conceal the involvement of Nixon officials until after the election. – Hush money was paid to the Plumbers and wire tappers

• Jun 23rd – President’s Chief of Staff, Bob Halderman, instructed the CIA to instruct the FBI to halt the investigation. – This was the smoking gun that brought Nixon down. – Using the CIA to do this was obstruction of justice.– McCord revealed ties to higher officials to get a reduced

sentence.– Council to the President, John Dean was paid hush money– It became every man for himself.

Erwin Committee

• These were televised hearings to investigate the Watergate issues.• John Dean felt he was being made the scapegoat, so he testified on everything he knew.

– This lasted a week• Tapes come out in testimony

– July 13th, 1973 Nixon’s asst – Alexander Butterfield disclosed the existence of the tapes to the Erwin committee

– Every Oval Office conversation since 1971 was taped – other rooms were taped as well.

– These tapes could implicate the President– Tapes are subpoenaed– Nixon used executive privilege to keep the tapes

• Court ruled that Nixon had to turn them over• This made it look like Nixon had something to hide and the American

people were outraged.• Nixon fired the special prosecutor, Archie Cox and appointed Leon Jawoski as special

prosecutor. Jawoski was as relentless as Cox• Committee recommended impeachment for obstruction of justice• Nixon’s own lawyers encouraged him to resign

Resignation

• Aug 8th, 1974 – Nixon announced his resignation effective the next day.

• 1st time in American History that a President resigned• Aftermath

– Some guys went to prison

– Nixon was pardoned by Gerald Ford

– Republicans lose to Carter in 1976 because of Watergate

– American people distrust leaders