European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Jw3.r.l#tasla third rate burglary sparked the fall of a president and two decades later America continues to count the costs former president Nixon gives a final wave a a leaves tit a White House in 1974,by Donald m. Rothberg the associated press a bungled political burglary 20 years ago still echoes in the Depths of America s troubled soul in the nation s angry heartbeat watergate. The word entered the language As a synonym for scandal. Korea Gate Ira Gate Ira Gate every sniff of governmental wrongdoing is linked to that Granddaddy of abuse. Overdrafts at the House Bank Call it rubber Gate. But the june 17, 1972, break in has a deeper legacy. It changed the course of american history and the nature of the relationship Between the citizenry and its government. The watergate tapes made every american a Fly on the Wall of the Oval office privy to crude conversations that linked the president of the United states to the illegal cover up of Quot a third rate burglary attempt Quot at the democratic National committee Headquarters. Americans never thought politics was a clean sport. But their cynicism never approached the watergate disclosures of stacks of $100 Bills and of demands that defense contractors kick in huge illegal contributions to the committee to re election the president acronym creep. Watergate s Impact also was magnified by the Accident of its timing. The scandal capped a period of National agony. Starting in november 1963 with the assassination of John f. Kennedy the nation entered a deadly decade. A horrified America saw leaders gunned Down fire and violence engulf cities the Vietnam War defy the nation s military Power. The War drove Democrat Lyndon b. Johnson from the White House. But his Republican successor Richard m. Nixon was headed for a 49-state re election landslide when watergate happened. Democrats did their Best to make the break in an Issue in the 1972 presidential Campaign. Party chairman Lawrence of o Brien called it Quot political espionage Quot and suggested it was part of a wider plot to undermine the electoral process. White House spokesman Ronald Ziegler tried to Brush it aside As Quot a third rate burglary but one of the five men arrested inside democratic party Headquarters in the watergate office building was James w. Mccord Security director for creep. Three months later seven men including former Low level White House aides g. Gordon Liddy and e. Howard Hunt were indicted on charges of conspiring to commit burglary. They also were charged with Possession of wiretapping equipment. The indictment charged Liddy Hunt and Mccord with eavesdropping on democratic party phone conversations during the three weeks before june 17. But it was an operation so pointless on the face of it that who could believe it involved anyone of substance in the administration watergate was hardly a footnote on election Day. Democrat George s. Mcgovern carried Only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. The following january Nixon was sworn in for a second term. The shouts of anti War demonstrators provided a faint counterpoint to a presidential speech declaring the nation was Quot on the threshold of a new Era of peace in the there was Hope . Involvement in Vietnam was ending. The newly elected Senate controlled by democrats established a special committee headed by sen. Sam Ervin . To investigate the watergate break in and allegations the republicans had sponsored widespread political dirty tricks. The Day before Nixon s inauguration George Bush was elected Republican party chairman. With the Washington Post taking the Lead an aggressive press began unearthing evidence of greater White House involvement in watergate. Suddenly the president who d been re elected by one of the largest landslides in american history was on the defensive. The watergate committee opened its hearings in May. The Senate caucus room was packed. Americans were transfixed by the televised spectacle the patient unfolding of a crime gone awry and a Clumsy attempt to conceal its purpose and planners. If people Shook their Heads at the strange tales they were hearing about the Nixon re election committee their hearts stopped in mid june when a slight Sandy haired Young Man wearing Horn rimmed glasses spent a full week before the committee. John w. Dean Iii had been White House counsel the presidents in House lawyer. In Flat unemotional tones Dean directly implicated the president and top White House aides and his Friend and former Law partner attorney general John Mitchell in the Effort to cover up the watergate burglary. In an extraordinary statement on May 22, Nixon had denied any knowledge of the cover up and said Quot the truth about watergate should be brought out in an orderly that statement testified Dean contained Quot less than accurate ii was John Dean s word against that of the president and his top aides. But watergate had become a tale with the tragic inevitability of ancient greek drama. If the nation was divided on whether to believe the president or Dean the Issue was truly joined on july 16, when Alexander Butterfield a previously unknown White House aide told of the existence of a secret taping system that recorded All presidential conversations in his office or on the Telephone. Butterfield a disclosure was electrifying. The existence of the tapes doomed Nixon. No one could know at the time that the tapes would Lead to impeachment proceedings and to Nixon becoming the Only president in history to resign the office. Even less predictable was How those tapes would change the National mood and haunt All of Nixon s successors the tapes robbed americans of an idealized 20th Century View that presidents were somehow different that the office made its occupants better that they grew in office. That View had endowed presidents with a nobility that persisted even when the Public disagreed with administration policies. In 1972, americans still wanted to respect and re elect the president. Watergate and Vietnam left the nation feeling betrayed. A yearning to respect the president was replaced by a haste to suspect him of the worst. Cynicism Dies hard. Twenty years later americans Haven to kicked their inclination to believe the worst. Pollsters regularly find majorities saying the country is headed in the wrong direction. In the Heady hours after proclaiming Victory in the persian Gulf War president Bush proclaimed Quot by god veve kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for a year later Bush s re election is in doubt. The Victory parades Are Long forgotten the marching hands silent. America is not yet in a mood to celebrate. Editor s note Donald m. Rothberg covered Wale Gale As it unfolded Over two years. Tho sprawling watergate Complex where a bungled break in eventually Ted to Nixon a resignation the fall and Rise of Richard Nixon Rby Bob Dart Cox news service Ichard Nixon was not at the White House 20 years ago when five men wearing surgical gloves and carrying Telephone bugs were caught inside the democratic National eighteen year a after giving up the Pra Adlancy Nixon la gaining Raa pact a an aider statesman. Committee offices in the watergate Complex beside the Potomac River. The then president had flown to the Bahamas the afternoon of july 16, 1972, to join his friends Debe Rebozo and Robert Abplanalp for a weekend of Sun and relaxation. They had watched the movie the skin game and gone to bed when the break in was discovered at about 2 . On july 17. For the next two years an indignant nation watched As the scandal surrounding the botched Bieak a spread throughout the Nixon administration and then Drew Ever closer to the president himself. Finally with the House of representatives considering impeachment Richard Milhous Nixon went on National television the evening of aug. 8, 1974, and announced Quot i shall resign Tho presidency effective at noon a Long calculated journey to political rehabilitation began soon after a helicopter lifted Nixon from the White House Lawn the following afternoon a month later Gerald Ford his successor granted Quot a full free and absolute Pardon Quot to the Only president Ever to resign from his Home in san Clemente Cali Nixon quickly began work on the thoughtful books on foreign policy that would to a first step toward restoration of his reputation in history. Another step came in 1076 when Nixon flew to Beijing gaining worldwide attention on the fourth anniversary of his historic opening of . Relations with China. As the decades pass since he was driven from office he has sought to to an exemplary former president. As the natron s budget deficit grow in the 1980s, for instance Nixon joined the Belt tightening by cutting Back on his federally paid staff and gave up his secret service Protection through the years he quietly offered advice to presidents cultivated influential journalists and occasionally appeared in carefully arranged television programs meanwhile Tho outrage Over watergate melded with memories of Boll Bottoms and sideburns and a new generation of politicians was tarnished by scandals ranging from Tho Iran Contra affair to congressional Check bouncing. Nixon s Success at rehab lotion was demonstrated by the serious response when he recently chided president Bush for jeopardizing the emerging russian democracy by not providing enough help for the former soviet Union indeed a recent National Survey by vanity fair Magazine found 66 percent of the respondents Felt Nixon s views should be Quot respected and taken seriously As the thinking of an elder Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday june 17, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17
