Not that 70’s show. The other one. Watergate.
I’ve been reading Watergate: A New History by Garrett M. Graff and it’s filled with new information that shows the throughline of corruption of the Republican party that began with the Nixon Administration.
The criming began even before the 1968 election, with Richard Nixon meddling in the Paris peace talks.
In 1968, Anna Chennault, a DC Republican fundraiser acted as a go-between and urged President Diem of Vietnam to stay away from the peace talks in an effort to prevent giving President Johnson and the Democrats a possible diplomatic win before the election.
The book goes into voluminous detail about the Dita Beard affair, the Ellesberg break-ins, the Brookings break-in, the ITT scandal, Robert Vesco, Cong. William Mills suicide, and the legal and illegal campaign contributions ($11 Million in untraceable donations) and various administration antics.
Project Gemstone
G. Gordon Liddy was just one of the “colorful” characters who flitted thru the Nixon WH. Attorney General John Mitchell put Liddy in charge of dirty tricks in the run up to the re-election in 1972. Liddy came up with a Pandora's box of ideas (prostitutes, kidnappings) and initially wanted $1 million, which Mitchell turned down as too much. Liddy revised his plans and received $250,000*. Bugging Larry O’Brien’s (DNC Chairman) office was a small part of the gemstone project. Nixon was determined to find “financial dirt” on the Democrats, reasoning “everybody does it”.
Nixon’s Mark Meadows
No, I’m not referring to Bob Haldeman. I’m referring to the man who acted as chief of staff when Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace, I’m talking Gen. Al (I’m in charge) Haig. Let me share a little tidbit from the book,
“As his first order of business, Haig rapidly reorganized the WH structure. “The changes were fundamentally that Al controlled everything — everybody and everything” Larry Higby explained later. “Al was trying to manage the whole thing personally.”….Haig seemed to set himself up as a separate, independent power center, akin to a “first minister” Watergate: A New History page 381.
“As Watergate consumed Nixon, some referred to Haig as the “37½ President” pg. 382.
Deep Throat’s exit
After J. Edgar Hoover died in May 1972, his two most senior agents, William Sullivan and Mark Felt competed for the top spot, thinking the President would name one of them acting director. Nixon had other ideas, wanting someone more malleable. L. Patrick Gray was a military man, with no experience in law enforcement. Nixon and John Dean pushed and manipulated him to help cover up the Watergate scandal. Felt, furious at not being named acting director, set about leaking, hoping it would eventually sink Gray and force his resignation. It did, but not before Sullivan and Felt each had a hand in pushing the other out by leaking to the press. Dean and Felt really do not come off well in this book. I found myself wondering what would’ve happened if Nixon had named Mark Felt acting director. Would Felt have helped cover up Watergate?
Someday, our country will learn Machiavellian leaders do not make for a good POTUS.
In closing, I want to post a interview former Sen. Lowell Weicker did before he died. I don’t agree with everything but he made some cogent points. This is from 2015?
I have plenty of FP’s but, this is more interesting in light of this week’s news.
And, WYFP?
*- There’s some discrepancy over who exactly approved the DNC bugging, Graff hypothesizes it was actually Jeb Magruder. pg 144.