Many people agree that the resignation of President Nixon due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal is enough evidence that the constitution of the United States works. Other people believe that it was a good lesson for other presidents who took power later that they must be honest in their acts. Although he resigned before he was impeached, there was enough evidence that he had committed an impeachable crime.
Impeachment of President Nixon
The United States constitution provides for the impeachment of any officer if he or she is found guilty of offences such as treason, corruption or other high rated crimes. According to the United States Constitution, the House of Representative has the power to determine whether any government official which could be the President, Vice president, Secretary of States or any civil officer can be impeached. The house can impeach any officer of the government by a simple majority. Once the House of Representative has determined whether an officer should be impeached, the person can then be tried by the Senate where he or she can be convicted by a two third majority. The presiding officer of the Senate is always the Vice president but incase the person being tried is the President or the Vice president, the presiding officer role is played by the Chief Justice (Brunner, Para 1). This approach can be seen to be unfair due to the high political influence the process is likely to be subjected to leading to unfair trial. However, the actions by the House of Representative or the Senate do not obstruct the legal action against the accused individual. Therefore, whichever action the Senate or the House of Representative takes, the individual is liable to normal court proceeding and is subject to punishment by the law if found guilty (Semonche. Para1).
Before Nixon was elected as the president of the United States, he had served in the house of representative and the senate. He had also served as a Vice president for two terms when Dwight David Eisenhower was the president. Nixon contested and won the presidency in a closely contested presidential election in 1968. However, he had previously contested and lost in 1960 when he was beaten on the ballot by J. F. Kennedy. He also lost a bid for a governor of California in 1962. Despite this, he had a landslide victory in the 1972 presidential elections. The Watergate scandal in which the Democratic Party headquarters were broken into attracted a lot of attention from the Americans though it did not affect Nixons presidential campaigns. The headquarters were located in Watergate hotel and the scandal was widely published by the Washington Post. The Washington Post did massive investigation to find the details and unearth the whole story. Their finding of Bernstein and Woodward who were reporters with the Washington Post and were assigned to investigate the scandal compiled their report in All the Presidents Men (Semonche, Para 6).
What followed was a trial of the arrested Watergate scandal suspect after the federal investigation agencies investigated the matter. As the trial went on, more attention was laid on how the president was involved in the scandal. The senate therefore instituted a committee led by Sam Ervin, who was then the senator of new Carolina, to investigate how the White House was linked to the scandal. Things changed from bad to worse for the president when one of his lawyers, John Dean, made a statement proving that the president had acted to cover up how he and his officials at White House were involved in the Watergate scandal. However, the president was safe if his involvement in the scandal was only testified by Dean (Cohen, Para 1).
The situation however became even worse when the senate committee investigating the scandal had information that the president had fixed a taping system in the Oval Office which was voice activated. Following the action of the senate to investigate how the president and white house officials were involved in the scandal, many official and president advisors were forced by circumstances to quit office through resignation. However, Nixon seemed to be unmoved by the unfolding events and withheld the tapes despite the attempts by special prosecutors as well as the senate committee to obtain them.
Although the president handed over some of the tapes he had withheld, the struggle did not end. The house of representative had already started considering the possibility of impeachment. Some of the politicians however defended the president arguing that the president was not directly involved in the scandal and there were no substantial evidence on the president attempting to cover up the scandal. In 1974, the Supreme Court overruled the executive privileges that enabled the president to hold the tapes and ruled that the tapes be handed over to the special prosecutor. The days in office for the president were numbered when he surrendered all the tapes he had guarded to comply with the court order.
The remaining defenders of the president had nothing to say when the content of the tapes were revealed. This revelation was also a big backup to his impeachment which was being planned in the House of Representatives. Although there was no evidence that Nixon was involved in the planning of the attack, his attempts to cover up the investigations of the scandal were clearly documented in the tapes (The History Place, Pg 1).
Among the three articles drafted for the impeachment of the president, the most relevant one was the one that accused him for trying to cover up the scandal. The draft was supported by the revelation of the tapes. The president was accused of obstruction of justice where he used the power of the institution of the presidency personally and using agents to obstruct and cover up crime. There was enough evidence that the house could have used against the president and remove him from office. Being aware of this, the president resigned on 8th of August 1974 before the house voted for his impeachment and the subsequent trail by the senate. He became the first president to resign due to allegations of misconduct and abuse of office. However, despite President Nixon being accused of committing the greatest crime ever by an American president, he maintained that he had done nothing that other presidents have never done (Gray Schamel, pg 88).
The accusations on President Nixon had enough evidence to guarantee impeachment. He released the tapes that proved beyond any reasonable doubts that he was involved in cover up of the Watergate scandal. Therefore, even if he did not resign, he could have been impeached. However, his resignation assured him of benefits of a retired president. He was also given a blanket pardon by his successor president Ford who argued that he had suffered enough.
Impeachment of President Nixon
The United States constitution provides for the impeachment of any officer if he or she is found guilty of offences such as treason, corruption or other high rated crimes. According to the United States Constitution, the House of Representative has the power to determine whether any government official which could be the President, Vice president, Secretary of States or any civil officer can be impeached. The house can impeach any officer of the government by a simple majority. Once the House of Representative has determined whether an officer should be impeached, the person can then be tried by the Senate where he or she can be convicted by a two third majority. The presiding officer of the Senate is always the Vice president but incase the person being tried is the President or the Vice president, the presiding officer role is played by the Chief Justice (Brunner, Para 1). This approach can be seen to be unfair due to the high political influence the process is likely to be subjected to leading to unfair trial. However, the actions by the House of Representative or the Senate do not obstruct the legal action against the accused individual. Therefore, whichever action the Senate or the House of Representative takes, the individual is liable to normal court proceeding and is subject to punishment by the law if found guilty (Semonche. Para1).
Before Nixon was elected as the president of the United States, he had served in the house of representative and the senate. He had also served as a Vice president for two terms when Dwight David Eisenhower was the president. Nixon contested and won the presidency in a closely contested presidential election in 1968. However, he had previously contested and lost in 1960 when he was beaten on the ballot by J. F. Kennedy. He also lost a bid for a governor of California in 1962. Despite this, he had a landslide victory in the 1972 presidential elections. The Watergate scandal in which the Democratic Party headquarters were broken into attracted a lot of attention from the Americans though it did not affect Nixons presidential campaigns. The headquarters were located in Watergate hotel and the scandal was widely published by the Washington Post. The Washington Post did massive investigation to find the details and unearth the whole story. Their finding of Bernstein and Woodward who were reporters with the Washington Post and were assigned to investigate the scandal compiled their report in All the Presidents Men (Semonche, Para 6).
What followed was a trial of the arrested Watergate scandal suspect after the federal investigation agencies investigated the matter. As the trial went on, more attention was laid on how the president was involved in the scandal. The senate therefore instituted a committee led by Sam Ervin, who was then the senator of new Carolina, to investigate how the White House was linked to the scandal. Things changed from bad to worse for the president when one of his lawyers, John Dean, made a statement proving that the president had acted to cover up how he and his officials at White House were involved in the Watergate scandal. However, the president was safe if his involvement in the scandal was only testified by Dean (Cohen, Para 1).
The situation however became even worse when the senate committee investigating the scandal had information that the president had fixed a taping system in the Oval Office which was voice activated. Following the action of the senate to investigate how the president and white house officials were involved in the scandal, many official and president advisors were forced by circumstances to quit office through resignation. However, Nixon seemed to be unmoved by the unfolding events and withheld the tapes despite the attempts by special prosecutors as well as the senate committee to obtain them.
Although the president handed over some of the tapes he had withheld, the struggle did not end. The house of representative had already started considering the possibility of impeachment. Some of the politicians however defended the president arguing that the president was not directly involved in the scandal and there were no substantial evidence on the president attempting to cover up the scandal. In 1974, the Supreme Court overruled the executive privileges that enabled the president to hold the tapes and ruled that the tapes be handed over to the special prosecutor. The days in office for the president were numbered when he surrendered all the tapes he had guarded to comply with the court order.
The remaining defenders of the president had nothing to say when the content of the tapes were revealed. This revelation was also a big backup to his impeachment which was being planned in the House of Representatives. Although there was no evidence that Nixon was involved in the planning of the attack, his attempts to cover up the investigations of the scandal were clearly documented in the tapes (The History Place, Pg 1).
Among the three articles drafted for the impeachment of the president, the most relevant one was the one that accused him for trying to cover up the scandal. The draft was supported by the revelation of the tapes. The president was accused of obstruction of justice where he used the power of the institution of the presidency personally and using agents to obstruct and cover up crime. There was enough evidence that the house could have used against the president and remove him from office. Being aware of this, the president resigned on 8th of August 1974 before the house voted for his impeachment and the subsequent trail by the senate. He became the first president to resign due to allegations of misconduct and abuse of office. However, despite President Nixon being accused of committing the greatest crime ever by an American president, he maintained that he had done nothing that other presidents have never done (Gray Schamel, pg 88).
The accusations on President Nixon had enough evidence to guarantee impeachment. He released the tapes that proved beyond any reasonable doubts that he was involved in cover up of the Watergate scandal. Therefore, even if he did not resign, he could have been impeached. However, his resignation assured him of benefits of a retired president. He was also given a blanket pardon by his successor president Ford who argued that he had suffered enough.
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