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in 1968 Johnson chose not to seek reelection and Richard nixon won the
presidency and both
the nineteen sixty eight and nineteen seventy two elections
during nixon's second term two wars he was once again called upon to go to Washington
this time for one of the major challenges of his career
the watergate sign that began when several employees of the group working to reelect
President Richard nixon were arrested on perjury charges
they had broken into the democratic national committee's office is in the watergate building
in Washington DC-
there were caught
and the big question of course Harare
what did Richard nixon our when did he know it
although President nixon was not involved in the creek in
he was accused of plotting to cover up the scandal and it was charged with obstruction
of Justice
and what would become known as the Saturday night massacre
special prosecutor archibald *** was dismissed by President nixon
general alexander haig
President nixon's chief of staff
had been assigned the task of replacing archibald ***
he worked closely with federal judge Robert bork to find a new special prosecutor on both
sides could agree
we have to have the very best
lawyer in America
I asked mister bork to give me the Justice department
lists from both parties
for a who would be
the next appointee to the supreme court and on that list
both parties this
incidently
was me on two warp speed
phase two
his chief of staff at that time for them to actually golden
tell me that %uh they had cited that's the to serve in the past and forceful Fox been
fired they felt that %uh it although he was a democrat but he was very conservative back
in those days
conservative the Texas democrats for were conservative than most recent republican so
they must have felt that he would come up and i'll be the kind of man they wanted fishes
and I said what happened is that I was much closer still to on this very thing before
before two thousand four
by then didn't think that you had given the independents to the prosecutor these kind
of the I find it felt that it was incumbent on me to come up there and he said well at
least you can do is come up in focus of and I said well I think you're right I was very
impressed with the problem and I met him because he was clearly a
the very moderate
person who
and we're bored or a courtroom solutions which is what the racking the country at that time
we do and we call around people didn't
very high marks
mourners bird
problem worse
at the same time the white house is going through a similar process I don't know
carl how they did it but they can live with George the two
so %uh
he was invited up to Washington
the line-item that the white house
to worse he took the case thinking he would be investigating the seven employees responsible
for the watergate break-in
never dreaming the scandal would go all the way to the white house
it was inconceivable to Americans in nineteen seventy four
in an American
President would be tried as a criminal and forced to resign
the watergate scandal was the most sensational political of end of the era and rocked the
nation from coast to coast
well enough our house watergate was
on the news as it was everywhere and %uh I remember very clearly
%uh the hearing about the president's problems hearing about the scandal unfolding I remember
going to high school I was a freshman in high school time
and being swamped by by teachers and principals and of the few students written statement
and %uh and all and congratulating me and I realized then that the my grandfather was
about to become part of a very big national sport
in July of nineteen seventy four
special prosecutor to worse the argued the case of united states versus Richard nixon
before the US supreme court
is there a investigation would eventually lead to the first and only resignation of
the US President
he also was devoted for nixon about sixteen seventeen
archibald *** is
the on the steps special prosecutors them
more fearful that this was going to be a fixed that to work even covered up the skies
rush of the table just you know
choice among the functionaries crimes the myths that it must be very hard to have a
job where you have to do
leon George his name was on on almost everybody's lips that
as well as covered in the press the national of the state and then the local press
we have promised to complete independence to conduct his own investigation one thing
I didn't want to do
was to be talking to agree on the phone from because that one of the suggestion
we were in any way directed his investigation
Jim morris the ultimately won a supreme court decision which forced President nixon to turn
over the infamous audio tapes in which he implicated himself in the coverup
the tapes became the smoking gun
they were fair trial
conversation and the law
there were no precedent for it
populated
and the office and I think will pop in the office check for Michelle on
and recorded the conversation members of the staff walk in and they see him with his had
it in his hands
and just
saying I cannot believe
that I just heard the President of the united states encouraging people to lie
under oath regarding regarding the break-in elect of a great deal
Al kamen was finding out that
the President of the united states was a crook
that took an awful lot out of me
I thought that he had been the victim of
but his staff and I continue to think that I'm going to listen to a tape recording do
a lot of thoughts went through my mind why was he was obviously guilty of something that
is just absolutely %uh
was incredible it seemed to me I was not quite as upset
at that moment
over his so
participating in the coverup
as I was in his instructing his %uh
chief of staff called a month
on how to live
when they appear before the grand jury is still not commit perjury
this man
follow the process he set the bar exceedingly high for any future investigations for President
or executive branch
the best he said we have to let the constitution do its business that we are here to assist
in his role as special prosecutor
two wars he chose not to indict the President further
shortly thereafter Richard nixon resigned from the office of President and vice President
gerald R ford was sworn in
by the way on from day one
conducted themselves
in fact of life
he was an American first
and he thought about the good of the country and go to the American people
in every
difficult issue we confront
we were dealing with matters that had no precedent
in history
we have no law books to go to
and we couldn't find anything that gave us any guiding them
%um %um like %uh the service of beacon you know to that to where we know what do
and you better go to the history books was not only that the I didn't have any anything
%uh from a legal standpoint I had nothing to start with a bill to
so I had to make decisions decisions that were affecting our entire nation and
in a sense of the nation's and perhaps the world at large
because he was a patriot and I think
from the first day
that he was there he thought that he would be coming home very shortly that it would
the next thing will be exonerated and it's a
evidence would not add up to anything
and it can that it would all be over
but the didn't turn out that way