The Richard Nixon Experience

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Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States of America. Today the average person knows almost nothing about him. His only real vague claim to fame is that he was forced to resign the Vice Presidency in a long forgotten, unrelated to Watergate, scandal in 1973.  

Only recently was he attacked by MSNBC Host Rachel Maddow in her book " Bag Man, the Wild Crimes, audacious cover up and Spectacular downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House" 

Well anyone who is familiar with our podcast knows we don't think much of Miss Maddow, nor her far left opinions and predilection for exaggeration and sharing of nonfactual material. 

Not that we believe that Vice President Agnew was anywhere near as innocent as we believe President Nixon was of the smears against him. Because we don't.  However, there is some level of unfairness in the way his case was portrayed from the very start, and we believe it is fair to say that he fell victim to the age old bug of having risen to far to fast at his given profession. 

In just 11 years, Spiro Agnew rose from being an attorney for a Union and serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals, to being elected Baltimore County Executive, and after taking advantage of a feud with in the Democratic Party, finding himself elected Governor of the State of Maryland. Richard Nixon in need of a running mate that did not drag down his poll numbers, turned to the unknown Agnew to be his running mate in 1968 for Vice President of the United States.  An amazing rise for anyone to have come so far so fast.  

The State of Maryland had a very unusual way of doing business that apparently everyone was aware of and no one really talked about. It involved people looking to do work with various local governments subsidizing the decision making office holders income.  Now today that would be considered illegal, and it is rather shocking to me that it was not considered illegal then, but the  truth is it wasn't. That basic fact is a part of the story rarely if ever discussed and it is about the only defense available for not only a Vice President forced to give up his office but for the rather large list of other public figures this scandal involved in the state of Maryland. 

Over the next two episodes we are going to introduce you to the man, Spiro T. Agnew,  who had risen so quickly from obscurity, the intricacies of the scandal that brought him down, and the story of his fall.  A fall that was only made possible not because he had continued to take as Governor and Vice President  what appears to be kickbacks involving projects he oversaw as a County Executive,  but because he, like the gangster Al Capone, had not reported any of it on his Federal Income Tax. 

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 Richard Nixon loved baseball and football and was actually fairly insightful in both sports. There are countless pictures of Richard Nixon over his long and storied years in the public eye at sporting events.  He also made a number of appearances on radio and television shows for the Major League Baseball Teams he loved to watch. We have a few for you here. 

In his retirement, he did an interview with the California Angels and then later the New York Mets for their radio broadcasts and while in the White House he talked with a reporter on the White House taping system about his all time all star baseball team. He also talked fondly of the man he considered the most courageous of all athletes, the late Lou Gehrig. 

We also will hear President Nixon talk football with the great Head Coach of the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) , George Allen. He once famously sent in a play to the Coach who actually called the play in a game. I understand the Skins lost yardage,  but oh well at least he gave it a good try!!

We also will get to hear a few words of inspiration from a speech Richard Nixon gave to the University of Nebraska after he went to the school to help celebrate their winning the National Championship in College Football in 1971. 

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Did you know that one man in World  History bares the distinction of not only saving one nation but actually saving two!! 

That man, was Richard Nixon.

 Like his 19th century predecessor, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon would save our Union from self destruction. Then Richard Nixon would step up, in October of 1973, with the coalition of Arab Nations poised to wipe out the nation of Israel in retaliation for their humiliating defeat  in 1967 . The  Arab States, led by Egypt and Syria, had Israel with its back to the wall and forced them to call out for help, it was then that Richard Nixon   saved them  as well. 

The coalition of Arab Nations  attempted to invade Israel on two sides with the goal of gaining control of the East Bank of the Suez Canal. They stunned the Israeli forces and started backing them off the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. The Israeli's were clearly being outgunned. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was desperate and her cries were falling on deaf ears within the American Government. 

President Nixon was under siege here at home as the Democrats marched on with the aid of their media elite allies and the rabid staff of the Special Prosecutor's office,  trying to over step constitutional authority and the division of government by extending  the Legislative and Judicial Branches' power and interfere with the running of the Executive Branch of Government by the overwhelmingly  elected President . 

 President Nixon was doing all he could do just to keep his administration from coming off track. 

It was at exactly this moment that Golda Meir took matters into her own hands and called Richard Nixon, in the middle of the night, for help . It could only be described in the history of the nation of Israel, as a Yom Kippur miracle.

Richard Nixon let his recalcitrant government and Defense Department know, in no uncertain terms, that the time of letting Israel bleed was over. His exact order was "You will send them everything we have, everything that will fly" 

and It would do far more than change everything for Israel it would save the nation of Israel from certain destruction ..

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Another of the unfair accusations often heralded against President Richard Nixon and his assistant Dr. Henry Kissinger is that they overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in Chile  and allowed him to be murdered on September 11, 1973.  Literally, every bit of that accusation is a total falsehood. 

The facts are that Salvador Allende , the world's only elected Marxist-socialist leader, was a devout communist. His government confiscated industry, land, and shut down freedom of the press over its brief three year run. His Communist policies led to massive inflation and total unrest so bad in the nation of Chile that its own Parliament  passed a resolution asking the military to seize power and topple the Allende regime. Which it did on September 11, 1973. 

The Chilean leader was given countless opportunities to flee his country before holding himself up inside the Presidential Palace. As the Army was starting its final assault on the Palace Salvador Allende took to the airwaves in a final defiant address to his nation and then shot himself, rather than be captured as the coup entered its final stage. None of this was a good way for the regime to fall, but none of it was Richard Nixon or Henry Kissinger's fault either. 

President Nixon did pull American investment out of the country.  Nixon did work against the Allende Government. But Richard Nixon did not OK the military coup that toppled Allende and he certainly had nothing to do with the death of Allende. Which after a nearly three decade mystery was finally proven to have been self inflicted.  

Here again, is the amazing double standard of the liberal left in the United States, when a coup was given approval personally  in South Vietnam by John F. Kennedy , it led to the violent overthrow of our ally  President Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam and his death , by assassins as he waited in the backseat of his car to flee the country.  Not a word has been spoken about it in the mainstream media all the while President Nixon has been trashed as trampling human rights and disregarding a democratically elected regime for three decades. 

Occasionally whataboutism does matter!!

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BOMBSHELL!!!

Assistant to the President for Special Files, Alexander Porter Butterfield would be questioned by lawyers for the Ervin Committee and while being asked questions he was directly asked if there were recording devices in the White House.  His answer to that question changed everything about the Watergate Scandal. It laid the groundwork for the downfall of the Nixon Administration. 

Years later, when asked if he should have burned the White House tapes Richard Nixon would answer " Yes, I should have because they were open to misinterpretation as we have seen."  He was very correct. To this day people think that the tapes proved Nixon's guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. But in reality they don't. 

They do prove he cursed a lot, said the word "God Damn" a lot, made anti-semetic remarks , racist remarks, and he would fly off the handle saying things in anger that he should not have said, and he was a President who thought out loud, mulling over every angle of an issue, legal and illegal, moral an immoral, until a workable solution was determined. For an American people who had never heard a President talk in private before it was a shocking thing to hear. But what you did not hear, was a President committing an actual impeachable offense. 

But as in all situations in life it is often far more complicated than can be explained in a simple sentence and a lie, as the old saying goes, can be half way around the world before the truth can get out of bed. This series is dedicated to the truth, the ugly, complicated truth. The truth is Richard Nixon is no angel, but he faced some sinister forces in American Government determined to bring him down during the second most divided era in all of our history. 

This podcast documentary series is dedicated to showing you the facts about the scandal that derailed a presidency. We don't delve into conspiracy theories or guesswork as to the involvement of CIA connections, or secret plotters with innuendos. As this Podcast moves forward we will document everything we talk about and give you source material where you can read and look it up for yourself. 

Is there more to the story than what we will cover from this point on? 

Most likely.

 But what we will show you we can provide a paper or electronic trail for and it is not a pretty sight. What we can also show you is that Richard Nixon's claim about the misinterpretation of conversations made to fit a certain narrative is in fact very real.  We hope you will listen for yourself and be able to differentiate between things said in private, in  different contexts, and actual criminal intent.  Then you may come away with a totally different viewpoint of the events that brought down the President of the United States.

But that is the story we will tell as we travel down the road of Watergate. This episode is the story of how the tapes came to light and the beginning of the fight that would become the final act of the Nixon Administration.  

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In this episode we look at the start of the Ervin Committee Hearings as the Congress begins bringing the various players of Watergate out in front of the American people on national television.  We listen to the members of the press as they look back at a different era when the news of the day could grab an enormous audience because there were only three networks. Then we learn all about the make up of the committee and how it would structure the hearings.  Basically, as a legislative show trial in which the accused had no rights and in which what they said would be used against them later. 

Then we move on to the early stages of the hearing itself and listen in to various moments from the testimony of the burglars themselves, the officers that made the arrest, and finally to those in charge of the campaign. Jeb Magruder, Hugh Sloan, Maurice Stans and finally the former Attorney General himself John Mitchell. He will face a barrage of questions from several Senators and he holds his ground fairly well.

Then we turn to the big moment of the Ervin Hearings, the testimony of former White House Counsel John Dean. This is where you will see the extreme partisanship that had begun to grip the investigative process. John Dean is protected by the Democratic staffers by being allowed to keep his testimony and written statement private until literally he walked out in front of the cameras forcing the Republicans to study all of the written material as they listened to the testimony as it was televised. They literally had no time to plan out or even think about questions to ask. 

It does not get any better over at Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox's office as he begins to staff up for his investigation. He is hiring nothing but the most partisan and most determined lawyers he can find, all alumni of the Kennedy - Johnson Justice Department and Administration. The very failed Administrations Richard Nixon had swept from power. 

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n June of 1973, The leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev arrived in the United States and for ten days even the Watergate investigation stopped as Richard Nixon finished an agreement that called for the prevention of Nuclear War. It read: 

“The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, hereinafter referred to as the Parties…

Guided by the objectives of strengthening world peace and international security; conscious that nuclear war would have devastating consequences for mankind; proceeding from the desire to bring about conditions in which the danger of an outbreak of nuclear war anywhere in the world would be reduced and ultimately eliminated;

Proceeding from their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations regarding the maintenance of peace, refraining from the threat or use of force and the avoidance of war, and in conformity with the agreements to which either Party has subscribed…

Reaffirming that the development of relations between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is not directed against other countries and their interests… have agreed as follows:

Article I. The United States and the Soviet Union agree that an objective of their policies is to remove the danger of nuclear war and of the use of nuclear weapons. Accordingly, the Parties agree that they will act in such a manner as to prevent the development of situations capable of causing a dangerous exacerbation of their relations, as to avoid military confrontations, and as to exclude the outbreak of nuclear war between them and between either of the Parties and other countries.

Article II. The Parties agree, in accordance with Article I… to proceed from the premise that each Party will refrain from the threat or use of force against the other Party, against the allies of the other Party and against other countries, in circumstances which may endanger international peace and security. The Parties agree that they will be guided by these considerations in the formulation of their foreign policies and in their actions in the field of international relations.

Article III. The Parties undertake to develop their relations with each other and with other countries in a way consistent with the purposes of this Agreement.

Article IV. If at any time relations between the Parties or between either Party and other countries appear to involve the risk of a nuclear conflict, or if relations between countries not parties to this Agreement appear to involve the risk of nuclear war between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or between either Party and other countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, acting in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, shall immediately enter into urgent consultations with each other and make every effort to avert this risk.

Article V. Each Party shall be free to inform the Security Council of the United Nations, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Governments of allied or other countries of the progress and outcome of consultations initiated in accordance with Article IV of this Agreement…” (Courtesy of the website Alpha History)

In this episode we follow the two leaders as they work together to create a much safer World, and we see the developing personal friendship between the two men. A friendship that paid dividends for every living thing on planet Earth. 

This show will leave you wondering just what might have been if the Democrats and the media elites plot to remove the greatest strategist of the age from office had not succeeded. 

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Even as Watergate begins to dominate the news coverage of the Administration there are still other very important things going on for President Nixon to attend to for the country.  Ironically, even though his second term is considered a failure he still was able to accomplish a lot of things that would be listed among the greatest accomplishments of some of our lesser Presidents. 

In this episode we will listen in to coverage of his attempt to deal with growing economic problems, leftover issues brewing in South East Asia and as he prepares for yet another historic meeting with the leader of the soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev. 

It is a testament to just what an extraordinarily great leader we were actually blessed to have in the White House at that moment that he was still able to perform his duties with such expertise even as a conglomeration of his enemies were preparing , as Hugh Hewitt once referred to it as, "A D-Day style Landing" with the goal of robbing the American People of a great leader it had overwhelmingly re-elected to the Presidency of the United States. 

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"The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration.

The Office of Counsel to the President and Vice President was created in 1943, and is responsible for advising on all legal aspects of policy questions; legal issues arising in connection with the President's decision to sign or veto legislation, ethical questions, financial disclosures; and conflicts of interest during employment and post employment. The Counsel's office also helps define the line between official and political activities, oversees executive appointments and judicial selection, handles presidential pardons, reviews legislation and presidential statements, and handles lawsuits against the president in his role as president, as well as serving as the White House contact for the Department of Justice."

(This is the definition provided by the website Wikipedia)

If ever anyone in the history of employment ever failed anymore totally at the job description provided in the hand book than John W. Dean, I would like to know who it was.  His entire job description can be summed up in shorthand like this

"Sit there and when you hear something that sounds illegal, say Mr. President, you can't do that" 

That is all you have to do, I mean really how hard can it be?  

John Dean not only did not do that, he actively made himself the "desk officer of the cover up" , and when he goes up to Camp David to write the report the President has asked him to write, he suddenly realizes all roads filter into one that leads from the Committee to Re-elect the President to the White House Staff itself, like the middle of an hourglass, through one "poison line".....HIM. 

So what does he do, he shops a deal, at first to the career prosecutors who want nothing to do with  it, and then to the Ervin Committee.  That committee totally controlled by the Democratic Party, leap at the chance to embrace "The Chief Desk Officer of the Cover up"
 
All of this occurs while another force emerges and enters the battlefield.  This force more sinister than anything Richard Nixon has had to face since the North Vietnamese gave up in Paris. 

A force determined that they would destroy Richard Nixon using any tool, distortion, lie, or sleight of hand they could engineer;  they were the partisan lawyers who made up the staff of the Watergate Special Prosecutors Task Force and it is their sinister rise that begins in this episode. 

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If our last episode was one of the saddest we will ever cover on our podcast, this was one of the happiest.

On May 24, 1973, underneath an enormous tent on the grounds of the White House, the largest state dinner and event ever held occured in honor of the Vietnam Prisoners of War.  It was a star-studded event.  Bob Hope hosted with guests the New Christy Minstrels, Phyllis Diller, Joey Harrington, Vic Damone, Edgar Bergman, Jimmy Stewart, Ricardo Montalban,  Jimmy Stewart, Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain Boys, Irving Berlin and the Legendary Actor John Wayne. All of whom played tribute to the soldiers of Vietnam.

The event was the visionary idea of one famous entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr. , and he will come on and sing a few songs including an incredibly moving moment with Irvin Berlin singing his song " God Bless America". It was a night like no other and when it was over we listen in on a call between President Richard Nixon and his new Chief of Staff, a former General and assistant National Security Advisor during the Vietnam War, Alexander Haig. In it they talk about the power of this night and how no matter what was to come, this night and the honoring of our now free, former POW's had made it all worth it. 

The call ends with a very powerful moment between the two men as Al Haig ends the call with some powerful words for a discouraged President as Nixon steals himself for the horrible days he knows are sure to be coming at the hands of a rabid conglomeration of enemies. 

On a side note, this is so far my favorite episode because it brings so many legendary figures into one episode honoring some of our greatest Americans and we get to see Richard Nixon at his best, in one of his finest hours,  as one of our greatest American Leaders.