Everything you say is correct, except Nixon was guilty. The republicans in Congress abandoned him and I agreed with them at the time. Then we had the spectacle of what democrats do when their president commits criminal acts in plain view - they rally around him and turn the rule of law on its head. Also all rules of morality.
Nixon WAS guilty. He was trapped by the media and Dems through his own foolishness. Had he stepped up in early ‘74 and fired some people he would have had a terrible six weeks and then finished out his second term.
My point is...Nixon thought the old dodge of “national security” that FDR used with J Edgar Hoover to find out dirt on his enemies was still good...it wasn’t.
The rules changed without anybody telling Dick.
To the far left in this country (that would include CBS, the Washington Post, the NY Times, large elements of the US Department of State, and elements within the CIA) Nixon was guilty of deeds far worse than covering up a break in of DNC headquarters at the Watergate hotel. He was guilty of helping that bastard Joe McCarthy. They never forgave him for that and Watergate was the pay back.