Nixon entered office with the deck stacked against him. He was the first president since 1849 to take office with both Houses of Congress controlled by the opposing party. The permanent bureaucracy, media, and political elite were all aligned against him.

X.com ^ | June 26, 2026 | Richard Nixon Foundation @nixonfoundation

[ransomnote]

ransomnote: The following x.com thread contains twelve posts.

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

1/ Here's what so many people get wrong about Richard Nixon and Watergate.

  

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

2/ First - the context. Nixon entered office with the deck stacked against him.

He was the first president since 1849 to take office with both Houses of Congress controlled by the opposing party.

The permanent bureaucracy, media, and political elite were all aligned against him.

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

3/ Washington was in chaos.

The Vietnam War split the nation. Between 1967–72, D.C. was rocked by massive protests - some with over a million people.

The White House was literally barricaded by buses. Nixon governed through a storm.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

4/ The media monopoly despised Nixon.

There were three networks, two major newspapers, and two newsmagazines - all hostile.

He wasn’t part of their club. And they never let him forget it.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

5/ The Watergate break-in? Nixon had no idea.

It was a rogue operation by the campaign committee that broke in, without Nixon’s knowledge or authority.

The burglars? Mostly tied to the CIA. And to this day, no one knows what they were really after.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

6/ The so-called cover-up began without Nixon.

On June 19 - just two days after the arrests - John Dean convened a meeting to begin protecting campaign officials.

Dean even bragged about being the “desk officer of the cover-up.”

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

7/ That infamous June 23 “smoking gun” tape?

You might want to listen to it. Nixon never told the CIA to shut down the FBI.

His concern? Protecting two Democratic donors who had quietly contributed before disclosure laws kicked in.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

8/ Nixon told the FBI to go full speed ahead.

On July 6, 1972, he told Acting Director Pat Gray to “go wherever the leads take you.”

That’s a president demanding the truth.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

9/ The tapes? Every president since FDR taped.

Nixon’s were voice activated - he often didn’t know they were rolling.

Only about 5% of 3,600 hours relate to Watergate. And that infamous 18½ minute gap? No proof it was intentional. Nothing on it was even about Watergate.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

10/ Watergate was weaponized.

The special prosecutor? A Kennedy loyalist. His staff? Almost all ex-Kennedy and Johnson DOJ lawyers.

They even held secret meetings with the judge. That’s the real scandal.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

11/ The “abuse of power” charges fall apart.

No IRS audits were ever ordered by the White House. 19 wiretaps were legally placed to stop national security leaks.

Compare that to modern administrations - then tell us who crossed lines.

 

 

Richard Nixon Foundation

@nixonfoundation

·
20h

12/ Nixon wasn’t a crook.

He didn’t plan the break-in.

He didn’t order the cover-up.

He told the FBI to investigate.

The establishment repeats the same tired myth. We’re here to set the record straight.

 

 

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS:

[LouAvul]

Nixon shoulda burned those tapes. He did nothing wrong, but was persecuted by a corrupt America. Much like ... today.

[hanamizu]

I think it was because of his anti-Communism back in the HUAC days...nailing Alger Hiss.

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This. He was despised by all ‘right-thinking’ people for this ‘crime’. He was dogged as Ike’s V.P., and the press cheered when he lost the Cal governor’s race. All this, long before he was President.

[discostu]

Also he was paranoid, congenitally bitter, and surrounded himself with crooked people. He did plenty wrong. And the republicans didn’t owe him anything, those were more honest times when most votes didn’t go straight down party lines. People could actually admit that other people in their party were bad people.

[MinorityRepublican]

The commie wing of the Democrats never forgave Nixon for that, even though he was later with them on a lot of issues.

Nixon wasn't a Leftist. But he adopted many Leftist policies during his administration. He thought it was a "good idea" so he was willing to do it.

Bill Clinton had a "right-wing" presidency compared to Nixon.

[Az Joe]

Maybe. He certainly engineered the cover up and then when he saw where things were going ratted everyone out and saved his own skin.

He was mortally afraid of Liddy.

[mikey_hates_everything]

Nixon library in Yorba Linda is a nice place to visit if you’re in the LA area. His childhood house is right there, too. A hell of a lot better than that monstrosity in Chicago. I’m sure the Reagan library is nice as well but I’ve never been there.

[Az Joe]

Or to find Dean’s wife’s hooker connections

[napscoordinator]

All Nixon had to do was tell the truth. He would’ve been free and clear. Sure, he would have more challenges on different things, but so do all presidents.

[Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi]

That was G. Gordan Liddy’s allegation and he is to believed over the Nixon haters.

I can remember watching the hearings in my 8th grade history class and wondering :what ctrime did he commit?”

[Chuckster]

Thanks for this post ransomnote. I missed it on X.

[spintreebob]

Nixon policies created half of our 2026 problems. (LBJ created the other half.) From Jimmy to Biden the effort has been to figure out a way to live with the LBJ-Nixon legacy of institutions.

1) More than any other person, Nixon created the present immigration mess. Prior to Nixon (except of xNazis and a few high profile cases, it was local government that enforced immigration and put undesireables on the special train car or bus for Mexico...including a few undesireable Puerto Ricans, S Americans, Asians.)

2) The alphabet soup of Federal agencies started to grow under LBJ but exploded under Nixon.

3) Nixon’s revenue sharing (in many forms) created most of our mess. For highways, for welfare, for police, for community development, for most anything... local government previously had to beg the local taxpayers for money. Local government could not print money. Nixon gave matching money to local government. Local government switched from asking “What do the voters or taxpayers want?” “What makes sense?”
Under Nixon local government asked “How can we get that matching money? What projects not high priority for the locals should we push because that is where the FREE MONEY is?”

FREE MONEY to state and local government is now our #1 domestice problem.

[Inyo-Mono]

Nixon cut through the crap and ended the war in Vietnam, and for this, he’s remembered as a villain.

Exactly right.