Replies

After the impeachment, my father told me President Nixon had been "set up."

Forgive me, I'm a little shaky on Watergate history, since I was just a kid at the time. However, it was my understanding (perhaps flawed) that Nixon was neck-deep in the coverup of the Watergate hotel burglary. Yes, it is truly awful that so many died in Vietnam because the US backed out. However, is that the fault of the man who exposed wrongdoing, or is it the fault of the man who did the wrong in the first place, who perhaps should have been thinking what would happen to his plans if he was exposed in what he should not have been doing?

I'm not saying Felt was a hero at all. His actions stink of self-interest, since he had been passed over for the post he desperately wanted as head of the FBI. But it seems to me that saying Nixon should have gotten a pass on his bad behavior is like all the libs who want to give Clinton a pass on his bad behavior since it was "only sex" or "only a little lie." Bad behavior is bad behavior.

"... Nixon was neck-deep in the coverup of the Watergate hotel burglary."

Precisely right. He ought to have stepped back. However, let me reproduce what I wrote yesterday:

Nixon's major crime was loyalty to his friends.

As a result, he helped to cover up an investigation into wrongdoing.

He was threatened with impeachment by Democrats, who had an overwhelming majority, after much hounding by the Old Media - who were representing the communists who were still looking for an opportunity to avenge Nixon's bringing down Alger Hiss (as well as McCarthy's demeaning their Hollywood idols). Representatives of Nixon's party, Republicans, took a walk from the Capitol to the WH to ask in a private conversation that he resign.

Nixon further showed his loyalty to his friends and his country by resigning, instead of forcing the party and country to split in a raucous trial over this, though he never believed his actions were wrong. In fact he believed that the state of war gave the executive branch the right to do what his subordinates did, though he never specifically authorized their ill-fated actions, and cited WW2 precedents.

An unbiased history of Watergate would include this, and you won't get that from most history books or the Old Media FRAUDcasters.

In addition, you probably will find it hard to locate the information that the US Atty Gen was well into an (grand jury?) investigation of the break-in before WP and MF "broke" the story in the media. MF ought to have gone to him and the judge with information he had, rather than doing what he did for his own aggrandizement.

Felt's illegal leaking of FBI files was due to avarice, not nobility.
`\

I hope you get out of my post above that Nixon always believed that the executive branch had the right for these WaterGate activities, and cited WW2 precedents.

Also, another major difference from the 'Toon: he resigned for the good of the country instead of tear it apart further. --- read his resignation speech sometime. Nixon was an honorable man who always kept his country in mind, unlike the narcissist Clinton.

Nixon was guilty of a cover-up of bad behavior of subordinates. I am now in doubt that this was bad behavior on a par with others who had done bad things and did not have to resign, such as Kennedy and Johnson.

It is curious to me that after decades of scurrilous activity in the White House, the media suddenly felt compelled to report it when it was Nixon. You will notice how they changed course completely when Clinton was in power.

The proper thing for Felt to do was to go to the Grand Jury. If he felt the Grand Jury had been compromised, then it was his responsibility to rresign and hold a public press conference detailing the reasons for his resignation. Instead, he found a willing reporter to whom he could feed information while maintaining his goverment paycheck.

Felt's actions were intended to bring down a president. Nixon's actions were to help subordinates. I think it conceivable that Nixon could not have seen the consequences of his actions, while Felt most certainly knew that Nixon could be impeached, and that the succeeding president would be weakened.