Watergate Flashcards

Woodward and Bernstein

The two investigative reporters from the Washington Post who brought Nixons scandal into the light.

Bob Haldeman

• one of the key figured in the Watergate scandal

• The “Smoking Gun” tape revealed that Nixon instructed him to have the CIA pressure the FBI into dropping its Watergate investigation

• Nixon instructed him to tell the CIA that the investigation would “open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again.”

John Mitchell

• Was the Former Attorney General

• head of Nixion’s “Committee to Re-Elect the president,” (CREEP) controlled a secret fund for political espionage

• Went to prison for his role in the scandal

CRP (CREEP)

Committee To Re-Elect The President

Deep Throat

• The secret enigmatic source who aided Woodward and Bernstein’s investigation

Archibald Cox

• Special prosecutor who was appointed to investigate and potentially prosecute any suspected wrongdoings

Leon Jaworski

• Replaced Cox and the judiciary committee appeal to the Supreme Court for Nixon to release 64 tapes

Anonymous Sources

• people who helped Woodward and Bernstein with there investigative work into the Watergate article

• Example is Deepthroat

Credibility Gap

• a term that came into wide use with journalism, political and public discourse in the US during the 1960s and 1970s (Vietnam War)

• used to describe public skepticism about the Lyndon B. Johnson administration’s statements and policies on the Vietnam War

“18.5 minute Gap”

• the gap in the key tape of a conversation between Haldeman and Nixon three days after the break-in that was vital to the investigation

• Panel of six technical experts report that the gap on the June tape was the result of five separate erasures.

John Sirica

• Judge in the original break-in case

• refused to believe the burglars acted alone

• His investigation transformed the Watergate story

Sam Ervin

• stewardship of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices (Senate Watergate Committee)

Peter Rodino

• The House Judiciary Committee Impeachment

  • Was much larger than the Senate Watergate Committee

• Led the house inquiry on Nixon

John Ehrlichman

Nixons domestic advisor who approved of the plan to break into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist office

Benjamin Bradlee

Washington post editor

Houston Plan

• the plan that called for domestic burglary, illegal electronic surveillance, and opening the mail of domestic “radicals.”

Hugh Sloan

• Treasurer of the Committee to Re-elect the president

John Dean

• Former White House legal counsel

• Delivered a testimony that implicated Nixon from the earliest days of Watergate

E. Howard Hunt

One of the white house plumbers

• American Intelligence officer and Author

• Served as an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, particularly in the United States involvement in regime change in Latin America including the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’etat and the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion

G. Gordon Liddy

white house plumber

• organized and directed the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building

• American Lawyer and FBI agent

Alexander Butterfield

Former White House aide

• was asked about the source of the White House information and revealed existence of an automatic taping system that Nixon had secretly installed in the Oval Office

Pentagon Papers Supreme Court Decision

• 7,000 page document

• Daniel Ellsberg was an employee of the Defense department who leaked a classified assessment of the Vietnam War in 1971

Executive Privilege and National Security

• Refers to the authority of the President to withhold documents or information in his possession or in the possession of the Executive Branch from the Legislative or Judicial Branch of the government

• Supreme Court has held that the President and his advisors must be free to discuss issues candidly, express opinions, and explore options without fear that those deliberations will later be made public

• qualified rather than absolute

Howard Baker

• Influential ranking minority member of the Senate Watergate Committee chaired by Senator Sam Ervin

Elliot Richardson

Attorney General who appoints Archibald Cox as Special Prosecutor

• Worked in JFK administration as Solicitor General

Saturday Night Massacre

• Special prosecutor Archibald Cox refused to accept transcripts in place of the tapes

• Nixon then ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox.

• Richard is fired when he refuses

• Nixon then orders Deputy Attorney General WIlliam D. Ruckelshaus to fire Cox and he was fired when he ultimately refuses.

• Nixon then ordered Solicitor General Robert Bork to fire Cox and he complied

• The Washington Post reported on this story and gave it that name.

Enemies’ List

• included candidates and officials in the Democratic party which Nixon created

• To Nixon and his aides, his political opponents were a “threat to national security.”

Senate Watergate Committee (“Ervin” Committee)

• Hearings in the Senate

House Judiciary Committee (“Rodino” Committee)

• The committee that leadership designated to investigate and deliberate and then make a recommendation to full House

Special Prosecutor

• Archibald Cox appointed by General Elliot Richardson

• Created so a lawyer (Cox) appointed could investigate, and potentially prosecute, suspected wrongdoings for which a conflict of interest exits for the unusual prosecuting authority