Source: Garrett M. Graff. Watergate - A New History (2022)
On 15 August 1973, Nixon gave his third address to the nation since April 1973 concerning Watergate. Nixon repeated his claim that he had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in, and that he had not taken part in the subsequent cover-up. Nixon continued by saying how ill-served he had been, mentioning Gray, Kleindienst, and Dean, all of whom he had wrongly trusted. Nixon then tried to reframe the debate on the tapes, claiming that Presidential confidentiality trumped any legal questions concerning Watergate.
The next day Magruder pled guilty to a single count of conspiracy, receiving the maximum of five years in prison; next on Cox’s radar was John Dean. On 22 August 1973 in Sirica’s courtroom, Cox and Nixon’s defense attorney, Charles Alan Wright, faced off over the question of issuing a subpoena on the President. Sirica thought long and hard about his ruling, in large part because his decisions from the Liddy case in January 1973 were under review by an appellate court. In the end, Sirica agreed with the view of Chief Justice John Marshall many decades before, who held that there was nothing in US law that would stop a President from being subpoenaed. Sirica reasoned that if the President could be subpoenaed, then that order must be enforceable. As Cox and Wright argued their points in Sirica’s courtroom, in San Clemente, Nixon gave his first press conference in nearly half-a-year. One of Nixon’s announcements was that SecState William Rogers was resigning, and that he would nominate his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, to be his replacement.
The next day Magruder pled guilty to a single count of conspiracy, receiving the maximum of five years in prison; next on Cox’s radar was John Dean. On 22 August 1973 in Sirica’s courtroom, Cox and Nixon’s defense attorney, Charles Alan Wright, faced off over the question of issuing a subpoena on the President. Sirica thought long and hard about his ruling, in large part because his decisions from the Liddy case in January 1973 were under review by an appellate court. In the end, Sirica agreed with the view of Chief Justice John Marshall many decades before, who held that there was nothing in US law that would stop a President from being subpoenaed. Sirica reasoned that if the President could be subpoenaed, then that order must be enforceable. As Cox and Wright argued their points in Sirica’s courtroom, in San Clemente, Nixon gave his first press conference in nearly half-a-year. One of Nixon’s announcements was that SecState William Rogers was resigning, and that he would nominate his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, to be his replacement.
During his 50 minute address before the assembled reporters, Nixon accepted blame for the atmosphere in the White House that led to Watergate, while also repeating that he’d been in the dark and had been betrayed by his inner circle. Then came the questions from the reporters, and nearly all of them were about Watergate. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino watched Nixon’s press conference with growing fury and dread, knowing that Nixon was lying and obfuscating. Rodino wanted nothing more than to avoid starting an impeachment inquiry, but he believed Nixon had chosen a path that guaranteed that his committee would have to consider impeachment.
During late-August 1973, Sirica announced his decision on Executive Privilege, in which he ruled that the President was not above the law, but he stopped short of ordering Nixon to turn over the tapes to Cox and the Watergate Committee. Sirica ordered the tapes to be turned over to him, where he would listen to them and decide what would be privileged and what would not. Sirica’s ruling did not sit well with any of the concerned parties, with Cox seeing future endless court battles of the tapes, and Nixon and his inner circle shocked at the loss of Presidential confidentiality. From San Clemente, Nixon announced that he would not comply with Sirica’s order, and would appeal; all the concerned parties readied themselves for the next battle over the tapes.
During late-August 1973, Sirica announced his decision on Executive Privilege, in which he ruled that the President was not above the law, but he stopped short of ordering Nixon to turn over the tapes to Cox and the Watergate Committee. Sirica ordered the tapes to be turned over to him, where he would listen to them and decide what would be privileged and what would not. Sirica’s ruling did not sit well with any of the concerned parties, with Cox seeing future endless court battles of the tapes, and Nixon and his inner circle shocked at the loss of Presidential confidentiality. From San Clemente, Nixon announced that he would not comply with Sirica’s order, and would appeal; all the concerned parties readied themselves for the next battle over the tapes.
On 5 September 1973, Nixon conducted his next press conference, which was basically a circus since it was in the wake of the grand jury returning four sealed indictments concerning the break-in at Dr. Fielding’s office for Daniel Ellsburg’s files. The press speculated that the four that were indicted were Ehrlichman, Krogh, Liddy, and David Young, a Kissinger aide. Nixon could not get the White House Press Corps to abandon their questioning on Watergate or the growing scandal with Vice-President Spiro Agnew. Nixon did his best to shift the focus to other issues the nation faced, such as the tight money supply and instability in the Middle East. Despite the unrelenting attention on Watergate and Agnew from the media, polls indicated that most Americans didn’t want to wallow in the DC soap opera, but to press forward addressing the nation’s needs. Polls indicated that 42% saw inflation and the high cost of living as the main issue, with only 9% seeing Watergate as the main problem. It appeared, and Nixon hoped, that the storm surge of Watergate would recede, barring any new revelations.
During mid-September 1973, an appellate court made a unanimous and unusual decision, asking the concerned parties to work out an agreement among themselves over the tapes. The appellate court gave the parties a week to do so, and failing an agreement, the court stated that it would then step in and issue its ruling; negotiations between the White House and Cox made little progress. Cox’s final offer was to have a mutually agreed upon third party double-check and verify partial transcripts from the tapes, and about an hour later Buzhardt informed Cox that the White House rejected his offer, claiming that the administration had already bent over backwards to accommodate all Watergate requests. That rejection made it clear to Cox that he would never get the White House to turn over any of the tapes. The appellate court now had to issue its decision, which set up DC and the nation for a surprise constitutional showdown that was entirely of Nixon’s own making.
During mid-September 1973, an appellate court made a unanimous and unusual decision, asking the concerned parties to work out an agreement among themselves over the tapes. The appellate court gave the parties a week to do so, and failing an agreement, the court stated that it would then step in and issue its ruling; negotiations between the White House and Cox made little progress. Cox’s final offer was to have a mutually agreed upon third party double-check and verify partial transcripts from the tapes, and about an hour later Buzhardt informed Cox that the White House rejected his offer, claiming that the administration had already bent over backwards to accommodate all Watergate requests. That rejection made it clear to Cox that he would never get the White House to turn over any of the tapes. The appellate court now had to issue its decision, which set up DC and the nation for a surprise constitutional showdown that was entirely of Nixon’s own making.
During the last days of September 1973, Nixon decided to review the tapes that had been requested by Cox, entrusting his personal aide Stephen Bull and his personal secretary Rose Mary Woods to bring them to Camp David. Bull told Haig that he couldn’t locate the tape from 20 June 1972, which was a meeting between Nixon, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman. The other eight requested tapes by Cox were then transcribed, which was very difficult given the poor audio quality. It took Woods two days to transcribe one tape while at Camp David.
Back in DC on Monday, Woods complained to the Secret Service about her primitive tape player/recorder, and she was upgraded to a Uher 5000 that came with a foot pedal control for easier transcribing. According to Woods, shortly before 2 pm, she became distracted during her transcription by answering and talking on the phone, and accidentally pressed the record function on her foot pedal for a few minutes. Realizing her mistake, a panicky Woods told Nixon what had happened. Nixon told her not to worry, since the tape was not one of the subpoenaed tapes; but it certainly was one of the tapes that had been subpoenaed. Woods kept working on the painful and frustrating process of transcribing the eight tapes at her desk in the White House, and then at Key Biscayne, traveling with Nixon to his vacation getaway in Florida.
Back in DC on Monday, Woods complained to the Secret Service about her primitive tape player/recorder, and she was upgraded to a Uher 5000 that came with a foot pedal control for easier transcribing. According to Woods, shortly before 2 pm, she became distracted during her transcription by answering and talking on the phone, and accidentally pressed the record function on her foot pedal for a few minutes. Realizing her mistake, a panicky Woods told Nixon what had happened. Nixon told her not to worry, since the tape was not one of the subpoenaed tapes; but it certainly was one of the tapes that had been subpoenaed. Woods kept working on the painful and frustrating process of transcribing the eight tapes at her desk in the White House, and then at Key Biscayne, traveling with Nixon to his vacation getaway in Florida.
Bull personally carried the eight tapes to Key Biscayne and secured them in a safe in a villa under guard by the Secret Service. For security reasons, the typewriter ribbons used by Woods for her transcriptions were burned. Woods was not able to complete the transcriptions of the eight tapes until 23 October 1973, and by that point, the controversy surrounding the 9 subpoenaed tapes by Cox had escalated to a full-blown constitutional crisis.
During October 1973, Nixon had to confront four separate and mostly unrelated Presidency-defining crises, with one foreign (the Middle East), two domestic (Watergate and VP Agnew), and one personal (accusations of tax evasion). Hardly a day passed during that month that didn’t feature some development concerning Watergate, such as Donald Segretti pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts, a perjury case taking shape against Dwight Chapin, the former White House Appointments Secretary. Senator Ervin kept demanding the tapes on his end, listing former Presidents that had no problem complying with Congress and the courts, such as Theodore Roosevelt. Ervin claimed that by refusing to turn over the tapes and other requested items, Nixon had violated his Oath of Office as President of the United States.
During October 1973, Nixon had to confront four separate and mostly unrelated Presidency-defining crises, with one foreign (the Middle East), two domestic (Watergate and VP Agnew), and one personal (accusations of tax evasion). Hardly a day passed during that month that didn’t feature some development concerning Watergate, such as Donald Segretti pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts, a perjury case taking shape against Dwight Chapin, the former White House Appointments Secretary. Senator Ervin kept demanding the tapes on his end, listing former Presidents that had no problem complying with Congress and the courts, such as Theodore Roosevelt. Ervin claimed that by refusing to turn over the tapes and other requested items, Nixon had violated his Oath of Office as President of the United States.