ENCORE Watergate | The Smoking Gun | 5

23:18It would appease everyone, and Nixon could move on with his presidency. Nixon chews over the suggestion. He hates the idea, but his chief of staff is correct. He can't alienate members of his own party. He can't risk an impeachment trial. So Nixon agrees. He'll provide that small batch of nine secret tapes. That should silence his critics. And Nixon knows that when all the dust finally settles, he'll be vindicated. And he and his administration will finally get past the nightmare of Watergate.

23:53It's July 1974 in Washington, D.C. In the West Wing of the White House, the President's Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, sits waiting for a phone call. Haig used to be an Army general, and he's accustomed to high-pressure situations. But today, Haig feels uneasy as he thinks about everything that's gone wrong these last eight months. Haig believed that the president could save himself and his administration by releasing some of his secret tapes. Haig thought he would make Nixon look like an honest man, someone with nothing to hide. But the plan backfired. After releasing that first small batch, Nixon was hit with more subpoenas, demanding dozens of additional tapes.

24:33Nixon tried to find a compromise and offered transcripts. But the plan went sideways. Nixon decided to have the transcripts edited. They were stripped of profanity. as well as passages the president thought had nothing to do with Watergate. The public and the press were having none of it. They saw those edits as another attempt to cover up the truth. Nixon didn't only lose in the court of public opinion. The Supreme Court set aside Nixon's arguments about executive privilege, and in a clash that turned into a full-blown constitutional crisis, the justices ordered Nixon to hand over 64 of his tapes.

25:09It was another bruising loss for the president. and it wasn't even close to the end of it. Nixon Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign from office. The issue was unrelated to Watergate. Agnew was facing allegations of corruption from his time as governor of Maryland. Still, with the resignation of the Vice President, the administration took yet another public hit. And that was all compounded when former top White House officials were indicted for crimes stemming from Watergate. John Mitchell, Bob Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman are now facing charges and a grand jury named Nixon himself as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Watergate cover-up.

25:49Haig runs a hand through his silver hair. He knows there's only so much the country can take. The president did go on TV in an attempt to clean up his image. He said he welcomed public scrutiny and made a bold statement, I am not a crook. But even with his public claims of innocence, it appears that Congress has lost its patience. Next month, the House of Representatives is planning to impeach the president. It's the most drastic step Congress can take, and one that could result in Nixon being removed from office. Haig shakes his head as he thinks through this endless parade of disasters. At this point, there's no denying the administration is in total collapse.

26:27While Haig is a fighter, he's not sure how much longer he and the administration can hold out. And this phone call might tip the scale.

26:39Hague grabs the receiver. Hello? Hi, Al, it's Fred. Hague takes a deep breath. On the other line is J. Fred Bazzart, one of the president's lawyers. Hague has been dreading this call all day. Hi, Fred. So, you've listened to the tape? That's right. Yeah, the one from June 23rd. One of many that's about to go public. And what's the prognosis? Well, Al, I'm telling you, because you need to know, it's bad. How bad are we talking? Very, very bad. Egg size. Okay. Well, give me the specifics. All right. In the tape, you can hear the president is meeting with your predecessor, Bob Haldeman. Haldeman is telling the president that the FBI is getting too close.

27:23It's about to discover direct ties between the administration and the Watergate burglars. And Haldeman goes on to say that they should make up some kind of story to try to put the brakes on the FBI's investigation. Oh, God, you're kidding me. Al, it's all on tape. Holloman says they should falsely imply that Watergate has something to do with the CIA, and that way the FBI would pull back before they could find the administration was involved. They wanted to use the CIA to cover it up? This sounds like a spy novel. Are you sure about this? It's all on the tape. The public is about to learn everything.

27:58The president was involved in the cover-up. Al, this is the smoking gun. The one everyone's been looking for. Haig exhales and rubs a hand over his eyes. Now this is it, isn't it? There's no turnaround. Well, I don't know. There may be some options. Right. Options. No. Well, thanks for reporting back. I'll be in touch.

28:22Haig sets down the receiver and takes a moment to compose his thoughts. This is not the first time Haig has suffered a painful defeat. But something about this one feels different. More painful than the rest. Haig knows it didn't have to come to this. The president didn't need to self-destruct. He got bad advice and made some bad decisions. Still, he had so many chances to turn this around. But it's too late for any of that. There's no use in thinking about what could have been. There's only the present moment. And Haig knows right now, President Nixon is about to be forced out of office.

29:00A couple of weeks later, Richard Nixon shuts his eyes as he prepares to step back into the Oval Office. He breathes slowly, trying to calm himself. He notices the musty smell of the old paintings on the wall, the sweet perfume of all the old wood, everything that makes the White House one of the most historic buildings in the world. Nixon opens his eyes, suddenly feeling steely with resolve. This is his domain. And even if he's feeling jittery, he is still the commander-in-chief, still the most powerful person in the world. He's about to take a big meeting, maybe the most important meeting of his entire career.

29:36But Nixon is a winner. And this time will not be any different. As Nixon enters the room, three of the country's top Republicans stand to greet him. John Rhodes, the Republican leader of the House, Hugh Scott, the leader in the Senate, and Barry Goldwater, the senator from Arizona and the 1964 presidential nominee. Nixon tells the three men to take a seat. As he stands before them, Nixon reviews the latest developments. The tapes are out. The public knows that he and his former chief of staff tried to block the Watergate investigation. And at this point, an impeachment in the House of Representatives is all but certain.

30:15After that, the Senate will take up a trial. If they decide Nixon is guilty, he'll be removed from office. But if he's acquitted, he'll be able to serve out the rest of his term. As he stares at the Republican leaders, Nixon makes it clear that this is the moment of truth, when the party either stands with the president, the man elected by the people, or the moment when members of the party reveal themselves to be cowards. So Nixon asks, which is it going to be? Barry Goldwater, the former presidential candidate, looks grim. He says he wishes he could offer better news, but Nixon only has 15 votes in the Senate, maybe 18.

30:55At this point, it's simple math. If he goes through a trial, he'll be short of the 34 votes he needs to fend off the Democrats and remain in office. But Nixon barks back that no tally is ever final until the votes are cast. There's always a way to find more support. Goldwater shakes his head, saying he wishes that was the case. But the charges are too much. The president is going to be impeached for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. It's possible that Nixon can beat the first and third charges, but there's no way he can skirt the charge of abuse of power. Not with the evidence that's come out.

31:31The case is too strong. Goldwater admits that he himself would vote to convict Nixon of that crime. Nixon is stunned. And as he looks at the other two senior Republicans, it's clear neither of them is going to push back. It doesn't matter what Nixon says, or whether he tries to bully them into submission. The Republicans are done with him. Nixon shakes his head in disbelief. He wasn't born a member of the political ruling class. He was never a Kennedy, never a Roosevelt. Nixon made his own fortune, coming up from nothing. And that meant he had to learn how to fight, to be dogged, ruthless, to never throw in the towel.

32:11But as he gazes across the Oval Office now, Nixon is suddenly hit with a sad, poignant feeling. Maybe this is it. The time to let go. To stop the fighting. And accept the bitter fate that he's been dealt. But that feels too sentimental. Nixon nearly bursts out in a rage, as he tries again to press his argument, to make inroads with the Republican leaders. But it doesn't take long for the conversation to hit another dead end. The party simply does not have the votes. Nixon wants to keep fighting, to keep arguing, to keep cajoling, to keep pleading and threatening and pushing. But it's at that moment something shifts inside him.

32:50Nixon suddenly feels weightless, unmoored. And as he staggers to his seat, he finally realizes what's happening. He's giving up. Nixon looks up and dismisses the Republican leaders from the Oval Office. When he's alone once again, Nixon heads to his desk and sits down with a pen and a piece of paper. It's time to start writing a speech. Time to say farewell to the White House, to Washington, and to the American people.

33:32we get to hear from survivors themselves, in their own words. On our next episode, Sujo John will tell his story of September 11, 2001. That day, he clocked into his job at the World Trade Center's North Tower. Sujo's wife, Mary, pregnant with their first child, worked just next door in the South Tower. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the building, collapsing cubicles and walls. But as Sujo and his office mates raced to escape the smoldering building, they heard another massive explosion, and Sujo realized his wife and unborn child were also in grave danger. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts.

34:11Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Against the Odds early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. It started with a loophole. One man on a transatlantic flight read through a gambling law and found a crack just wide enough to build an empire. Within a few years, FanDuel and DraftKings were blanketing every screen in America with the promise that you could win real cash legally by picking the right players. Hey there, I'm David Brown, the host of the podcast Business Wars. Every season, we bring you the true stories behind the companies that shape our world, their rivalries, their reinventions, and their spectacular rises and falls.

34:50In our new season, FanDuel and DraftKings didn't just compete with each other. They fought regulators, rewrote gambling laws, and helped turn a legal gray area into a$167 billion industry. It's the story of how sports betting took over America and what it's costing all of us. Make sure to follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Business Wars early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

35:28It's the night of August 7th, 1974, hours after President Nixon's meeting with Republican leaders. In the Lincoln bedroom, on the second floor of the White House, Richard Nixon takes a seat. For a moment, he gazes across the room at all the priceless pieces of antique furniture, the enormous rosewood bed, the 19th-century gas-like chandelier, the center table topped with marble. The room is magnificent. It's one of the countless treasures of the White House, a place Nixon has been privileged to call home for more than five years. And it's small things, like this historic room that Nixon is so sad to part with.

36:04But his decision is final. Tomorrow, he's going to resign as President of the United States. It's a heartbreak, not just for Nixon, but also for his family. As she's tried to make sense of the news, his 26-year-old daughter, Julie, broke down in tears and threw her arms around her father. It was a tender moment, and with his daughter weeping on his shoulder, Nixon finally felt the full weight of his guilt and shame, everything he's been fending off since the beginning of this Watergate scandal. But now the evening is growing late. Nixon only wants to see one person, his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger.

36:42Together, the two of them have had some enormous accomplishments in foreign policy. They're close allies, and in these final hours in the White House, Nixon is looking for a final moment of counsel.

36:56Nixon clears his throat. Henry? Yes, Mr. President. It's okay. You can come in. The door swings open and Kissinger enters. His wavy black hair is neatly combed, and his eyes behind his thick glasses look mournful. Mr. President, I'm glad we get to spend this time together. I agree. I wouldn't have it any other way. So, it's true. Tomorrow... I can't even say it. That's okay, I'll say it for you. I'm going to announce my resignation. Kissinger stares at the floor. This isn't fair. I know you did your best, and you should know. If they give you hell after you leave office, I won't hesitate. I'll resign as Secretary of State.

37:38Henry, please. That's the worst thing you could do for me. You're irreplaceable. You have to stay on. Kissinger nods, but remains silent, waiting for Nixon to lead the conversation. Take a look around this room. You know when Lincoln was president, this was his office? That desk over there, that was Lincoln's desk. There's a copy over there of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's own handwriting. It is incredible, sir. Incredible. You think about Lincoln. He kept our republic together. He paid for it with his life. It's such a legacy. Suddenly, Nixon begins to tear up. But what are they going to say about me?

38:17What will they say when I'm gone? Mr. President, I think they'll say you were a man above all. A great man who faced great challenges. You know, this doesn't have to be over. I could keep fighting. I've got fight left in me. Yes, you could. Every American has the right to defend himself against criminal charges. So why don't I? Why am I giving up? Why am I walking away from being the President of the United States? Sir, I apologize if I'm overstepping, but you must be in a lot of pain. Nixon pinches his eyes shut as a warm tear comes creeping out. I can only imagine. And you're strong, so strong.

38:58But at some point, everyone has a limit. Fighting those charges would be unbearable. For you and likely for the country. Yes, for the country too. I can't do it. I can't fight. Nixon stands and wipes the tear from his eye. That doesn't make you weak, sir. That makes you moral, kind, generous. The kind of leader the country has always needed. You're right, Henry. You're right. Nixon approaches Kissinger and reaches out his hand. I'm done fighting. Henry, would you join me in a prayer? Would you do that? Kissinger nods, and together he and Nixon kneel on the ground. Nixon bows his head and shuts his eyes.

39:46As he begins to say a prayer, for the first time in months, he feels calm and free. Nixon is ready to let go.

39:59It's the evening of August 8th, 1974, in Washington, D.C. It's nearly 9 p.m., and at this hour the newsroom of the Washington Post is normally still humming. But tonight, the space is eerily quiet. Everyone's gone home. And for reporter Bob Woodward, it's no surprise why. In just a few minutes, President Nixon is going to go on live TV and announce his resignation. Everyone knows it's coming. And everyone's done their reporting. Still, Woodward didn't want to go home himself. Neither did his reporting partner, Carl Bernstein. They belong in the newsroom, where they've broken so many stories over the last couple of years.

40:37They've had some ups and downs. Together, the two reporters helped reveal that Watergate was a political operation orchestrated by President Nixon's re-election campaign. Woodward and Bernstein revealed how Watergate was part of a larger operation of spying and sabotage, how Nixon's allies broke the law and tried to cover it up. Throughout it all, Woodward and Bernstein faced attacks from the White House. Their reputation took a nosedive when they made a mistake in one of their most high-profile pieces. They became enemies of the president. But they never gave up. And now it's time to watch the culmination of their work.

41:14Woodward heads to the office of the Post's managing editor. The TV is on, and the paper's top brass are waiting for the president's speech to begin. But as Woodward takes a seat on the floor, the Post's publisher, Catherine Graham, issues a stern warning. Nixon may be resigning, but no one is allowed to gloat. Woodward chuckles at the warning. Graham may be so proper sometimes, but she is right. This is no time for gloating or making fun of Nixon at his lowest moment. Still, Woodward does believe it is a time to celebrate. The press did their job, and so did government. And under the most intense pressure, everyone continued to do the right thing.

41:54The president is resigning, but that's a sign that the government held strong. That America's institutions can withstand the worst of the worst threats. Woodward makes the case, and several of his colleagues nod in agreement. But the paper's executive editor, Ben Bradley, shoots back with another reminder. All that may be true, but still, there will be no gloating when Nixon resigns. Woodward nods at the command. There's no disagreement. A few minutes later, the group turns to the TV, where President Nixon suddenly appears, seated in front of a blue curtain. President lifts a stack of papers and begins reading, addressing the nation.

42:35Nixon explains that he's always tried to do what was best for the country, and he tried his best to persevere through the Watergate scandal. But now he has to abandon that effort, because it's apparent he can no longer govern effectively. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office. Hearing Nixon's final words, Woodward lets out a deep breath. Nixon is done. And at noon tomorrow, America will have a new president, Gerald Ford. Finally, the country can move on from this divisive and rancorous scandal.

43:18But Woodward himself will probably never be able to move on. Not entirely. He knows he's likely to spend the rest of his life thinking and talking about these last two years. He's probably okay with that. That's what it means to chronicle American history. Sometimes you're there for the big moments. And if you get lucky, if you stumble into history, you owe it to the world and to future generations to keep telling those stories as long as they still matter. And they still matter.

43:52On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon officially resigned the presidency. That same day, Vice President Gerald Ford took the oath of office. Addressing the nation, Ford offered a message of both healing and faith in American government. My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule. Immediately upon taking office, President Ford had to confront a fraught political question, deciding whether former President Nixon should be pardoned for his crimes. In the end, Ford did issue a full and unconditional pardon.

44:38He argued that his decision was intended to promote national unity. Still, Ford faced a strong backlash after issuing the pardon. And some believe that Ford's decision may have cost him the 1976 presidential election. And while Nixon avoided any criminal charges, many involved in Watergate weren't so lucky. Altogether, the scandal led to 69 indictments and 48 convictions. Those sent to prison included G. Gordon Liddy, one of the architects of the burglary, along with his partner E. Howard Hunt. Former White House officials John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman also served time in prison, as did John Mitchell, the former Attorney General of the United States and head of Nixon's re-election campaign.

45:20And although he blew the whistle on Watergate, White House counsel John Dean didn't escape punishment. Dean went on to serve four months in prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. Watergate was a defining moment in the careers of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, but both journalists went on to have storied careers, writing best-selling books and continuing to offer commentary about the legacy of Watergate. And in the years since their initial reporting, another secret finally emerged. In 2005, Mark Felt, the former associate director of the FBI, sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair.

45:58Felt was 91 years old, and during the interview, he confirmed what many government insiders had long suspected. Felt admitted that he was the secret informant, known as Deep Throat. Over the years, historians have disagreed about Felt's motivations. Bob Woodward believed that Felt acted out of loyalty to the country and the FBI. Others argued that Felt was attempting to work the political levers of power, trying to secure a job for himself as the permanent director of the FBI. After resigning the presidency and facing public scorn, President Nixon tried to make amends for his actions. He admitted that the Watergate cover-up was a mistake and added, It is a burden I shall bear for every day of the life that is left to me.

46:42Nixon died on April 22, 1994, following a stroke. Upon his death, then-President Bill Clinton called Nixon a statesman who sought to build a lasting structure of peace.

46:58From Wondery, this is episode five of Watergate from American Scandal. In our next series, in 1992, federal agents surrounded a remote cabin in Idaho belonging to Randy Weaver, a survivalist with links to the far right. But a series of miscalculations and misunderstandings escalated the situation into an armed standoff. The events at Ruby Ridge led to the deaths of three people and left behind a legacy of mistrust in federal authorities that would have ramifications for decades to come.

47:47or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com. If you'd like to learn more about Watergate, we recommend the books Watergate by Fred Emery, All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, and King Richard by Michael Dobbs. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details. And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Air Shift.

48:29Audio editing by Molly Bach. Sound design by Derek Behrens. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written by Hannibal Diaz. Edited by Christina Malzberg. Our senior producer is Gabe Riven. Executive producers are Stephanie Jens, Jenny Lauer-Beckman, and Marshall Louis for Wondery.

48:49In 1969, when police tried to shut down a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, they expected little resistance. Instead, patrons rose up in a series of demonstrations that would ignite a movement. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of the podcast American History Tellers. We take you to the events, times, and people that shaped America and Americans, our values, our struggles, and our dreams. In our latest series, the police raid on the Stonewall Inn marked a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ rights. But activists had already been hard at work pushing for gay rights for decades, and their battle is still being fought today.

49:27Follow American History Tellers wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible and the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.