Last time out I discussed Keith Olson’s argument that the illegal activities carried out by Richard Nixon, his administration and the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) need to be understood in the context of a larger culture of acceptance of political crime and, more importantly, in the context of a genuinely-perceived existential threat to … Continue reading Keith Olsen on Watergate. Part II: Dirty Tricks, Illegal Money, and the Break-In at the Watergate Building.
Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America. Part I: The Context.
Keith W. Olson’s Watergate: The Presidential Scandal that Shook America is a short introductory text to the Watergate episode, but Olson does more than recount the story of the Watergate break-in, the subsequent cover-up, and the investigative process that ended in Richard Nixon’s resignation: he makes an important argument about what Watergate reveals about American … Continue reading Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America. Part I: The Context.
How to Get Rid of a President
The story of Watergate is the story of how America legally and peacefully removed a president who had violated his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I want to begin this blog series with a look at the ways, both formal and informal, that the United States has used … Continue reading How to Get Rid of a President
Reading Watergate
When I was six years old, I walked into the living room, where my parents were engrossed in something happening on television. I asked my mother what was going on, and she told me that the President of the United States had to resign; maybe she said “quit,” given how young I was. I asked … Continue reading Reading Watergate
Reading Watergate 