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1975

1975

1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar).

Events

January

- January 1 - Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up
- January 2 - The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by Congress
- January 5 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
- January 7 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
- January 8 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband
- January 10 - Japanese soldier Teruo Nakamura surrenders on the Indonesian Island of Morota
- January 14 - 17 year old heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped from her home in Shropshire, England by the Black Panther.
- January 20 - Michael Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency
- January 29 - Weather Underground bombs US State Department main office in Washington D.C.
- January - Altair 8800 is released, sparking the era of the microcomputer

February

- February 4 - The first successfully predicted earthquake occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
- February 9 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- February 11 - Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.
- February 21 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years in prison
- February 23 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
- February 26 - a fleeing IRA terrorist shoots dead off-duty London police officer Stephen Tibble, 22, as he gives chase
- February 27 - Movement 2 June kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met
- February 28 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
- February 28 - In Lomé, the capital of Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lomé Convention.

March

- March 1 - Color television transmissions begin in Australia
- March 4 - Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
- March 6 - Algiers Accord - Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
- March 6 - A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of the Springer Press. The "6 March Group" (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the "Baader-Meinhof Group"
- March 7 - The body of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle, kidnapped seven weeks earlier by the Black Panther is discovered in Staffordshire, England
- March 8 - United Nations begin sponsoring the International Women's Day.
- March 9 - Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins
- March 10 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
- March 15 - In Brazil, the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) merges with the state of Rio de Janeiro, under the name of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
- March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a nephew with a history of mental illness - the killer is beheaded on June 18.
- March 28 - A fire in the maternity wing at Kucic Hospital in Rijeka, Yugoslavia, kills 25 babies

April-May

- April 3 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
- April 4 - Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.
- April 13 - An attack by Phalangists on a Palestinian bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon sparks over 15 years of civil war.
- April 17 - Pol Pot proclaims the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" in Cambodia and becomes its Prime Minister (1975–1979).
- April 24 - Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members. Shortly after they are captured by Swedish police.
- April 25 - Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
- April 30 - Vietnam War: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.
- May 5 - The Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park opens in Virginia.
- May 12 - Mayaguez incident: Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia seize the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- May 15 - Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by U.S. Navy and Marines. 38 Americans are killed.
- May 16 - India annexes Sikkim.
- May 16 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- May 28 - 15 West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
- May 30 - 1972 Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine dies in a car accident.

June-July

- June 5 - The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War
- June 5 - The United Kingdom votes yes in a referendum on staying in the European Community
- June 9 - Order of Australia (OA) awarded for 1st time
- June 19 - Lord Lucan found guilty in absentia of the murder of the nanny Sandra Rivett
- June 25 - Mozambique gains independence from Portugal
- June 26 - Two FBI agents and one member of AIM die in a shootout in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota
- July 1 - Postmaster-General's Department is disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post).
- July 4 - Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears, and is presumed to have been murdered.
- July 5 - Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule
- July 6 - The Comoros declare their independence from France
- July 9 - The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system.
- July 12 - São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal
- July 17 - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations
- July 31 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August

- August 8 - The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after a freak typhoon. Over 200,000 people perish.
- August 8 - Samuel Bronfman, son of the president of Seagrams, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York
- August 11 - British Leyland comes under British government control
- August 11 - Mário Lemos Pires, Governor of Portuguese Timor, abandons the capital Dili following UDT coup and outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
- August 15 - Birmingham Six wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment
- August 15 - Mujibur Rahman, president of Bangladesh, is killed during a coup
- August 20 - Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars
- August 24 - Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment

September

- September 5 - In Sacramento, California, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
- September 14 - Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch" is slashed a dozen times at a gallery in Amsterdam.
- September 15 - The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
- September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 21 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 22 - President Gerald Ford survives a second assassination attempt, this time by Sara Jane Moore
- September 30 - Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache made its first flight.

October

- October 9 - A bomb explosion outside Green Park tube station near Piccadilly in London kills 1 and injures 20.
- October 16 - Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces during an incursion into Portuguese Timor.
- October 27 - – 18-year-old Robert Poulin begins shooting in St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada and then shoots himself, killing 1 and wounding 5.
- October 29 - Peter Sutcliffe (the "Yorkshire Ripper") commits his first murder, Wilma McCann.
- October 30 - Prince Juan Carlos becomes acting Head of State of Spain after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

November

Francisco Franco
- November 3 - An independent audit of Mattel, of the United States largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."
- November 3 - First oil pipeline opens from Cruder Bay to Grangemouth
- November 6 - Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara
- November 10 - United Nations Resolution 3379: With a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world.
- November 10 - The 729-foot-long freighter (then, the largest ship on the Great Lakes) SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board
- November 11 - Angola becomes independent from Portugal (a deadly civil war soon erupts)
- November 11 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister
- November 11 - First annual Vogalonga rowing "race" in Venice, Italy
- November 14 - Spain abandons Western Sahara
- November 22 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
- November 25 - Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
- November 25 - Irish Republican Army outlawed in Britain
- November 25 - Surinam gains independence from the Netherlands
- November 27 - Ross McWhirter, the co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the PIRA for offering reward money to informers
- November 28 - Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor
- November 29 - The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time (Microsoft became a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).

December

- December 7 - East Timor invaded by Indonesia.
- December 21 - Left-wing terrorists, including Carlos (the Jackal), kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna. They kill three hostages, extort $5 million ransom and escape into the Middle East.
- December 29 - A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport killing 11.

Unknown dates

- In New Zealand, Maori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5000 people in support of Maori claims to their land
- The Third Cod War between UK and Iceland lasted between November 1975 - June 1976
- Government of Colombia announces finding of Ciudad Perdida
- Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara. Saharaui Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.
- First use of the term fractal
- Victoria (Australia) abolishes capital punishment
- South Australia becomes first Australian state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults
- Self-proclaimed time traveller John Titor arrives to acquire an IBM 5100 for use in 2036
- MIND opens
- In May, rock singer Peter Gabriel announces that he is leaving British progressive rock band Genesis after their successful The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour.
- Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that Armageddon would happen in 1975 and many of them sold their houses and businesses to prepare for the new world of paradise on earth which they believe will exist when Jesus comes back.
- BACCHUS Network, American college alcohol peer-education network established.
- The Rock and Roll band KISS releases their Alive! album, catapulting them into record success. The album goes 4x platinum. Kiss was having trouble with record sale until then, as they sounded much different live then they did on record. They solved this problem by creating live albums.

Births

January-April

- January 2 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- January 3 - Danica McKellar, American actress
- January 5 - Bradley Cooper, American actor
- January 13 - Shazia Mirza, British comedienne
- January 20 - Mark Allan Robinson, Canadian recall leader
- January 22 - Balthazar Getty, American actor
- January 25 - Tim Montgomery, American athlete
- January 29 - Sara Gilbert, American actress
- February 2 - Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian hockey player
- February 2 - Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
- February 4 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician
- February 5 - Adam Carson, American drummer (AFI)
- February 17 - Wish Bone, American rapper
- February 20 - Brian Littrell, American musician (Backstreet Boys)
- February 22 - Drew Barrymore, American actress
- March 5 - Jolene Blalock, American actress
- March 5 - Niki Taylor, American model
- March 9 - Roy Makaay, Dutch football player
- March 15 - Eva Longoria, American actress
- March 15 - Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess player
- March 17 - Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
- March 27 - Stacy Ferguson, American singer (Black Eyed Peas)
- April 4 - Scott Rolen, baseball player
- April 4 - Delphine Arnault, billionaire French businesswoman LVMH
- April 7 - Ronde Barber, American football player
- April 7 - Tiki Barber, American football player
- April 9 - Robbie Fowler, British footballer
- April 14 - Amy Dumas, American professional wrestler
- April 22 - Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (d. 1999)

May-August

- May 1 - Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)
- May 2 - David Beckham, English footballer
- May 3 - Kimora Lee Simmons, American fashion designer
- May 3 - Maksim Mrvica, Croatian pianist
- May 8 - Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-born singer
- May 10 - Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
- May 12 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
- May 14 - Hunter Burgan, American bassist (AFI)
- May 15 - Ray Lewis, American football player
- May 19 - London Fletcher, American football player
- May 25 - Lauryn Hill, American singer
- May 27 - Jamie Oliver, British chef and television personality
- June 4 - Angelina Jolie, American actress
- June 17 - Chloe Jones, American actress
- June 9 - Andrew Symonds, Australian cricketer
- June 18 - Martin St. Louis, Canadian hockey player
- June 25 - Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
- June 27 - Tobey Maguire, American actor
- July 6 - 50 Cent, American rapper
- July 11 - Lil' Kim, American rapper
- July 17 - Konnie Huq, English television presenter
- July 18 - Torii Hunter, baseball player
- July 18 - Daron Malakian, American guitarist and singer (System of a Down)
- July 22 - Erol Spencer Hofmans, Dutch political scientist
- July 24 - Torrie Wilson, American professional wrestler and model
- July 27 - Shea Hillenbrand, baseball player
- July 27 - Alex Rodriguez, baseball player
- July 30 - Graham Nicholls, British artist
- August 7 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
- August 15 - Kara Wolters, American basketball player
- August 24 - Hayato Sakurai, Japanese martial artist

September-December

- September 17 - Jimmie Johnson, American race car driver
- September 17 - Constantine Maroulis, American singer
- September 20 - Rikki Lee Travolta, Italian-American actor
- September 23 - Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
- September 25 - Matt Hasselbeck, American football player
- October 2 - Michel Trudeau, son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau, ( d.1998)
- October 5 - Kate Winslet, British actress
- October 23 - Odalys Garcia, Cuban-born actress
- November 10 - Markko Märtin, Estonian race car driver
- November 17 - Diane Neal, American actress
- November 18 - David Ortiz, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- November 19 - Sushmita Sen, Indian beauty queen and actress
- November 20 - Dierks Bentley, American singer and musician
- November 20 - Timea Vagvoelgyi, Hungarian erotic star
- November 20 - Davey Havok, American singer (AFI)
- November 24 - Lee Wan Wah, Malaysian badminton player
- December 5 - Ronnie O'Sullivan, British snooker player
- December 13 - Tom Delonge, American guitarist and singer (blink-182)
- December 14 - Justin Furstenfeld, American guitarist and singer (Blue October)
- December 17 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian actress and model
- December 18 - Masaki Sumitani, Japanese television performer
- December 18 - Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler and fitness model
- December 23 - Sky Lopez, American actress
- December 27 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (d. 1988)
- December 30 - Tiger Woods, American golfer

Deaths

Unknown date

- Will Mastin, American vaudevillian

January-March

- January 8 - Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
- January 19 - Thomas Hart Benton, American artist (b. 1889)
- January 24 - Larry Fine, American actor and comedian (b. 1902)
- January 27 - Bill Walsh, American film producer and writer (b. 1913)
- February 4 - Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
- February 8 - Robert Robinson, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
- February 10 - Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (stroke) (b. 1910)
- February 13 - André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
- February 14 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
- February 14 - P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
- February 16 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete (b. 1903)
- February 19 - Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (b. 1904)
- February 24 - Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
- February 25 - Elijah Muhammad, American Black Muslim leader (b. 1897)
- February 26 - Stephen Tibble, London police officer (shot) (b. 1953)
- March 7 - Ben Blue, Canadian actor and comedian (b. 1901)
- March 8 - George Stevens, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1904)
- March 13 - Ivo Andric, Serbo-Croatian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- March 14 - Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
- March 15 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1900)
- March 16 - T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
- March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. 1906)

April-August

- April 5 - Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China
- April 10 - Walker Evans, American photographer
- April 13 - N'Garta Tombalbaye, President of Chad
- April 17 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and president
- April 23 - William Hartnell, British actor (b. 1908)
- April 30 - Gen Paul, French artist
- May 5 - Moe Howard, American actor (b. 1897)
- May 8 - Avery Brundage, American President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
- May 13 - Bob Wills, American musician (b. 1905)
- May 18 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)
- May 23 - Moms Mabley, American comedienne (b. 1894)
- May 30 - Steve Prefontaine, American distance runner (b. 1951)
- June 3 - Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1901)
- June 26 - Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and founder of Opus Dei (b. 1902)
- June 28 - Rod Serling, American television screenwriter (b. 1924)
- July 17 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)
- July 29 - James Blish, American writer (b. 1921)
- August 8 - Julian Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (b. 1928)
- August 9 - Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (b. 1906)
- August 10 - Robert Barton, Irish politician and last surviving signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (b. 1881)
- August 16 - Vladimir Kuts, Soviet runner (b. 1927)
- August 19 - Mark Donohue, American race car driver (b. 1937)
- August 28 - Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor
- August 29 - Eamon de Valera, third President of Ireland (b. 1882)

September-December

- September 10 - George Paget Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- September 20 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- September 24 - Earle Cabell, Texas politician (b. 1906)
- September 27 - Jack Lang, Australian politician (b. 1876)
- October 10 - Norman Levinson, American mathematician (b. 1912)
- October 21 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (b. 1889)
- October 30 - Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- November 2 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director (b. 1922)
- November 5 - Edward Lawrie Tatum, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1909)
- November 20 - Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain (b. 1892)
- November 27 - Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (b. 1925)
- November 29 - Tony Brise, English racing driver (b. 1952)
- November 29 - Graham Hill, English race car driver (b. 1929)
- December 1 - Anna E. Roosevelt, American radio personality (b. 1906)
- December 1 - Nellie Fox, baseball player (b. 1927)
- December 24 - Bernard Herrma

Common year starting on Wednesday

This is the calendar for a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E), e.g. 2003. (A common year is a year with 365 days — in other words, not a leap year.)

Millennium	Century	Year
2nd Millennium:	19th century:	1800	1806	1817	1823	1834	1845	1851	1862	1873	1879	1890
2nd Millennium:	20th century:	1902	1913	1919	1930	1941	1947	1958	1969	1975	1986	1997
3rd Millennium:	21st century:	2003	2014	2025	2031	2042	2053	2059	2070	2081	2087	2098
3rd Millennium:	22nd century:	2110	2121	2127	2138	2149	2155	2166	2177	2183	2194

Category:Wednesday Category:Weeks ko:수요일로 시작하는 평년 th:ปีปกติสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันพุธ

Watergate scandal

:For other uses, see Watergate (disambiguation) The Watergate Scandal (1972–1974) (or just "Watergate") was an American political scandal and constitutional crisis that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The scandal came in the political context of the ongoing Vietnam War, which had since Lyndon Johnson's presidency grown increasingly unpopular with the American public. The term "Watergate" refers to an over two-year series of events that began with the Nixon administration's abuse of power toward the goal of undermining political opposition in the public anti-war movement and the Democratic Party. Though Nixon had endured two years of mounting political embarrassments, the court-ordered release of the "smoking gun tape" in August 1974 brought with it the prospect of certain impeachment for Nixon, and he resigned only days later on August 9.

Overview

The Watergate scandal was a slow-building series of embarrasing and incriminating disclosures about the conduct of the Nixon administration in using its political authority and executive powers, beginning with the disclosure of the Pentagon Papers—a highly classified Defense Department study of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and preceding political and military conflicts in the Southeast Asia region, in the wake of the end of French colonial occupation.

The burglary

On June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, a security guard working at the office complex of the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., noticed a piece of tape on the door between the basement stairwell and the parking garage. It was holding the door unlocked, so Wills removed it, assuming the cleaning crew had put it there. Later, he returned and discovered that the tape had been replaced. Wills then contacted the D.C. police. After the police came, five men — Bernard Barker, Virgilio González, Eugenio Martínez, James W. McCord, Jr., and Frank Sturgis — were discovered and arrested for breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The men had broken into the same office three weeks earlier as well, and had returned intending to fix wiretaps that were not working and, according to some, to photograph documents. The need to break into the office for a second time was just the highlight of a number of mistakes made by the burglars. Another, the telephone number of E. Howard Hunt in McCord's notebook, proved costly to them — and the White House — when found by the police. Hunt had previously worked for the White House, while McCord was officially employed as Chief of Security at the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP), later commonly referred to as CREEP. This quickly suggested that there was a link between the burglars and someone close to the President. However, Nixon press secretary Ron Ziegler dismissed the affair as a "third-rate burglary". Though the burglary occurred at a sensitive time, with a looming presidential campaign, most Americans initially believed that no President with Nixon's advantage in the polls would be so foolhardy or unethical as to risk association with such an affair. At his arraignment, burglar McCord identified himself as retired from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Washington D.C. district attorney's office began an investigation of the links between McCord and the CIA, and eventually determined that McCord had received payments from CRP. Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward was at the arraignment, and he along with his colleague, Carl Bernstein, began an investigation into the burglary. Most of what they published was known to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other governmental investigators — these were often Woodward's and Bernstein's sources — but they helped keep Watergate in the spotlight. Woodward's relations with a principal inside source added an extra layer of mystery to the affair. This source was codenamed "Deep Throat", and his true identity was kept from the public. Decades of speculation ended on May 31, 2005, when W. Mark Felt, the No. 2 official at the FBI in the early 1970s, revealed that he was Deep Throat — a claim later confirmed by Woodward. W. Mark Felts used by E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy during the burglary.]] President Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. "Bob" Haldeman were tape-recorded (a standard, but secret, Nixon practice) on June 23 discussing use of the CIA to obstruct the FBI's investigation of the Watergate break-ins. Nixon followed through by asking the CIA to slow the FBI's investigation of the crime, claiming that national security would be put at risk. In fact, the crime and numerous other "dirty tricks" had been undertaken on behalf of CRP, mainly under the direction of Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. The pair had also worked in the White House in the Special Investigations Unit, nicknamed the "Plumbers." This group investigated leaks of information the administration did not want publicly known, and ran various operations against the Democrats and anti-war protestors. Most famous of their activities was the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg, a former employee of The Pentagon and State Department, had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and, as a result, was prosecuted for espionage, theft, and conspiracy. Hunt and Liddy found nothing useful, however, and trashed the office to cover their tracks. The break-in was only linked to the White House much later, but at the time it caused the collapse of Ellsberg's trial due to evident government misconduct. There is still much dispute about the level of involvement of leading figures in the White House, such as Attorney General John Mitchell, chief of staff Haldeman, leading aides Charles Colson and John Ehrlichman, and Nixon himself. Mitchell dubbed these events the White House horrors. As the head of CRP, along with campaign manager Jeb Stuart Magruder and Fred LaRue, Mitchell approved Hunt's and Liddy's espionage plans, including the break-in, but whether it went above them is unclear. Magruder, for instance, gave a number of different accounts, including that he had overheard Nixon order Mitchell to conduct the break-in in order to gather intelligence about the activities of Larry O'Brien, the director of the Democratic Campaign Committee. On January 8, 1973, the original burglars, along with Liddy and Hunt, went to trial. All except McCord and Liddy pleaded guilty, and all were convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping. The accused had been paid by CRP to plead guilty but say nothing, and their refusal to allocute to the crimes angered the trial judge John Sirica (known as "Maximum John" because of his harsh sentencing). Sirica handed down thirty-year sentences, but indicated he would reconsider if the group would be more cooperative. McCord complied, implicated CRP in the burglary and the payoff for the burglars' silence, and admitted to perjury.

The tapes

perjury.]] The hearings held by the Senate Watergate Committee, in which Dean was the star witness and in which many other former key administration officials gave dramatic testimony, were broadcast through most of the summer, causing devastating political damage to Nixon. Most famously, Republican Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee asked the memorable question "What did the president know and when did he know it?" which focused attention for the first time on Nixon's personal role in the scandal. On July 13, Watergate Committee Deputy Minority Counsel Donald G. Sanders asked Alexander Butterfield, deputy assistant to the President, if there were any type of recording system in the White House. Butterfield answered that though he was reluctant to say so, there was a system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the Oval Office. The shocking revelation radically transformed the Watergate investigation. The tapes were soon subpoenaed by both first special prosecutor Archibald Cox and the Senate, as they might prove whether Nixon or Dean was telling the truth about key meetings. Nixon refused, citing the principle of executive privilege, and ordered Cox, via Attorney General Richardson, to drop his subpoena. Cox's refusal led to the "Saturday night massacre" on October 20, 1973, when Nixon compelled the resignations of Richardson and then his deputy William Ruckelshaus in a search for someone in the Justice Department willing to fire Cox. This search ended with Solicitor General Robert Bork, and the new acting department head dismissed the special prosecutor. Allegations of wrongdoing caused Nixon to famously state, "I am not a crook" in front of 400 Associated Press managing editors at Walt Disney World in Florida on November 17. Nixon was forced, however, to allow the appointment of a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who continued the investigation. While Nixon continued to refuse to turn over actual tapes, he did agree to release edited transcripts of a large number of them. These largely confirmed Dean's account, and caused further embarrassment when a crucial, 18½ minute portion of one tape, which had never been out of White House custody, was found to have been erased. The White House blamed this on Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, who said she had accidentally erased the tape by pushing the wrong foot pedal on her tape player while answering the phone. However, as photos splashed all over the press showed, for Woods to answer the phone and keep her foot on the pedal required a stretch that would have challenged many a gymnast. She was then said to have held this position for the full 18½ minutes. Later forensic analysis determined that the gap had been erased several — perhaps as many as nine — times over, refuting the "accidental erasure" explanation. This issue of access to the tapes went all the way to the Supreme Court. On July 24, 1974, in United States v. Nixon, the Court (which did not include the recused Justice Rehnquist) ruled unanimously that Nixon's claims of executive privilege over the tapes were void and they further ordered him to surrender them to Jaworski. On July 30 he complied with the order and released the subpoenaed tapes.

Articles of impeachment, resignation, and convictions

July 30.]] On January 28, 1974, Nixon campaign aide Herbert Porter pleaded guilty to the charge of lying to the FBI during the early stages of the Watergate investigation. On February 25, Nixon's personal lawyer Herbert Kalmbach pleaded guilty to two charges of illegal election campaign activities. Other charges were dropped in return for Kalmbach's cooperation in the forthcoming Watergate trials. On March 1, 1974, former aides of the president, known as the Watergate Seven — Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson — were indicted for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation. The grand jury also secretly named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator. Dean, Magruder and other figures in the scandal had already pleaded guilty. Colson stated in his book Born Again that he was given a report by a White House aide that clearly implicated the CIA in the whole Watergate scandal and showed an attempt to implicate him as the one responsible. On April 7, the Watergate grand jury indicted Ed Reinecke, Republican lieutenant governor of California, on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee. On April 5, former Nixon appointments secretary Dwight Chapin was convicted of lying to the grand jury. Nixon's position was becoming increasingly precarious, and the House of Representatives began formal investigations into the possible impeachment of the President. The House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 on July 27, 1974 to recommend the first article of impeachment against the President: obstruction of justice. The second (abuse of power) and third (contempt of Congress) articles were passed on July 29 and July 30, respectively. In August, the previously unknown tape from June 23, 1972 was released. Recorded only a few days after the break-in, it documented Nixon and Haldeman formulating a plan to block investigations by having the CIA claim to the FBI (falsely) that national security was involved. The tape was referred to as a "smoking gun." With this last piece of evidence, Nixon's few remaining supporters deserted him. The ten congressmen who had voted against all three Articles of Impeachment in committee announced that they would all support impeachment when the vote was taken in the full House. 1972 Nixon's support in the Senate was weak as well. After being told by key Republican Senators that enough votes existed to convict him, Nixon decided to resign. In a nationally televised address on the evening of August 8, 1974, he announced he would resign effective noon on August 9. Though Nixon's resignation obviated the pending impeachment, criminal prosecution was still a possibility. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford, who on September 8 issued a widely-scoped pardon for Nixon, immunizing him from prosecution for any crimes he may have committed as President. Nixon proclaimed his innocence until his death, although his acceptance of the pardon was construed by many as an admission of guilt. He did state in his official response to the pardon that he "was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy." Colson pleaded guilty to charges concerning the Ellsberg case; in exchange, the indictment against him for covering up the activities of CRP was dropped, as it was against Strachan. The remaining five members of the Watergate Seven indicted in March went on trial in October 1974, and on January 1, 1975, all but Parkinson were found guilty. In 1976, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Mardian; subsequently, all charges against him were dropped. Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell exhausted their appeals in 1977. Ehrlichman entered prison in 1976, followed by the other two in 1977

Aftermath

The effects of the Watergate scandal did not by any means end with the resignation of President Nixon and the imprisonment of some of his aides. Indirectly, Watergate was the cause of new laws leading to extensive changes in campaign financing. It was a major factor in the passage of amendments to the Freedom of Information Act in 1986, as well as laws requiring new financial disclosures by key government officials. While not legally required, other types of personal disclosure, such as releasing recent income tax forms, became expected. Presidents since Franklin Roosevelt had recorded many of their conversations, but after Watergate this general practice ended, at least as far as the public knows. Watergate led to a new era in which the mass media became far more aggressive in reporting on the activities of politicians. For instance, Wilbur Mills, a powerful congressman, was in a drunken driving accident a few months after Nixon resigned. The incident, similar to others which the press had previously never mentioned, was reported, and Mills soon had to resign. In addition to reporters becoming more aggressive in revealing the personal conduct of key politicians, they also became far more cynical in reporting on political issues. A new generation of reporters, hoping to become the next Woodward and Bernstein, embraced investigative reporting and sought to uncover new scandals in the increasing amounts of financial information being released about politicians and their campaigns. Since Nixon and many senior officials involved in Watergate were lawyers, the scandal severely tarnished the public image of the legal profession. In order to defuse public demand for direct federal regulation of lawyers (as opposed to leaving it in the hands of state bar associations or supreme courts), the American Bar Association launched two major reforms. First, the ABA decided that its existing Model Code of Professional Responsibility (promulgated 1969) was a failure, and replaced it with the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 1983. The MRPC has been adopted in part or in whole by 44 states. Its preamble contains an emphatic reminder to young lawyers that the legal profession can remain self-governing only if lawyers behave properly. Second, the ABA promulgated a requirement that law students at ABA-approved law schools take a course in professional responsibility (which means they must study the MRPC). The requirement remains in effect. The Watergate scandal left such an impression on the national and international consciousness that many scandals since then have been labeled with the suffix "-gate" — such as Contragate, Whitewatergate, Travelgate or Filegate in the U.S., Tunagate in Canada, and even PEMEXGATE and Toallagate in Mexico. In 2003 a scandal involving a group of Poland's key political figures and a Polish media magnate Lew Rywin was frequently referred to in Polish media as "Rywingate." The idea of scandals ending in "-gate" is itself lampooned in Tim Dorsey's novel Orange Crush, where a fraudulent campaign manager is overjoyed to find that after years of trying to get a "-gate" scandal of his own, he has committed "Seniorgate" at a retirement home.

The Watergate Scandal in Film, Literature and Music

- Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford starred, as Bernstein and Woodward respectively, in the 1976 movie All the President's Men.
- In Forrest GumpTom Hanks innocently complains that he can't sleep because of the lights and noises from the apartment across the street--the "apartment" being a room in the Watergate.
- While driving through the rain in the Rocky Horror Picture Show Brad and Janet listen to Richard Nixon's resignation speech. ("I am not a quitter!")
- The movie "Dick" starring Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams is based around the story of Watergate. Deep Throat is the code name of the two girls who divulge information concerning the scandal.

External links

- [http://www.archives.gov/nixon/tapes/transcripts.html White House tape transcripts]
- [http://www.c-span.org/executive/presidential/nixon.asp The White House tapes themselves]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/splash.html Washington Post Watergate Archive]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/watergate/watergatefront.htm Washington Post Watergate Tape Listening Guide]
- [http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/30/newsid_2933000/2933155.stm BBC News reports on Watergate]
- [http://www.watergate.info/ Watergate.info - The Scandal That Destroyed Pres. Richard Nixon]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/chronology.htm Watergate Timeline]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/players.htm Watergate Key Players by Washington Post]
- [http://www.benbest.com/history/schemers.html Schemers In the Web]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/watergate.htm Extensive set of online Watergate biographies at Spartacus] Category:U.S. political scandals
- ja:ウォーターゲート事件 zh-cn:水门事件

John N. Mitchell

.]] John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 – November 9, 1988) was the first United States Attorney General ever to be convicted of illegal activities and imprisoned. He also served as campaign director for the Committee to Re-elect the President, which employed Watergate burglar James W. McCord, Jr. in a "security" capacity. Mitchell was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up on Long Island in New York. He earned his law degree from Fordham University and was admitted to the New York bar in 1938. Except for three years' service as a naval officer during World War II where he was a PT Boat commander and received the Silver Star, from 1938 until 1968 Mitchell practiced law in New York City. Richard Nixon met John Mitchell when Mitchell's municipal bond law firm merged with Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie & Alexander in 1967. The two men became friends, and in 1968, with considerable trepidation, Mitchell agreed to become Nixon's presidential campaign manager. During his successful 1968 campaign, Nixon turned over the details of the day-to-day operations to the superbly organized Mitchell. After he became president in January 1969, Nixon appointed Mitchell attorney general. Mitchell remained in office from 1969 until he resigned in 1972 to manage President Nixon's successful reelection campaign. As attorney general, Mitchell believed that the government's need for "law and order" justified restrictions on civil liberties. He advocated the use of wiretaps in national security cases without obtaining a court order and the right of police to employ the preventive detention of criminal suspects. He brought conspiracy charges against critics of the Vietnam War, and demonstrated a reluctance to involve the Justice Department in civil rights issues. "The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency," he told reporters. "It is not the place to carry on a program aimed at curing the ills of society." On February 21, 1975, Mitchell was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury and sentenced to two and a half to eight years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up, which he dubbed the White House horrors. Tape recordings made by President Nixon and the testimony of others involved confirmed that Mitchell had participated in meetings to plan the break-in of the Democratic party's national headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. In addition, he had met, on at least three occasions, with the president in an effort to cover up White House involvement after the burglars were discovered and arrested. In 1972, he warned reporter Carl Bernstein about a forthcoming Watergate-related article: "Katie Graham's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published." This threat against the Washington Post publisher is considered the most famous threat in the history of American journalism. Around 5 P.M. on November 9, 1988, he collapsed from a heart attack on the sidewalk in front of 2812 N St., N.W., Georgetown, Washington, DC. That evening he would die at George Washington University Hospital. He was buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. His wife Martha passed away in 1976. The Martha Mitchell effect is named after John Mitchell's wife.

References

- Rupert, James. (November 11, 1988). "Mistake Didn't Affect Care Of Mitchell, Officials Say". Washington Post, p. C12.

External link

Mitchell, John Newton Mitchell, John Newton Mitchell, John Newton Mitchell, John Newton Mitchell, John Newton Mitchell, John Newton ja:ジョン・N・ミッチェル

H. R. Haldeman

.]] Harry Robbins Haldeman (publicly known as H. R. Haldeman, and informally as Bob Haldeman) (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was a U.S. political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and for his subsequent role in the Watergate scandal and the only man involved to admit wrongdoing. Bob Haldeman was born in Los Angeles, California the son of socially prominent parents. His father, a prosperous plumbing contractor, gave time and financial support to local Republican causes, while mother Betty was a longtime volunteer with the Salvation Army and other philanthropic organizations. Young Bob and his siblings Tom and Betsy were raised in the strict Christian Science faith. Known to his peers as a "straight arrow," he sported his trademark flat-top haircut from early childhood, enjoyed discussions of ethics, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He married his childhood friend Jo (Joanne) Horton in 1948. A World War II Naval Reserve veteran, Bob attended the University of Redlands, the University of Southern California and graduated from UCLA in 1948. It was at UCLA that he would meet his long time friend and later colleague in the Nixon White House, John Ehrlichman. After graduation he spent 20 years working for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in both Los Angeles and New York City. Richard Nixon and Haldeman first met in the 1950s. He served as an advance man in Nixon's unsuccessful 1960 presidential campaign and 1962 California gubernatorial campaign. He took over as campaign manager for Nixon's successful 1968 presidential campaign. Calling on his many years in advertising he was credited with presenting a revitalized Richard Nixon to the public. Nixon named Haldeman as his first White House Chief of Staff. Together with Ehrlichman they were called "The Berlin Wall" by other White House staffers given their penchant for keeping others away from Nixon and serving as his "gatekeepers". They became Nixon's most loyal and trusted aides during his presidency. Both were ruthless in protecting what they and Nixon saw as the president's best interests; Haldeman referred to himself as Nixon's "son of a bitch". The Berlin Wall.]] Haldeman was a key figure in the Watergate scandal, and the unexplained 18 1/2 minute gap in Nixon's Oval Office recordings concealed a discussion that included the president and Haldeman. After damning testimony from White House Counsel John Dean, Nixon requested the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman in what has been described as a long and emotional meeting at Camp David. Dean was fired and the resignations were announced on April 30, 1973. After Nixon announced the resignations Haldeman called Nixon and in an emotional exchange Nixon ended it by saying, "I love you, as you know.....like a brother". On January 1, 1975, he was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice and sentenced to an 18-month prison sentence, which he served in Lompoc Federal Prison. He went on to become a successful real estate developer and entrepreneur. In 1978, he published The Ends of Power, in which he took responsibility for fostering the atmosphere in which Watergate flourished, a stark contrast from Ehrlichman who never forgave Nixon for not pardoning him. The book also alleged a CIA plot to cover-up facts related to the Kennedy Assassination. Using this information Oliver Stone speculated that the missing 18 1/2 minutes of tape contained a discussion concerning a cover-up of the Kennedy Assassination in Stone's 1995 film Nixon. His White House diaries were released posthumously as The Haldeman Diaries in 1994. Haldeman died of abdominal cancer at his home in Santa Barbara, California. His remains were cremated and a burial site has never been revealed. He left behind his always loyal wife Jo and their four children - Susan, Harry, Peter, and Ann. Upon his death Nixon stated, "I have known Bob Haldeman to be a man of rare intelligence, strength, integrity and courage. . . ." In the popular press, Haldeman was sometimes erroneously identified as "H. Robert Haldeman." In the White House, he was nicknamed "The Brush" for his distinctive flattop haircut.

References

- Haldeman, H. R. The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House. New York : Putnam, 1994.
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/haldeman.html Washington Post profile of Haldeman]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A99231-1993Nov13¬Found=true Washington Post Haldeman Obituary]
- [http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/museum/exhibits/watergate_files/index.html Ford Library & Museum:The Watergate Files]
- [http://rsparlourtricks.blogspot.com/2005/10/hr-haldeman.html Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks: H.R. Haldeman] Haldeman, H.R.Haldeman, H.R.Haldeman, H.R.Haldeman, H.R.Haldeman, H.R.ja:ハリー・ロビンス・ハルデマン

1975

Events

January

February

March

April-May

June-July

August

September

October

November

December

Unknown dates

Births

January-April

May-August

September-December

Deaths

Unknown date

January-March

April-August

September-December

Common year starting on Wednesday

Watergate scandal

Overview

The burglary

The tapes

Articles of impeachment, resignation, and convictions

Aftermath

The Watergate Scandal in Film, Literature and Music

See also

External links

John N. Mitchell

References

External link

H. R. Haldeman

References

Watergate

Overview

The burglary