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Watergate scandal

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136-548: The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon which began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974. It revolved around members of a group associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at

272-522: A deficit every year Ford was president. Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight public budgeting , Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. Ford expressed "strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children" according to

408-568: A special prosecutor for Watergate in May. Cox obtained a subpoena for the tapes, but Nixon continued to resist. In the " Saturday Night Massacre " in October, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, after which Richardson resigned, as did his deputy William Ruckelshaus ; Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out the order. The incident bolstered a growing public belief that Nixon had something to hide, but he continued to defend his innocence and said he

544-651: A Grand Rapids law practice with a friend, Philip W. Buchen . Following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor , Ford enlisted in the Navy. He received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school at Annapolis, Maryland . After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina , where he

680-582: A conversation taped on June 23 between the President and his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman , in which Nixon asked, "Who was the asshole that did that?" However, Nixon subsequently ordered Haldeman to have the CIA block the FBI's investigation into the source of the funding for the burglary. A few days later, Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler , described the event as "a third-rate burglary attempt". On August 29, at

816-515: A crook." He needed to allow Bork to appoint a new special prosecutor; Bork, with Nixon's approval, chose Leon Jaworski to continue the investigation. On March 1, 1974, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted several former aides of Nixon, who became known as the " Watergate Seven "— H. R. Haldeman , John Ehrlichman , John N. Mitchell , Charles Colson , Gordon C. Strachan , Robert Mardian , and Kenneth Parkinson —for conspiring to hinder

952-402: A distinguished public servant, my personal friend for 20 years, with no personal involvement whatever in this matter has been a close personal and professional associate of some of those who are involved in this case, he and I both felt that it was also necessary to name a new Attorney General. The Counsel to the President , John Dean, has also resigned. On the same day, April 30, Nixon appointed

1088-577: A half years, on February 1, 1917, Gardner married Gerald Rudolff Ford , a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. Though never formally adopted, her young son was referred to as Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. from then on; the name change , including the anglicized spelling "Rudolph", was formalized on December 3, 1935. He was raised in what is now East Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers from his mother's second marriage: Thomas Gardner "Tom" Ford (1918–1995), Richard Addison "Dick" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis "Jim" Ford (1927–2001). Ford

1224-454: A history of hitting his mother. In a biography of Ford, James M. Cannon wrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents was sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took a butcher knife and threatened to kill his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she had smiled at another man during their honeymoon. After living with her parents for two and

1360-533: A large sum of money, which he declined. The President announced the resignations in an address to the American people: Today, in one of the most difficult decisions of my Presidency, I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. [...] Because Attorney General Kleindienst, though

1496-626: A negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career." Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee . Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy." He voted in favor of

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1632-578: A new attorney general, Elliot Richardson , and gave him authority to designate a special counsel for the Watergate investigation who would be independent of the regular Justice Department hierarchy. In May 1973, Richardson named Archibald Cox to the position. On February 7, 1973, the United States Senate voted 77-to-0 to approve 93 S.Res. 60 and establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with Sam Ervin named chairman

1768-529: A new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replace Charles Halleck of Indiana as minority leader. The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the " Young Turks ". One of

1904-508: A news conference, Nixon stated that Dean had conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, when Dean had actually not conducted any investigations at all. Nixon furthermore said, "I can say categorically that ... no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident." On September 15, Nixon congratulated Dean, saying, "The way you've handled it, it seems to me, has been very skillful, because you—putting your fingers in

2040-635: A portion of the text of Burdick v. United States , a 1915 U.S. Supreme Court decision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt. In 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award to Ford for his pardon of Nixon. In presenting the award to Ford, Senator Edward Kennedy said that he had initially been opposed to

2176-466: A resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house. ' " When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House. This made him

2312-484: A scoreless tie in the first half. After the game, assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan said, "When I walked into the dressing room at halftime, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and [Cedric] Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense." Ford later recalled, "During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face

2448-415: A second "burglary" to take care of the situation. Sometime after midnight on Saturday, June 17, 1972, Watergate Complex security guard Frank Wills noticed tape covering the latches on some of the complex's doors leading from the underground parking garage to several offices, which allowed the doors to close but stay unlocked. He removed the tape, believing it was not in itself suspicious. When he returned

2584-536: A secret Republican fund used to finance intelligence-gathering against the Democrats. On October 10, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post reported that the FBI had determined that the Watergate break-in was part of a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage on behalf of the Nixon re-election committee. Despite these revelations, Nixon's campaign was never seriously jeopardized; on November 7,

2720-406: A series of articles about the financial dealings of Charles "Bebe" Rebozo , a friend of Nixon. The administration and its supporters accused the media of making "wild accusations", putting too much emphasis on the story and of having a liberal bias against the administration. Nixon said in a May 1974 interview with supporter Baruch Korff that if he had followed the liberal policies that he thought

2856-482: A short time later and discovered that someone had re-taped the locks, he called the police. Police dispatched an unmarked police car with three plainclothes officers, Sgt. Paul W. Leeper, Officer John B. Barrett, and Officer Carl M. Shoffler, who were working the overnight shift; they were often referred to as the "bum squad" because they often dressed undercover as hippies and were on the lookout for drug deals and other street crimes. Alfred Baldwin, on " spotter " duty at

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2992-526: A source they called " Deep Throat " (later identified as Mark Felt , associate director of the FBI ) and uncovered a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage directed by White House officials and illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon dismissed the accusations as political smears, and he won the election in a landslide in November. Further investigation and revelations from the burglars' trial led

3128-427: A tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds." His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, "They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause." During Ford's senior year, a controversy developed when Georgia Tech said that it would not play a scheduled game with Michigan if a Black player named Willis Ward took

3264-662: A veteran crime reporter of the New York Daily News , tracked Mitchell to the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, and described Mitchell as "a beaten woman" with visible bruises. Mitchell reported that, during the week following the Watergate burglary, she had been held captive in a hotel in California, and that security guard Steve King ended her call to Thomas by pulling the phone cord from

3400-412: A way that was least likely to incriminate him and his presidency. Nixon created a new conspiracy—to effect a cover-up of the cover-up—which began in late March 1973 and became fully formed in May and June 1973, operating until his presidency ended on August 9, 1974." On March 23, 1973, Judge Sirica read the court a letter from Watergate burglar James McCord , who alleged that perjury had been committed in

3536-476: A wider web of crimes than the FBI first disclosed. All the secret meetings between Woodward and Felt took place at an underground parking garage in Rosslyn over a period from June 1972 to January 1973. Prior to resigning from the FBI on June 22, 1973, Felt also anonymously planted leaks about Watergate with Time magazine , The Washington Daily News and other publications. During this early period, most of

3672-458: The 1976 presidential election , an observation with which Ford agreed. In an editorial at the time, The New York Times stated that the Nixon pardon was a "profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence". On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president since Abraham Lincoln to testify before

3808-630: The Carter administration . When Ford assumed office, he inherited Nixon's Cabinet . During his brief administration, he replaced all members except Secretary of State Kissinger and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon . Political commentators have referred to Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 as the " Halloween Massacre ". One of Ford's appointees, William Coleman —the Secretary of Transportation —was

3944-717: The Civil Rights Acts of 1957 , 1960 , 1964 , and 1968 , as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a "Congressman's Congressman". In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to become Speaker of the House , which he called "the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be

4080-526: The Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter . Ford remains the only person to serve as president without winning an election for president or vice president. Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside

4216-870: The Gilbert Islands , Bismarck Archipelago , Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia , Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), the Philippine Liberation Medal with two 3 ⁄ 16 " bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and the World War II Victory Medal . He was honorably discharged in February 1946. After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challenge Bartel J. Jonkman ,

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4352-454: The House elections , taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, the number necessary to override a presidential veto or to propose a constitutional amendment. Perhaps due in part to this fact, the 94th Congress overrode the highest percentage of vetoes since Andrew Johnson

4488-546: The House of Representatives . In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as "my predecessor" or "the former president." When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondent Fred Barnes recalled that he replied "I just can't bring myself to do it." After Ford left the White House in January 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet

4624-578: The Howard Johnson's hotel across the street, was distracted watching the film Attack of the Puppet People on TV and did not observe the arrival of the police car in front of the Watergate building, nor did he see the plainclothes officers investigating the DNC's sixth floor suite of 29 offices. By the time Baldwin finally noticed unusual activity on the sixth floor and radioed the burglars, it

4760-687: The Marianas , Western Carolines , and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of the Philippine Sea . After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island , participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukyus , and supported the landings at Leyte and Mindoro . Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces,

4896-422: The Monterey was one of several ships damaged by Typhoon Cobra that hit Admiral William Halsey's Third Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost three destroyers and over 800 men during the typhoon. The Monterey was damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on the hangar deck . Ford was serving as General Quarters Officer of

5032-616: The National Environmental Policy Act and the Tax Reform Act of 1969 . Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established a revenue sharing program for state and local governments. Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported

5168-714: The Old Executive Office Building . On Monday, July 16, in front of a live, televised audience, chief minority counsel Fred Thompson asked Butterfield whether he was "aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president". Butterfield's revelation of the taping system transformed the Watergate investigation. Cox immediately subpoenaed the tapes, as did the Senate, but Nixon refused to release them, citing his executive privilege as president, and ordered Cox to drop his subpoena. Cox refused. On October 20, 1973, after Cox,

5304-598: The President was re-elected in one of the biggest landslides in American political history. The connection between the break-in and the re-election committee was highlighted by media coverage—in particular, investigative coverage by The Washington Post , Time , and The New York Times . The coverage dramatically increased publicity and consequent political and legal repercussions. Relying heavily upon anonymous sources , Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of

5440-456: The Senate to establish a special Watergate Committee and the House of Representatives to grant its Judiciary Committee expanded authority in February 1973. The burglars received lengthy prison sentences that they were told would be reduced if they co-operated, which began a flood of testimony from witnesses. In April, Nixon appeared on television to deny wrongdoing on his part and to announce

5576-546: The University of Michigan , where he played center and linebacker for the school's football team and helped the Wolverines to two undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933 . In his senior year of 1934 , the team suffered a steep decline and won only one game, but Ford was still the team's star player. In one of those games, Michigan held heavily favored Minnesota —the eventual national champion—to

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5712-791: The Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. , on June 17, 1972, and Nixon's later attempts to hide his administration's involvement. Following the arrest of the burglars, both the press and the Department of Justice connected the money found on those involved to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward , journalists from The Washington Post , pursued leads provided by

5848-511: The White House quickly went to work to cover up the crime and any evidence that might have damaged the president and his reelection. On September 15, 1972, a grand jury indicted the five office burglars, as well as Hunt and Liddy, for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The burglars were tried by a jury, with Judge John Sirica officiating, and pled guilty or were convicted on January 30, 1973. Within hours of

5984-559: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy . Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald . He and Earl Warren also interviewed Jack Ruby , Oswald's killer. According to a 1963 FBI memo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director, Cartha DeLoach , about

6120-588: The 1939 Neutrality Act . The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for the America First Committee , a group determined to keep the U.S. out of World War II . His introduction into politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign of Wendell Willkie . Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar shortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened

6256-577: The 40th vice president from 1973 to 1974. Prior to that, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973. Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan . He attended the University of Michigan , where he played for the school's football team , before eventually attending Yale Law School . Afterward, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946. Ford began his political career in 1949 as

6392-621: The Deck and was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, Captain Stuart H. Ingersoll . The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again. After the fire, the Monterey was declared unfit for service. Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School at Saint Mary's College of California , where he

6528-500: The FBI to halt its investigation. On the verge of being impeached, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so. In all 48 people were found guilty of Watergate-related crimes, but Nixon was pardoned by his vice president and successor Gerald Ford on September 8. Public response to the Watergate disclosures had electoral ramifications: the Republican Party lost four seats in

6664-399: The House and Senate. Some, including Barry Goldwater , voted against him. On September 8, 1974, Ford issued Proclamation 4311 , which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that

6800-469: The Howard Johnson's motel across the street from the Watergate complex. Room 419 was booked in the name of McCord's company. At the behest of Liddy and Hunt, McCord and his team of burglars prepared for their first Watergate break-in, which began on May 28. Two phones inside the DNC headquarters offices were said to have been wiretapped . One was Robert Spencer Oliver 's phone. At the time, Oliver

6936-455: The Nixon family's situation "is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must." Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a " corrupt bargain " had been struck between the two men, in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to

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7072-472: The President (CRP) and former aide to John Ehrlichman , presented a campaign intelligence plan to CRP's acting chairman Jeb Stuart Magruder , Attorney General John Mitchell , and Presidential Counsel John Dean . The plot involved extensive illegal activities against the Democratic Party . According to Dean, this marked "the opening scene of the worst political scandal of the twentieth century and

7208-402: The Senate and 48 seats in the House at the 1974 mid-term elections , and Ford's pardon of Nixon is widely agreed to have contributed to his election defeat in 1976 . A word combined with the suffix " -gate " has become widely used to name scandals, even outside the U.S., and especially in politics. On January 27, 1972, G. Gordon Liddy , Finance Counsel for the Committee for the Re-Election of

7344-473: The U.S. representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district , serving in this capacity for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as the House minority leader . In December 1973, two months after Spiro Agnew 's resignation, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment . After the subsequent resignation of Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed

7480-515: The United States and serve two years working in a public service job or a total of two years service for those who had served less than two years of honorable service in the military. The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Deserters established a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change in military discharge status. Full pardon for draft dodgers came in

7616-418: The Watergate investigation. The grand jury secretly named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator . The special prosecutor dissuaded them from an indictment of Nixon, arguing that a president can be indicted only after he leaves office. John Dean, Jeb Stuart Magruder , and other figures had already pleaded guilty. On April 5, 1974, Dwight Chapin , the former Nixon appointments secretary, was convicted of lying to

7752-426: The Watergate trial, and defendants had been pressured to remain silent. In an attempt to make them talk, Sirica gave Hunt and two burglars provisional sentences of up to 40 years. Urged by Nixon, on March 28, aide John Ehrlichman told Attorney General Richard Kleindienst that nobody in the White House had had prior knowledge of the burglary. On April 13, Magruder told U.S. attorneys that he had perjured himself during

7888-559: The bank records of a Miami company run by Watergate burglar Barker revealed an account controlled by him personally had deposited a check and then transferred it through the Federal Reserve Check Clearing System . The investigation by the FBI, which cleared Barker's bank of fiduciary malfeasance, led to the direct implication of members of the CRP, to whom the checks had been delivered. Those individuals were

8024-472: The beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency". Mitchell viewed the plan as unrealistic. Two months later, Mitchell approved a reduced version of the plan, which included burglarizing the Democratic National Committee 's (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C. to photograph campaign documents and install listening devices in telephones. Liddy has since insisted that he

8160-539: The bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against). During the eight years (1965–1973) that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. For the past decade, Ford had been unsuccessfully working to help Republicans across the country get a majority in the chamber so that he could become House Speaker . He promised his wife that he would try again in 1974 then retire in 1976. However, on October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned from

8296-558: The blessing of the Ford family, it was placed back into circulation in 2012 as part of the Michigan Football Legends program and issued to sophomore linebacker Desmond Morgan before a home game against Illinois on October 13. Throughout life, Ford remained interested in his school and football; he occasionally attended games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices; at one point, he asked to join

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8432-451: The boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale University and applied to its law school. Ford hoped to attend Yale Law School beginning in 1935. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at the University of Michigan Law School and was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 to Yale Law School . That year he

8568-597: The break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the upper reaches of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and the White House. Woodward and Bernstein interviewed Judy Hoback Miller , the bookkeeper for Nixon's re-election campaign, who revealed to them information about the mishandling of funds and records being destroyed. Chief among the Post's anonymous sources was an individual whom Woodward and Bernstein had nicknamed Deep Throat ; 33 years later, in 2005,

8704-501: The burglars' arrests, the FBI discovered E. Howard Hunt 's name in Barker and Martínez's address books. Nixon administration officials were concerned because Hunt and Liddy were also involved in a separate secret activity known as the " White House Plumbers ", which was established to stop security " leaks " and investigate other sensitive security matters. Dean later testified that top Nixon aide John Ehrlichman ordered him to " deep six "

8840-401: The burglars' trial, and implicated John Dean and John Mitchell. John Dean believed that he, Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman could go to the prosecutors, tell the truth, and save the presidency. Dean wanted to protect the president and have his four closest men take the fall for telling the truth. During the critical meeting between Dean and Nixon on April 15, 1973, Dean was totally unaware of

8976-628: The carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets in late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng , Papua New Guinea in 1943. During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in

9112-474: The committee bookkeeper and its treasurer, Hugh Sloan . As a private organization, the committee followed the normal business practice in allowing only duly authorized individuals to accept and endorse checks on behalf of the committee. No financial institution could accept or process a check on behalf of the committee unless a duly authorized individual endorsed it. The checks deposited into Barker's bank account were endorsed by Committee treasurer Hugh Sloan, who

9248-416: The contents of Howard Hunt's White House safe. Ehrlichman subsequently denied this. In the end, Dean and L. Patrick Gray , the FBI's acting director, (in separate operations) destroyed the evidence from Hunt's safe. Nixon's own reaction to the break-in, at least initially, was one of skepticism. Watergate prosecutor James Neal was sure that Nixon had not known in advance of the break-in. As evidence, he cited

9384-428: The dikes every time that leaks have sprung here and sprung there." Martha Mitchell was the wife of Nixon's Attorney General , John N. Mitchell , who had recently resigned his role so that he could become campaign manager for Nixon's Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP). John Mitchell was aware that Martha knew McCord, one of the Watergate burglars who had been arrested, and that upon finding out, she

9520-472: The electronic media have covered it in depth. The Muckraker movement in American journalism was a component of the Progressive Era in the U.S. in the early 20th century. Journalists have built their careers on exposure of corruption and political scandal, often acting on behalf of the opposition party. The political ideology of media owners plays a role—they prefer to target the opposition but will reluctantly cover their own side. Journalists have to frame

9656-405: The enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, he died in Rancho Mirage, California in 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientists have ranked Ford as a below-average president, though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive. Ford

9792-509: The factories where they worked. Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory. Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holding Michigan's 5th congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial in The New York Times described him, Ford "saw himself as

9928-404: The field. Students, players and alumni protested, but university officials capitulated and kept Ward out of the game. Ford was Ward's best friend on the team, and they roomed together while on road trips. Ford reportedly threatened to quit the team in response to the university's decision, but he eventually agreed to play against Georgia Tech when Ward personally asked him to play. In 1934, Ford

10064-521: The finance committee of the Committee to Reelect the President, the check was a 1972 campaign donation by Kenneth H. Dahlberg . This money (and several other checks which had been lawfully donated to the CRP) had been directly used to finance the burglary and wiretapping expenses, including hardware and supplies. Barker's multiple national and international businesses all had separate bank accounts, which he

10200-671: The first session of the Eighty-ninth Congress alone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history. In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of the Vietnam War began to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States

10336-552: The first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment had been implemented. The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35. After the confirmation vote in the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president. Ford became vice president as the Watergate scandal was unfolding. On August 1, 1974, Chief of Staff Alexander Haig contacted Ford to tell him to prepare for

10472-457: The floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion. The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played "too much football without a helmet". As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen , in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in

10608-429: The funds via cashier's checks and money orders, resulted in the banks keeping the entire transaction records until October and November 1972. All five Watergate burglars were directly or indirectly tied to the 1972 CRP, thus causing Judge Sirica to suspect a conspiracy involving higher-echelon government officials. On September 29, 1972, the press reported that John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled

10744-770: The grand jury. Two days later, the same grand jury indicted Ed Reinecke , the Republican Lieutenant Governor of California , on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee. Political scandal In politics , a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians , government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt , unethical or sexual practices. Politicians and officials who are embroiled in scandals are more likely to retire or get lower vote shares. Scandal sells, and broadsides, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines and

10880-472: The head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives". On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission , a special task force set up to investigate

11016-578: The hearings. On Friday, July 13, during a preliminary interview, deputy minority counsel Donald Sanders asked White House assistant Alexander Butterfield if there was any type of recording system in the White House. Butterfield said he was reluctant to answer, but finally admitted there was a new system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the Oval Office , the Cabinet Room and others, as well as Nixon's private office in

11152-425: The incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. "I came back a converted internationalist ", Ford wrote, "and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicated isolationist . And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one." During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left

11288-480: The infant Ford with her to Oak Park, Illinois , where her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James lived. From there, she moved to the home of her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan . Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930. Ford later said that his biological father had

11424-474: The informant was identified as Mark Felt , deputy director of the FBI during that period of the 1970s, something Woodward later confirmed. Felt met secretly with Woodward several times, telling him of Howard Hunt's involvement with the Watergate break-in, and that the White House staff regarded the stakes in Watergate as extremely high. Felt warned Woodward that the FBI wanted to know where he and other reporters were getting their information, as they were uncovering

11560-492: The media failed to understand the full implications of the scandal, and concentrated reporting on other topics related to the 1972 presidential election. Most outlets ignored or downplayed Woodward and Bernstein's scoops; the crosstown Washington Star-News and the Los Angeles Times even ran stories incorrectly discrediting the Post's articles. After the Post revealed that H.R. Haldeman had made payments from

11696-711: The media preferred, "Watergate would have been a blip." The media noted that most of the reporting turned out to be accurate; the competitive nature of the media guaranteed widespread coverage of the far-reaching political scandal. Rather than ending with the conviction and sentencing to prison of the five Watergate burglars on January 30, 1973, the investigation into the break-in and the Nixon Administration's involvement grew broader. "Nixon's conversations in late March and all of April 1973 revealed that not only did he know he needed to remove Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean to gain distance from them, but he had to do so in

11832-435: The media was polled at more than 40%. Nixon and top administration officials discussed using government agencies to "get" (or retaliate against) those they perceived as hostile media organizations. Such actions had been taken before. At the request of Nixon's White House in 1969, the FBI tapped the phones of five reporters. In 1971, the White House requested an audit of the tax return of the editor of Newsday , after he wrote

11968-484: The members of the Young Turks was congressman Donald H. Rumsfeld from Illinois's 13th congressional district , who later on would serve in Ford's administration as the chief of staff and secretary of defense . With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the " Great Society ". During

12104-469: The money to G. Gordon Liddy . Liddy, in turn, gave the money to Barker and attempted to hide its origin. Barker tried to disguise the funds by depositing them into accounts in banks outside of the United States. Unbeknownst to Barker, Liddy, and Sloan, the complete record of all such transactions was held for roughly six months. Barker's use of foreign banks in April and May 1972 to deposit checks and withdraw

12240-492: The next day. The hearings held by the Senate committee, in which Dean and other former administration officials testified, were broadcast from May 17 to August 7. The three major networks of the time agreed to take turns covering the hearings live, each network thus maintaining coverage of the hearings every third day, starting with ABC on May 17 and ending with NBC on August 7. An estimated 85% of Americans with television sets tuned into at least one portion of

12376-541: The official White House press release for the bill signing. The economic focus began to change as the country sank into the worst recession since the Great Depression four decades earlier. The focus of the Ford administration turned to stopping the rise in unemployment, which reached nine percent in May 1975. In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $ 16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation. Ford

12512-420: The only person to become the nation's chief executive without being elected to the presidency or the vice presidency. Immediately afterward, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech that was broadcast live to the nation, noting the peculiarity of his position. He later declared that "our long national nightmare is over". On August 20, Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill

12648-435: The panel's activities. In the preface to his book, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission , Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select

12784-416: The pardon, but later decided that history had proven Ford to have made the correct decision. On September 16 (shortly after he pardoned Nixon), Ford issued Presidential Proclamation 4313, which introduced a conditional amnesty program for military deserters and Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada. The conditions of the amnesty required that those reaffirm their allegiance to

12920-717: The players in the huddle. Before state events, Ford often had the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song, " The Victors ," instead of " Hail to the Chief ." Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics . He turned down offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League . Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as

13056-584: The powers of the president. Ford signed the Helsinki Accords , which marked a move toward détente in the Cold War . With the collapse of South Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War essentially ended. In the 1976 Republican presidential primary , he defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to

13192-417: The presidency. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression , with growing inflation and a recession . In one of his most controversial acts, he granted a presidential pardon to Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal . Foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on

13328-431: The presidency. At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designated vice president's residence in Washington, D.C. However, "Al Haig asked to come over and see me", Ford later said, "to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or

13464-409: The presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest after the pardon. According to Bob Woodward , Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared. Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost

13600-467: The president's depth of knowledge and involvement in the Watergate cover-up. It was during this meeting that Dean felt that he was being recorded. He wondered if this was due to the way Nixon was speaking, as if he were trying to prod attendees' recollections of earlier conversations about fundraising. Dean mentioned this observation while testifying to the Senate Committee on Watergate, exposing

13736-471: The press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show." Johnson said at the time, "Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time." The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's salty language, reported this as "Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time." After Richard Nixon was elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including

13872-668: The resignation of Attorney General Kleindienst, to ensure no one could claim that his innocent friendship with Haldeman and Ehrlichman could be construed as a conflict. He fired White House Counsel John Dean, who went on to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee and said that he believed and suspected the conversations in the Oval Office were being taped. This information became the bombshell that helped force Richard Nixon to resign rather than be impeached. Writing from prison for New West and New York magazines in 1977, Ehrlichman claimed Nixon had offered him

14008-416: The resignation of his aides. After it was revealed that Nixon had installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office, his administration refused to grant investigators access to the tapes , leading to a constitutional crisis . The televised Senate Watergate hearings by this point had garnered nationwide attention and public interest. Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as

14144-654: The second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet (after Robert C. Weaver ) and the first appointed in a Republican administration. Ford selected George H. W. Bush as Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China in 1974, and then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in late 1975. Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld . In 1975, Rumsfeld

14280-555: The secret fund, newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and The Philadelphia Inquirer failed to publish the information, but did publish the White House's denial of the story the following day. The White House also sought to isolate the Post's coverage by tirelessly attacking that newspaper while declining to criticize other damaging stories about the scandal from the New York Times and Time magazine . After it

14416-553: The serial numbers in sequence... a shortwave receiver that could pick up police calls, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras and three pen-sized tear gas guns". The Post would later report that the actual amount of cash was $ 5,300. The following morning, Sunday, June 18, G. Gordon Liddy called Jeb Magruder in Los Angeles and informed him that "the four men arrested with McCord were Cuban freedom fighters, whom Howard Hunt recruited". Initially, Nixon's organization and

14552-471: The special prosecutor, refused to drop the subpoena, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire him. Richardson resigned in protest rather than carry out the order. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox, but Ruckelshaus also resigned rather than fire him. Nixon's search for someone in the Justice Department willing to fire Cox ended with Solicitor General Robert Bork . Though Bork said he believed Nixon's order

14688-427: The story in terms of the audience's values and expectations to maximize the impact. Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr. ; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States , serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party , Ford assumed the presidency after President Richard Nixon resigned, under whom he had served as

14824-525: The thread of what were taped conversations that would unravel the fabric of the conspiracy. Two days later, Dean told Nixon that he had been cooperating with the U.S. attorneys . On that same day, U.S. attorneys told Nixon that Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, and other White House officials were implicated in the cover-up. On April 30, Nixon asked for the resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, two of his most influential aides. They were both later indicted, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to prison. He asked for

14960-416: The vice presidency he had vacated. Rockefeller's top competitor had been George H. W. Bush . Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such as Henry Kissinger . Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both

15096-417: The vice presidency. According to The New York Times , Nixon "sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement." The advice was unanimous. House Speaker Carl Albert recalled later, "We gave Nixon no choice but Ford." Ford agreed to the nomination, telling his wife that the vice presidency would be "a nice conclusion" to his career. Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12,

15232-405: The wall. Mitchell made several attempts to escape via the balcony, but was physically accosted, injured, and forcefully sedated by a psychiatrist. Following conviction for his role in the Watergate burglary, in February 1975, McCord admitted that Mitchell had been "basically kidnapped", and corroborated her reports of the event. On June 19, 1972, the press reported that one of the Watergate burglars

15368-580: Was "not a crook". In April 1974, Cox's replacement Leon Jaworski issued a subpoena for the tapes again, but Nixon only released edited transcripts of them. In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he be impeached for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. In one of the tapes, later known as "the smoking gun", he ordered aides to tell

15504-460: Was President of the United States (1865–1869). Even Ford's former, reliably Republican House seat was won by a Democrat, Richard Vander Veen , who defeated Robert VanderLaan . In the Senate elections , the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body. The economy was a great concern during the Ford administration. One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy

15640-490: Was a Republican Party security aide. Former attorney general John Mitchell, who was then the head of the CRP, denied any involvement with the Watergate break-in. He also disavowed any knowledge whatsoever of the five burglars. On August 1, a $ 25,000 (approximately $ 182,000 in 2023 dollars) cashier's check was found to have been deposited in the US and Mexican bank accounts of one of the Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker. Made out to

15776-480: Was a belief that controlling inflation would help reduce unemployment. To rein in inflation, it was necessary to control the public's spending. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, "WIN" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption. On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress; as a part of this speech he kicked off the "WIN" campaign. Over the next nine days, 101,240 Americans mailed in "WIN" pledges. In hindsight, this

15912-453: Was already too late. The police apprehended five men, later identified as Virgilio Gonzalez , Bernard Barker , James McCord , Eugenio Martínez , and Frank Sturgis . They were criminally charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. The Washington Post reported the day after the burglary that, "police found lock-picks and door jimmies, almost $ 2,300 in cash, most of it in $ 100 bills with

16048-529: Was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale. While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with the John Robert Powers agency before investing in the Harry Conover agency, with whom he modelled until 1941. While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led by R. Douglas Stuart Jr. , and signed a petition to enforce

16184-733: Was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois , at the rank of lieutenant commander . Ford received the following military awards: the American Campaign Medal , the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine 3 ⁄ 16 " bronze stars (for operations in

16320-445: Was authorized by the finance committee. However, once Sloan had endorsed a check made payable to the committee, he had a legal and fiduciary responsibility to see that the check was deposited only into the accounts named on the check. Sloan failed to do that. When confronted with the potential charge of federal bank fraud, he revealed that committee deputy director Jeb Magruder and finance director Maurice Stans had directed him to give

16456-491: Was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, at 3202 Woolworth Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska , where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was the only child of Dorothy Ayer Gardner and Leslie Lynch King Sr. , a wool trader. His paternal grandfather was banker and businessman Charles Henry King , and his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessman Levi Addison Gardner . Ford's parents separated just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took

16592-475: Was criticized for abruptly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $ 22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts. In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, these income tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 . This resulted in a federal deficit of around $ 53 billion for

16728-629: Was duped by both Dean and at least two of his subordinates. This included former CIA officers E. Howard Hunt and James McCord , the latter of whom was serving as then-CRP Security Coordinator after John Mitchell resigned as attorney general to become the CRP chairman. In May, McCord assigned former FBI agent Alfred C. Baldwin III to carry out the wiretapping and monitor the telephone conversations afterward. On May 11, McCord arranged for Baldwin, whom investigative reporter Jim Hougan described as "somehow special and perhaps well known to McCord", to stay at

16864-414: Was found to have attempted to use to disguise the true origin of the money being paid to the burglars. The donor's checks demonstrated the burglars' direct link to the finance committee of the CRP. Donations totaling $ 86,000 ($ 626,000 today) were made by individuals who believed they were making private donations by certified and cashier's checks for the president's re-election. Investigators' examination of

17000-625: Was involved in the Boy Scouts of America , and earned that program's highest rank, Eagle Scout . He is the only Eagle Scout to have ascended to the U.S. presidency. Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School, where he was a star athlete and captain of the football team. In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of the Grand Rapids City League . He also attracted the attention of college recruiters. Ford attended

17136-417: Was learned that one of the convicted burglars had written to Judge Sirica alleging a high-level cover-up, the media shifted its focus. Time magazine described Nixon as undergoing "daily hell and very little trust". The distrust between the press and the Nixon administration was mutual and greater than usual due to lingering dissatisfaction with events from the Vietnam War . At the same time, public distrust of

17272-467: Was likely to speak to the media. In his opinion, her knowing McCord was likely to link the Watergate burglary to Nixon. John Mitchell instructed guards in her security detail not to let her contact the media. In June 1972, during a phone call with United Press International reporter Helen Thomas , Martha Mitchell informed Thomas that she was leaving her husband until he resigned from the CRP. The phone call ended abruptly. A few days later, Marcia Kramer ,

17408-462: Was named by Ford as the youngest-ever Secretary of Defense . Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney , to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff; Cheney became the campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign . The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place in the wake of the Watergate scandal and less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in

17544-504: Was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the 1966 midterm elections produced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs. Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from

17680-522: Was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade , on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in March 1943. After Ford applied for sea duty, he

17816-724: Was selected for the Eastern Team in the Shriners' East–West Shrine Game at San Francisco (a benefit for physically disabled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in the Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field . In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994. With

17952-401: Was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS  Monterey  (CVL-26) , at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey . From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey . While he was on board,

18088-477: Was to create, by Executive Order on September 30, 1974, the Economic Policy Board. In October 1974, in response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public and asked them to " W hip I nflation N ow". As part of this program, he urged people to wear " WIN " buttons. At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment; there

18224-469: Was valid and appropriate, he considered resigning to avoid being "perceived as a man who did the President's bidding to save my job". Bork carried out the presidential order and dismissed the special prosecutor. These actions met considerable public criticism. Responding to the allegations of possible wrongdoing, in front of 400 Associated Press managing editors at Disney's Contemporary Resort , on November 17, 1973, Nixon emphatically stated, "Well, I am not

18360-437: Was viewed as simply a public relations gimmick which had no way of solving the underlying problems. The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one-year, five-percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $ 4.4 billion out of the budget, bringing federal spending below $ 300 billion. At the time, inflation was over twelve percent. The federal budget ran

18496-543: Was working as the executive director of the Association of State Democratic Chairmen. The other phone belonged to DNC chairman Larry O'Brien . The FBI found no evidence that O'Brien's phone was bugged; however, it was determined that an effective listening device was installed in Oliver's phone. While successful with installing the listening devices, the committee agents soon determined that they needed repairs. They plotted

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