The Idea That Is America by Anne-Marie Slaughter

Author:Anne-Marie Slaughter [Slaughter, Anne-Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780465008605
Publisher: Basic Books

JUSTICE FOR ALL means two things: that nobody is denied justice, and that nobody escapes it. It took Korematsu decades to receive the modicum of justice needed to clear his name, but the perpetrator of injustice in his case, the U.S. government, was never formally held to account. Justice for all must apply to the strong as well as the weak. That is a lesson that President Richard Nixon learned the hard way.

During the early hours of June 17, 1972, five men carrying surveillance equipment were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate Hotel. It soon emerged that the five intruders had strong ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Republican Party, connections that became even more suspicious when a check for $25,000 that had been earmarked for President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign appeared in one of the burglar’s bank accounts. Though the Nixon campaign and the White House denied any connection to the incident, the FBI launched an investigation and the Washington press corps, led by the Washington Post, began digging around.

In September, the Post reported that John Mitchell, a former attorney general and the head of Nixon’s reelection campaign, controlled a secret Republican group that carried out intelligence-gathering on Democrats while he was attorney general. It was later reported that the Watergate break-in was part of a massive Republican effort to spy on and sabotage Democratic activities throughout the 1972 campaign. Despite these allegations, Nixon trounced his Democratic opponent, George McGovern, in the November 11 election, winning every state but Massachusetts.

But as his second term began, Nixon found himself increasingly beset by the scandal. In January, the Watergate burglars were convicted for spying on the Democrats, and a month later, the Senate formed a special committee to investigate Nixon’s campaign activities. Then, in March, one of the burglars, James McCord, who had also served as head of security for Nixon’s reelection campaign, wrote a letter to the presiding judge declaring that his codefendants had lied during the trial to hide their connections to the White House. He also claimed that Attorney General John Mitchell and presidential counsel John Dean had encouraged the burglars to lie.

News of the cover-up fueled public outrage, though Nixon continued to deny that he had any knowledge of the break-in or efforts to stymie investigation into the incident. On April 30, the president appeared on national television to announce the dismissal of Dean and other top advisers. Then, on June 25, Dean testified before the Senate committee, outlining the wide range of political espionage the White House had been engaged in and asserting that Nixon had been involved in cover-up operations within days of the Watergate break-in.

Emboldened by this testimony and seeking definitive proof of Nixon’s abuse of presidential powers for partisan gain, the Senate committee insisted that the White House turn over documents and tapes of conversations between the president and his advisers. Nixon refused, citing the president’s prerogative to hold frank, confidential discussions with his advisers.

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