Bringing Down a President by Andrea Balis

Author:Andrea Balis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

THE LAW VERSUS RICHARD NIXON

IF WE HAVE A CONFRONTATION, WE WILL HAVE IT. IF COX DOES NOT AGREE, WE WILL GET RID OF COX.

—Alexander Haig, Nixon’s chief of staff, to Elliot Richardson, attorney general

FLY ON THE WALL: Richard Nixon wrote a polite, firm letter to Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor, explaining that, in order to protect the presidency, he could not turn over the tapes. Bright and early the next day, Cox showed up in Judge John J. Sirica’s office, requesting a subpoena, which is a court order demanding that you have to do something, whether you want to or not, and if you don’t do it, you go to jail.

In Re: Subpoena to Nixon: Order that respondent, President Richard M. Nixon, or any subordinate officer,… is hereby commanded to produce forthwith … the subpoenaed documents or objects [i.e., the tapes].

FLY ON THE WALL: Nixon dug in his heels.

Nixon: With the utmost respect for the court … the President is not subject to compulsory process from the courts.

FLY ON THE WALL: Journalists understood now that the Watergate hearings were about far more than a small-scale break-in.

Newsday: The impending clash threatens political and constitutional fallout far more destructive than the Watergate scandal itself.

FLY ON THE WALL: But did Nixon understand?

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