You guys know something about Watergate, right? At the very least the word conjures up an association of President Nixon with unlawful activity. As every day of the tumultuous Trump presidency passes the word seems to be mentioned more and more frequently, with attached comparisons between the Nixon and Trump administrations. And in most of the cases you can argue that such a comparison requires a leap of faith to some degree. But the firing of James Comey is hard to disassociate from that logic. When President Nixon fired Archibald Cox, the prosecutor investigating the 1972 presidential election, it was viewed by almost everyone as an unethical act performed by a desperate man. The whole Comey affair brings to mind the old adage “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
In the summer of 1973 the Senate Watergate Hearings were in full swing. I have a vivid recollection of many of the prominent figures that were involved in testifying, like White House counsel John Dean, and Alexander Butterfield. The judicial committee was composed of men we so long for today, a bipartisan group of principled, ethical people- Chairman Sam Ervin, Senators Lowell Weicker, Daniel Inouye and Howard Baker. My question does not evolve around a similarity between these two administrations, but a difference. What the fuck is with all the classified material going on now?
During that summer of 1973 my wife and I took a very long road trip. It is difficult for most to comprehend when I tell the story, but seven of us packed ourselves into my father-in-law’s station wagon, an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, and drove from Wesley Iowa, my wife’s home town in the northern part of the state, to Arizona, and back. Besides my wife and I, members of that brave group were my wife’s family- her mother and father and three siblings. It was a fantastic trip, remarkable for many reasons, of course one of which would be how we made it back to Wesley without purposely leaving someone behind. We saw some of our country’s most beautiful scenery- the Grand Canyon, the Arizona desert, Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore, and the Bighorn mountains, where I spent many weekends of my youth.
We were so overwhelmed with excitement to start out we gave up on sleeping overnight in Wesley and took off at 10pm in the evening, took turns driving, and drove 22 straight hours to Albuquerque NM. The next day we arrived in Flagstaff AZ, the primary destination point of our trip, to visit my wife’s older brother. After two days there, we were off again, and the length of each day of travel became shorter and shorter. That was because there were those Watergate hearings, and all of us, especially my father-in-law, became mesmerized by the proceedings. It was late July, and we just happened to be traveling during the sweet spot of the televised coverage- six days of continuous, riveting witness to history. We had to stop early enough and fire up a television set so we could catch up on the day’s events.
In 1973 the Democrats controlled the Senate, but they needed Republican support to move forward with the investigation of a Republican president. By that point in time there were several Republican senators who realized the right thing to do was put country before party and get to the bottom of Nixon’s malfeasance. Republican and Democrat senators on that judiciary committee pounded away, and never once do I remember the term “classified material” ever coming up.
That I know of, the official investigation of Nixon was conducted by the Watergate Senate Judicial Committee, and that was it. There were not multiple investigations, like there are now with Trump. I don’t recall the word “classified” coming up at all during the Watergate hearings. We had a responsible senate that decided enough was enough and bore down on the problem, citing evidence and hearing testimony that was evidently not considered classified, or it was declassified at the time of the proceedings. All ducks were apparently in an orderly row.
Representative Government at Work During Watergate Hearings
I can’t say that I understand all the legal and technical details of what it takes to initiate a judicial investigation like Watergate. Maybe changes in procedure have occurred since then. Maybe involved investigative parties do not want to move forward until everything pertinent is researched and documented. I know that during the televised hearings that I have seen this month every time it appears there might be some significant revelation, the word “classified” comes up and then again I wonder where and when will the information be handed off to someone who can unveil its mysteries. Another thing I know is there is definitely something wrong that needs a full investigation. President Trump is hiding something, and his entire posture smacks of obstruction. It’s time to get all this classified material corralled and investigated by one dedicated body, and since the Republicans seem to be intensely afraid of President Trump’s unhinged, retaliatory nature it is apparent we need independent inquiry.
President Trump at Work with Governmental Machinery
My personal feeling is there will be little in the way of anything subversive at the end of a competent investigation. I think what it will show is something President Trump is afraid of more than anything- fear of looking like an incompetent loser. His tax returns simply have to become publicly available. There lies the answers to most of the questions. I think what will be revealed is documented proof that Trump is a shifty, but very poor businessman who might possibly have been bailed out by a shady Russian loan.
The Republicans must quit acting like ass-kissing sycophants and do what is right. They are supposed to be working for us and the majority of us want to know if the Trump campaign was involved in illegal activity, and to what degree Russia was involved. Regardless of the outcome we deserve to to know one way or the other if what transpired during the 2016 election is the kind of thing our founding fathers feared most- foreign interference in our democracy.