A Real Constitutional Crisis; And The Nation Survived
Fifty years ago this summer, the country was in the midst of a real constitutional crisis amid a battle between the executive and legislative branches.The nation survived and the constitution worked. So, let’s call up Peabody and Sherman from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show and their “way back” time machine and set the calendar back fifty years to August 1974.
It had been more than two years since the Watergate burglary in June 1972 and that scandal was still dominating the news in the summer of 1974. But it was about to come to a head. For over two years President Nixon had been saying that he not been involved in the Watergate burglary or the cover up. He blamed that it was due to “overzealous aides.” He had fired his top advisors in the spring of 1973, but for the past year, he was fighting the release of White House tape recordings.
Then, in late July 1974, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Nixon had to release to the congressional committee investigating the Watergate cover up those tape recordings. When those tape recordings were made public, they revealed that the President had been involved in the cover up of the Watergate burglary from the beginning and may have had knowledge of that break in when it happened.
The reaction to these tape recordings was fast and furious. Nixon’s support among congressional Republicans evaporated faster than spit in the desert. The House had appointed a committee to investigate the impeachment of President Nixon the previous autumn after the “Saturday night massacre” in October 1973. Now that House committee had solid incontrovertible evidence of the President’s involvement in the cover up of the Watergate burglary. Even my father-in-law, a staunch Republican said, “Nixon has to go.”
Nixon’s impeachment, conviction and removal from office seemed as certain as 90-degree weather in August. The Watergate scandal that had dominated the news was about to reach a climax that summer. President Nixon’s closest aides convinced him that the honorable thing to do was to resign, rather than put the nation through months of an impeachment, trial, conviction and ultimate removal from office. On Thursday evening August 8, 1974, President Nixon addressed the nation and said that he would resign the presidency effective at noon on Friday August 9, 1974. He became the first and so far, the only American President to resign.
That morning President Nixon boarded Marine One, the official helicopter for the President at the White House to begin the journey back to his home in California. As Nixon was in the air, Vice President Gerald Ford, appointed as Vice President by Nixon following the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew the previous October was inaugurated as the 38th President of the United States. Ford became the first and so far, the only President not elected as President or Vice President. His first words after becoming President were “Our long national nightmare is now over.” In his inaugural address, he promised to heal the wounds created by the two-year Watergate scandal. For Richard Nixon, the fall from grace could not have been faster or further. Less than two years earlier, Nixon was re-elected to a second term in a landslide of historic proportions. Now he had resigned in disgrace over a “third rate burglary” that went horribly wrong.
While the nation’s attention was on the drama of the Watergate scandal, the economy had slipped into the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The auto industry was particularly hard hit as the auto plants were closed and dealerships were going out of business. Unemployment approached the 10% level for the first times since the great depression.
However, President Ford’s “honeymoon” was short lived. On Sunday September 8, 1974, President Ford announced to the nation that he had granted former President Nixon a “full and complete pardon” for any crimes that he may have committed during the Watergate burglary and cover up. Although Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency, he still was facing possible and certain criminal charges related to the Watergate burglary and cover up. The President said that it was time to move on and put the Watergate scandal behind and to focus on the problems facing the nation, particularly the economy.
The reaction to Nixon’s pardon was as fast and furious as Nixon’s resignation. Pundits said the pardon reeked of a “secret deal” between Nixon and Ford when he was appointed Vice President in October 1973. In the November 1974 mid-term elections, the Republican party was trounced with the Democratic party winning a “veto proof” two-thirds majority in both houses of congress. To this day, I believe that President Ford’s pardon of his predecessor contributed to his loss to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.
Fifty years ago, no one, especially I who was a young adult then, ever imagined that a future President would claim blanket immunity for any criminal charges during and after his presidency. The Supreme Court has muddied the waters further by saying that the President has immunity for “official acts” of the presidency. So, now we have another legal argument as to what constitutes “official acts’ of the presidency. No doubt that Richard Nixon would have claimed that covering up the Watergate burglary was an “official act” of the presidency.
If we fail to learn from history, we are destined to repeat history. Somehow this feels like “déjà vu all over again.”
Lee Kamps
Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.