[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 133 (Friday, August 10, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1140-E1141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF 44TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT 
                            RICHARD M. NIXON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 10, 2018

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in remembrance of the long 
national nightmare that ended 44 years ago today when Richard Milhous 
Nixon addressed the nation from the Oval Office and announced that he 
would resign the office of the Presidency.
  The next day, August 9, 1974, he submitted his letter of resignation 
to Henry Kissinger and left for California.
  In November 1973, long before it was clear that Richard Nixon would 
be driven from office, the noted historian Arthur Schlesinger explained 
in his essay, ``The Runaway Presidency,'' why Nixon's malfeasance was 
unique, and why it would eventually lead to his downfall:

       The presidency has been in crisis before; but the 
     constitutional offense that led to the impeachment of Andrew 
     Johnson was trivial compared to the charges now accumulating 
     around the Nixon Administration.
       There are, indeed, constitutional offenses here but . . . 
     what is unique in the history of the presidency is the long 
     list of potential criminal charges against the Nixon 
     Administration.

  When the Watergate burglars were arrested in 1972 after breaking into 
the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex 
in Washington, D.C., White House press secretary Ron Ziegler dismissed 
the incident as a ``third-rate burglary.''
  The execution of the plot to burglarize the DNC may have been third-
rate and amateurish, but that was not the essence of the vast criminal 
enterprise that would become known as ``Watergate.''
  ``Watergate'' is short-hand for the systemic, calculated effort 
conceived and managed from the inner circle of the Nixon White House to 
subvert elections, punish political enemies, undermine the media, and 
mislead the American people.
  President Nixon obstructed justice from the Oval Office, used the 
Internal Revenue Service to go after his political enemies, launched an 
illegal war in Cambodia, waged dirty tricks against his opponents, kept 
an ``enemies list,'' was recorded in the Oval Office describing Jews as 
``aggressive, abrasive and obnoxious'' and Italians as not having their 
``heads screwed on tight,'' had articles of impeachment against him 
approved by the House Judiciary Committee, and left a permanent stain 
on American democracy.
  In short, President Nixon attempted to subvert our democratic 
institutions and flout the rule of law.
  America's democratic institutions, however, are made of sterner 
stuff, and withstood this assault because in America, no one office or 
person is above the law.
  As President Theodore Roosevelt put it so well on December 7, 1903 in 
his third Annual Address to Congress: ``No man is above the law and no 
man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to 
obey it.''
  That is why former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy and former CIA employee 
James McCord, security director of the Committee to Re-elect the 
President (CREEP) would be found guilty of conspiracy, burglary and 
bugging DNC headquarters.
  E. Howard Hunt, a former CIA operative and head of the White House 
``Plumbers'' unit, and four others would plead guilty.
  In April, White House counsel John Dean, chief of staff H.R. 
Haldeman, domestic policy chief John D. Ehrlichman, and Attorney 
General Richard Kleindienst resigned amidst the growing scandal.
  On October 20, 1973, President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot 
Richardson to fire Special Counsel Archibald Cox, who refused, as did 
Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus.
  Solicitor General Robert Bork did not refuse and executed Nixon's 
order, setting off what is now known as the ``Saturday Night 
Massacre.''
  In January 1975, several high-ranking Nixon appointees--including 
H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell--would be tried, 
convicted, and sentenced to prison.
  White House Counsel Charles Colson pleaded guilty to obstruction of 
justice and served seven months.
  White House Counsel John Dean pleaded guilty to obstruction of 
justice and served four months.
  White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman was convicted of conspiracy 
and obstruction of justice and served 18 months.
  In all, more than 40 government officials were indicted or jailed.
  As we look back on the Nixon resignation and his imperial presidency, 
it is worthwhile to reflect upon the statements of Congresswoman 
Barbara Jordan, who held the seat I currently hold, made during a House 
Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing:

       Common sense would be revolted if we engaged upon this 
     process for petty reasons.
       Congress has a lot to do: Appropriations, tax reform, 
     health insurance, campaign finance reform, housing, 
     environmental protection, energy sufficiency, mass 
     transportation.
       Pettiness cannot be allowed to stand in the face of such 
     overwhelming problems.
       So today we are not being petty. We are trying to be big, 
     because the task we have before us is a big one.

[[Page E1141]]

  Mr. Speaker, the circumstances in which we find ourselves today do 
not call for pettiness.
  Nor do they call for twitter politics and spectacle.
  They call for leadership; a recognition that a respect for the rule 
of law and holding our leaders accountable for their misdeeds is a 
fundamental democratic responsibility.
  In August 1974, the vigilant and tireless efforts by law enforcement, 
journalists, and our nation's leaders led President Nixon to yield to 
the rule of law.
  The saving grace of Richard Nixon is that, at the end, he put the 
interests of the nation ahead of himself by resigning his office.
  Arthur Schlesinger's 1973 essay appears prescient in its prediction 
that ``corruption appears to visit the White House in fifty-year 
cycles.''
   As Professor Schlesinger wrote, ``If the trails are followed to 
their end, many, many years will pass before another White House staff 
dares take the liberties with the Constitution and the laws the Nixon 
White House has taken,'' which ``suggests that exposure and retribution 
inoculate the presidency against its latent criminal impulses for about 
half a century.''
  Professor Schlesinger also offered a warning that ``corruption 
appears to visit the White House in fifty-year cycles.''
  Mr. Speaker, on this historic day, let us remember that Congress is a 
co-equal branch of government and has a duty to hold the executive 
accountable for misconduct, abuse of power, and `High Crimes and 
Misdemeanors.'
  As Congresswoman Barbara Jordan declared: ``My faith in the 
Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going 
to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, 
the destruction, of the Constitution.''
  And today, Mr. Speaker, let me affirm that my faith in the 
Constitution is whole, complete, and total.
  Our nation is founded on the principle that all are equal under the 
law, and that one can only delay--never escape--the swift sword of 
justice.
  We must always be faithful to the duties imposed upon us by the 
Constitution.

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