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Nixon Loyalists, Barry Goldwater, and Republican Support for President Nixon during Watergate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2017

Mark Nevin*
Affiliation:
Ohio University, Lancaster

Abstract

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Brian Balogh and the anonymous reviewers from the Journal of Policy History for greatly improving this article.

References

NOTES

1. Francis Avery to Senator Barry Goldwater, 9 August 1974, Box 334, Folder 9, Personal and Political Papers of Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona State University, Tempe (hereafter Goldwater Papers).

2. A Gallup poll conducted following Nixon’s resignation speech found that 22 percent of Americans did not think Nixon’s “actions regarding Watergate” were “serious enough to warrant his resignation.” “79% in Poll Back Resignation; 55% Oppose Criminal Inquiry,” New York Times, 11 August 1974.

3. There is no monograph on Republicans and Watergate, but the following memoirs, biographies, and other works provide useful perspectives. Ford, Gerald, A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford (New York, 1979)Google Scholar; Goldwater, Barry M., With No Apologies: The Personal and Political Memoirs of United States Senator Barry M. Goldwater (New York, 1979)Google Scholar; Barry M. Goldwater, with Jack Casserly, Goldwater (New York, 1988); Goldberg, Robert Alan, Barry Goldwater (New Haven, 1995)Google Scholar; Annis, J. Lee Jr., Howard Baker: Conciliator in an Age of Crisis (Lanham, Md., 1995)Google Scholar; Cannon, Lou, Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power (New York, 2003)Google Scholar; Smith, J. Brian, John J. Rhodes: Man of the House (Phoenix, 2005)Google Scholar; Brooke, Edward W., Bridging the Divide: My Life (New Brunswick, 2007)Google Scholar; Smith, Richard Norton, On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller (New York, 2014)Google Scholar; Meacham, Jon, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (New York, 2015)Google Scholar; Kotlowski, Dean J., “Unhappily Yoked? Hugh Scott and Richard Nixon,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 125, no. 3 (July 2001): 233–66.Google Scholar

4. For analyses of the Republican party in the 1960s and 1970s, see Rae, Nicol C., The Decline and Fall of Liberal Republicans from 1952 to the Present (New York, 1989)Google Scholar; Brennan, Mary C., Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP (Chapel Hill, 1995)Google Scholar; Mason, Robert, The Republican Party and American Politics from Hoover to Reagan (New York, 2012)Google Scholar; Mason, Robert and Morgan, Iwan, eds., Seeking a New Majority: The Republican Party and American Politics, 1960–1980 (Nashville, 2013)Google Scholar. The question of whether Nixon should be considered a liberal or a conservative has been vigorously debated by historians. For an excellent overview of the debate, see Greenberg, David, Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image (New York, 2003), 304–37Google Scholar. For a leading scholarly account of the decline of party affiliation and the rise of independent voters, see Miller, Warren E. and Shanks, J. Merrill, The New American Voter (Cambridge, Mass., 1996).Google Scholar

5. The most influential scholarly work on Watergate is Kutler, Stanley I., The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon (New York, 1990)Google Scholar. Kutler characterizes the scandal as a series of wars pitting Nixon against Congress, the news media, and Watergate investigators. Following Kutler, other scholarly accounts of Watergate have framed the scandal largely as a battle among Washington elites. See, for example, Genovese, Michael A., The Watergate Crisis (Westport, Conn., 1999)Google Scholar; Olson, Keith W., Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America (Lawrence, Kans., 2003)Google Scholar; Jeffrey, Harry P. and Maxwell-Long, Thomas, eds., Watergate and the Resignation of Richard Nixon: Impact of a Constitutional Crisis (Washington, D.C., 2004)Google Scholar. The leading popular account of Watergate is Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s Men (New York, 1975). Written by two Washington Post reporters, it recounts their struggle to break through the administration’s cover-up of Watergate. There are a number of other studies that focus on Nixon’s battle with the Washington press during Watergate. See, for example, Lang, Gladys Engel and Lang, Kurt, The Battle for Public Opinion: The President, The Press, and the Polls During Watergate (New York, 1983)Google Scholar; Spear, Joseph C., Presidents and the Press: The Nixon Legacy (Cambridge, Mass., 1984)Google Scholar; Liebovich, Louis, Richard Nixon, Watergate, and the Press (Westport, Conn., 2003)Google Scholar. Beverly Gage makes the case that Watergate should be understood as an executive-branch struggle between Nixon and the FBI. Gage, Beverly, “Deep Throat, Watergate, and the Bureaucratic Politics of the FBI,” Journal of Policy History 24, no. 2 (2012): 157–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Nixon biographies and histories of the Nixon presidency also treat Watergate as an inside-the-Beltway affair. See, for example, Parmet, Herbert S., Richard Nixon and His America (Boston, 1990)Google Scholar; Genovese, Michael A., The Nixon Presidency: Power and Politics in Turbulent Times (Westport, Conn., 1990)Google Scholar; Wicker, Tom, One of Us: Richard Nixon and the American Dream (New York, 1991)Google Scholar; Ambrose, Stephen A., Nixon, Volume III: Ruin and Recovery, 1973–1990 (New York, 1991)Google Scholar; Hoff, Joan, Nixon Reconsidered (New York, 1994)Google Scholar; Small, Melvin, The Presidency of Richard Nixon (Lawrence, Kans., 1999).Google Scholar

6. Greenberg, Nixon’s Shadow, 185.

7. For Goldwater’s relationship with Nixon, see Goldberg, Barry Goldwater; Goldwater Journal Entry, 15 February 1969, Box 15, Folder 14, Goldwater Papers.

8. At the outset of his presidency, Nixon did have an experienced and well-respected congressional liaison, Bryce Harlow, but he was often overshadowed by chief of staff H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. There is no monograph on the Nixon administration’s congressional relations. For useful perspectives, see Reichley, A. James, Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations (Washington, D.C., 1981)Google Scholar; Collier, Kenneth E., Between the Branches: The White House Office of Legislative Affairs (Pittsburgh, 1997), 109–37Google Scholar; Hult, Karen M. and Walcott, Charles E., Empowering the White House: Governance Under Nixon, Ford, and Carter (Lawrence, Kans., 2004), 118–34Google Scholar; Small, Nixon Presidency; Kotlowski, “Unhappily Yoked?” For Ehrlichman’s view of Congress, see John Ehrlichman, Witness to Power: The Nixon Years (New York, 1982).

9. Ford, A Time to Heal, 88.

10. Kotlowski, “Unhappily Yoked?” 235.

11. Goldwater, Goldwater, 261.

12. Jack Rosenthal, “Nixon Holds Lead as McGovern Gains,” New York Times, 30 October 1972.

13. Marjorie Hunter, “Republicans Expressing Concern over Developments in Capital,” New York Times, 30 March 1973; Mercer Cross and Elder Witt, eds., Watergate: Chronology of a Crisis (Washington, D.C., 1975), 12.

14. Despite Nixon’s landslide victory in 1972, McGovern pollster Pat Caddell reported that his polls showed that upper-income Republicans had been very worried about Watergate during the race. May, Ernest R. and Fraser, Janet, eds., Campaign ’72: The Managers Speak (Cambridge, Mass., 1973), 217.Google Scholar

15. Barry Goldwater to Richard Nixon, 29 March 1973, Box 15, Folder 15, Goldwater Papers.

16. Nixon did have congressional liaison William Timmons call Goldwater. Barry Goldwater to Richard Nixon, 29 March 1973, Box 8, President’s Personal Files, Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California (hereafter Nixon Library).

17. Godfrey Sperling Jr., “Goldwater: ‘Nixon Must Speak Out on Watergate to Rescue His Party,’” Christian Science Monitor, 11 April 1973, Box 15, Folder 15, Goldwater Papers.

18. Godfrey Sperling Jr., “Goldwater Might Blow Whistle on Nixon Again,” Christian Science Monitor, 30 June 1973, Box 114, Folder 20, ibid.

19. Nick Thimmesh, “Goldwater Urges Nixon to Become ‘One of the Boys,’” Los Angeles Times, 30 June 1973, in ibid.

20. Jack Anderson, “Vesco Cozied Up to Donald Nixon,” Washington Post, 21 May 1973.

21. L. E. Pummill to Barry Goldwater, 21 May 1973, Box 329, Folder 9, Goldwater Papers.

22. Mr. and Mrs. Allen Mersbacker to Barry Goldwater, no date, in ibid.

23. Mrs. J. Suterr to Barry Goldwater, 22 May 1973, in ibid.

24. Barry Goldwater to [ ], 19 June 1973, Box 329, in ibid.; Bob Dole, Peter Dominick, and Barry Goldwater to Jack Anderson, 22 May 1973, Box 5, Folder 9, in ibid.

25. Olson, Watergate, 105.

26. Greenberg, Nixon’s Shadow, 181.

27. Korff, Baruch, The President and I: Richard Nixon’s Rabbi Reveals His Role in the Saga That Traumatized the Nation (Providence, 1995), 8, 11, 52, 13.Google Scholar

28. Korff, The President and I, 3.

29. NCCFP Fund-raising Letter, 7 January 1974, Box 333, Folder 3, Goldwater Papers.

30. Korff, The President and I, 84.

31. Ibid., 69.

32. Edward W. Sowers to Barry Goldwater, 23 May 1973, Box 329, Folder 9, Goldwater Papers.

33. George C. Whitlock to Barry Goldwater, 31 January 1974, Box 333, Folder 12, in ibid.

34. John Herbers, “Nixon Ouster Is Fought by Grass-Roots Forces,” New York Times, 19 May 1974.

35. New York Times, 29 July 1973.

36. Greenberg, Nixon’s Shadow, 181.

37. New York Times, 7 November 1973; New York Times, 9 September 1973.

38. Donald Kendall, the chairman of Pepsico and the head of a White House-created anti-impeachment group called Americans for the Presidency, tried to convince Korff to let him take charge of the NCCFP. Korff, The President and I, 25–27.

39. Ibid., 49, 9, 14; Baruch Korff, The Personal Nixon: Staying on the Summit (Washington, D.C., 1974).

40. Nixon ordered Cox fired and the special prosecutor’s office closed down after Cox refused to stop seeking access to the tapes. But before Solicitor General Robert Bork agreed to execute Nixon’s order, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus refused to do so and resigned.

41. “NBC Survey/Nixon-Cox,” NBC Evening News, 22 October 1973, Vanderbilt Television News Archive (accessed 10 July 2015).

42. Lang and Lang, The Battle for Public Opinion, 103–4.

43. Olson, Watergate, 118–19.

44. Cross and Witt, Watergate, 360.

45. Nixon, Richard M., RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York, 1978), 935.Google Scholar

46. Lang and Lang, The Battle for Public Opinion, 104.

47. Cross and Witt, Watergate, 355.

48. Leadership Meeting, 9 November 1973, Box 8, Hugh Scott Papers, No. 10, 2000-N, -P, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville (hereafter Scott Papers).

49. Bryce Harlow to Alexander Haig, 31 October 1973, Box 7, Alexander Haig Office Files, Nixon Library.

50. David S. Broder, “Goldwater Backs Nixon, as Outcries Mount,” Washington Post, 23 October 1973.

51. William Timmons to Alexander Haig, 22 October 1973, Box 8, Alexander Haig Office Files, Nixon Library.

52. Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 208; Cross and Witt, Watergate, 414.

53. George Gallup, “Replacing of Nixon Opposed,” Washington Post, 16 December 1973. In April 1973, 52 percent of Republicans expressed “strong approval” for Nixon.

54. Goldwater’s office reported receiving 1,504 pieces of anti-Nixon mail and 283 pieces of pro-Nixon mail in the week after Cox’s firing. Unidentified newspaper article, 30 October 1973, Box 325, Folder 30, Goldwater Papers. Over the next three months, however, Goldwater’s office amassed 41 folders of pro-Nixon mail and only 18 folders of anti-Nixon mail.

55. Evelyn Craig et al. to Barry Goldwater, 21 October 1973, Box 329, Folder 10, Goldwater Papers.

56. Helen Baughman to Barry Goldwater, in ibid.

57. Roger Voltz to Barry Goldwater, in ibid.

58. Cross and Witt, Watergate, 377; Olson, Watergate, 124–25.

59. “Statement from Senator Barry Goldwater,” 1 November 1973, Box 13, Scott Papers.

60. Drew, Elizabeth, Washington Journal: The Events of 1973–1974 (New York, 1974), 94.Google Scholar

61. Marquis Childs, “The 1974 Elections: Despair Among Republicans,” Washington Post, 4 December 1973.

62. Christopher Lydon, “Goldwater Says Watergate Will Slash G.O.P.’s Vote,” Washington Post, 23 January 1974.

63. A. E. Mersbach to Barry Goldwater, 25 January 1974, Box 333, Folder 12, Goldwater Papers.

64. Edward Staples to Barry Goldwater, in ibid.

65. George Gallup, “GOP Hill Support at 38-Year Low,” Washington Post, 11 November 1973.

66. Lou Cannon and Helen Dewar, “GOP Badly Hurt, Gallup Says,” Washington Post, 20 November 1973.

67. Barry Goldwater to George Bush, 7 November 1973, Box 93, Folder 15, Goldwater Papers.

68. “Goldwater Critical of Nixon,” Washington Post, 19 December 1973.

69. Carroll Kilpatrick, “Hill Recess Crucial to Nixon: Congress Will Test Voter Sentiment,” Washington Post, 13 December 1973.

70. Smith, Man of the House, 109. Rhodes, an Arizona Republican, was elected House Minority Leader in October 1973 after Gerald Ford gave up his congressional seat to become vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned and pled no contest to the charge of income tax evasion.

71. Joseph Alsop, “‘Toughing It Out,’” Washington Post, 4 February 1974.

72. Lukas, J. Anthony, Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years (New York, 1976), 507.Google Scholar

73. The GOP lost races for Michigan’s Fifth and Eighth Congressional Districts, Ohio’s First Congressional District, and Pennsylvania’s Twelfth Congressional District. The GOP won the race for California’s Nineteenth Congressional District.

74. The GOP had held the seat since 1912.

75. Lou Cannon, “Michigan Loss Dismays GOP,” Washington Post, 20 February 1974; “Loss of Ford’s Seat in Election Led to a Revolt of Nixon,” New York Times, 1 March 1974; Robert Shogan, “Vote Results Support GOP Concern That President Is Political Liability,” Los Angeles Times, 7 March 1974; R. W. Apple Jr., “Ohio’s Election: A Clue to November Races,” New York Times, 7 March 1974; Apple, “Ohio Voter Poll Hints G.O.P. Has Lost Independents,” New York Times, 10 March 1974; Apple, “Watergate Is Called Factor in G.O.P. Loss in Michigan,” New York Times, 18 April 1974.

76. Dick Thaxton to George Bush et al., 27 February 1974, Box 17, Alexander Haig Office Files, Nixon Library.

77. Cannon, “Michigan Loss Dismays GOP.”

78. Nixon was named an unindicted co-conspirator, but the information was not made public.

79. Olson, Watergate, 145.

80. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Final Days (New York, 1976), 159.

81. Cross and Witt, Watergate, 632.

82. Goldwater Journal Entry, 8 May 1974, Box 15, Folder 16, Goldwater Papers.

83. Ibid.

84. Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, 147–49; Ambrose, Nixon, Volume III, 335.

85. Goldwater Journal Entry, 8 May 1974, Box 15, Folder 16, Goldwater Papers.

86. Goldberg, Barry Goldwater, 250.

87. Christopher Lydon, “Rhodes Urges That Nixon Again Consider Resigning,” New York Times, 10 May 1974; Smith, Man of the House, 116–17. Rhodes stopped short of actually calling for Nixon’s resignation and later issued a press release to underscore the point after some in the press missed the distinction. John Rhodes Press Release, 9 May 1974, Box 1, Scott Papers.

88. John Anderson Press Release, 9 May 1974, Box 1, Scott Papers.

89. Lydon, “Rhodes Urges That Nixon Again Consider Resigning.”

90. Cross and Witt, Watergate, 627.

91. Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, 162, 176–77. Some Nixon loyalists reportedly threatened his life.

92. Goldwater Journal Entry, 8 May 1974, Box 15, Folder 16, Goldwater Papers.

93. Hugh Scott Notes, 9 May 1974, Box 1, Scott Papers.

94. “How Barry Goldwater Sees It,” Newsweek, 27 May 1974. Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania was the only GOP senator to actually call for Nixon’s resignation in May 1974. He was the third to do so, joining Brooke and New York Senator James Buckley, who called for Nixon’s resignation in March. Christopher Lydon, “Doubts Grow in Congress That Nixon Can Stay On,” New York Times, 11 May 1974.

95. Korff, The President and I, 48, 50.

96. Ibid., 53, 55–56.

97. Joseph Alsop, “Mr. Nixon’s Roller Coaster: On the Upswing?” Washington Post, 10 June 1974.

98. “Tallies of opinions received on pro or anti Nixon,” no date, Folder 1, Box 56, Series XI, John J. Rhodes Papers, MSS 2, Arizona State University, Arizona Collection, Tempe. Between 11 May and 7 August 1974, Rhodes received 1,259 pieces of pro-Nixon mail and 615 pieces of anti-Nixon mail from Arizona voters.

99. Smith, Man of the House, 122.

100. R. W. Apple Jr., “A New G.O.P. View of Impeachment,” New York Times, 7 July 1974.

101. Although House Democrats could have impeached Nixon on a party-line vote, since they were in the majority and impeachment requires only a majority, Senate Democrats could not have convicted Nixon without Republican votes. Democrats compromised a majority in the Senate, but conviction requires a two-thirds vote, and Democrats did not hold that many seats.

102. Kutler, Wars of Watergate, 526.

103. Goldwater, Goldwater, 274.

104. Smith, Man of the House, 135–37.

105. Olson, Watergate, 160.

106. Smith, Man of the House, 140.

107. Ibid., 143.

108. [ ] to Barry Goldwater, 7 August 1974, Box 334, Folder 5, Goldwater Papers.

109. Barbara Larsen to Barry Goldwater, in ibid.

110. L. W. Woolsey to Barry Goldwater, in ibid.

111. Goldwater Journal Entry, 7 August 1974, Box 15, Folder 16, in ibid.

112. Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, 390; Goldwater, Goldwater, 276.

113. Goldwater Journal Entry, 7 August 1974, Box 15, Folder 16, Goldwater Papers.

114. Goldwater Journal Entry, 8 August 1974, in ibid.

115. Richard Nixon, “Address to the Nation Announcing Decision to Resign the Office of the President of the United States,” 8 August 1974, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=4324 (accessed 13 July 2015).

116. In his memoir, Haig states that Nixon had decided to resign but would have likely changed his mind had GOP leaders pressured him to do so. Haig met with Goldwater and the others before they saw Nixon and advised them not to mention resignation. Alexander Haig, with McCarry, Charles, Inner Circles: How America Changed the World, A Memoir (New York, 1992), 496–99.Google Scholar

117. “White House Press Conference of Senator Hugh Scott, Congressman John J. Rhodes, and Senator Barry Goldwater,” Office of the White House Press Secretary, 7 August 1974, Box 15, Folder 16, Goldwater Papers.

118. Goldwater considered calling for Nixon’s resignation and at the same time announcing he was ending his reelection campaign but then thought better of it. Goldwater Journal Entry, in ibid.

119. Francis and Devona Bricker to Barry Goldwater, 9 August 1974, Box 334, Folder 9, Goldwater Papers.

120. Eliot Peterson to Barry Goldwater, in ibid.

121. Korff, The President and I, 154.

122. Ibid., 77.

123. Reichley, Conservatives, 317. Goldwater was one of the few bright spots for the GOP, capturing 58 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Jonathan Marshall. Goldberg, Goldwater, 285–86. Rhodes barely survived, winning 51 percent of the vote against a political unknown. Smith, John J. Rhodes, 150–53. Scott was not up for reelection.

124. Stephanie A. Slocum-Schaffer, America in the Seventies (Syracuse, 2003), 31.

125. Mason, The Republican Party, 240.

126. Genovese, The Nixon Presidency, 228–29. He defines “the system” as a “complex web of interrelated governmental and nongovernmental actors who serve as a check on power.”