Nixon ordered Watergate break-in, aide says now

By BILL STRAUB
Scripps Howard News Service
July 26, 2003

President Richard Nixon personally ordered the "third-rate burglary" at the Watergate Hotel in June 1972, a trusted aide has now revealed, resurrecting the scandal that led to Nixon's political ruin and forced him from the nation's highest office.

Jeb Stuart Magruder, who was Nixon's assistant communications director before moving to the re-election committee, said he was privy to a telephone conversation between Nixon and John Mitchell, the campaign chairman, in which the president urged Mitchell to proceed with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate.

The revelation, if true, places the Watergate burglary in a new historical light. Though never concretely established, it generally was felt that Nixon was not involved in the break-in itself, only in the cover-up that occurred after the fact - an involvement that forced him to resign from office on Aug. 9, 1974.

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=NIXON-WATERGATE-07-26-03&cat=WW

I hope this relevation doesn't tarnish Nixon's reputation.

:eyes:

now he'll never get onto Mount Rushmore.

Nixon is scot-free now.

n/t

Nixon was pardoned without ever being convicted of anything.

Speaking of pardons. Does anyone have a complete list of the people pardoned on Christmas Eve 1992 by GHW Bush ? Some of those were pre-emptive. Was Neil in that batch of pardons ?

That is what the poster I replied to was implying and I couldn't find that in Google at all.

it generally was felt that Nixon was not involved in the break-in itself

The fact that the obdurate Nixon thought it better to resign than fight speaks volumes about what really happened. The Watergate prosecutors hadn't even begun to squeeze the burglars themselves. It would have come out that Nixon was, indeed, a crook.

What a satisfying ending that was! Nixon, arrogant bastard that he was, was finally humiliated. At the end, he had no friends willing to defend him. It can happen!

I don't think we can draw many parallels to the current situation. Nixon was in charge and was a crook.

Bush is a puppet and is just dumb - i.e. not a crook.

The big challenge is reaching those pulling the puppet's strings.

He has been acting as president since the Supreme Court got a black mark in the historical record for appointing him.

Like the last Republican disaster, Reagan got off by being brain dead, does Bush get a pass because he is incompetent?

His incompetency doesn't make him any less of a crook.

The puppet is fully in agreement with every criminal act going down.

Please don't excuse that nasty piece of Barbara's work on the grounds of being too stupid to know what he's doing. He knows. He thinks it's great.

Because only good things happen to George.

He could well be just as evil as those who advise.

My recommendation is "don't misunderestimate him".

damned mafia.

Nixon was a crrok, regardless of whether he had forknowledge of the burglary or not. He was accused in the impeachment proceedings of obstracting the investigation of the burglary. That's the charge that stuck. There was more than enough evidence to prove that and send him to prison, had he not been pardoned.

isn't exactly credible. He was once an associate pastor at my church. I boycotted and never met the man. I have no doubt (and never did) that Nixon ordered all kinds of laws broken. It is unfortunate that this revelation won't ever be accepted as historical fact.

Of course this guy isn't credible! Look at what he knew about a President of the United States and look how long he waited to bring it out into the open.

Will we have to wait 30 years for Bush aides to admit he's a liar and a crook?

if he hed piped up a little sooner.

that ordered the break-in.

It can travel back in time, too.


Cher

Remember he was a coordinator for McGovern's Texas campaign-and HILLARY was right with him! OMG-it WAS Clinton! It was Clinton!

Clinton's penis has supernatural powers afterall. It mesmerized the Republicans and mass media for 8 years--and still is to this day. It's so obvious: Nixon got telepathic messages from Clinton's penis and ordered the Watergate breakin. It's only logical.

The rumors are that Clinton's Penis has a name:

Cthulhu.

;-)

I always thought it was the Worm Ourobouros.

Go figure.

Bush ordered 9-11, aide says.

the Shrub crime secrets. (You beat me to it.)

OR investigated THOROUGHLY to beyond a reasonable doubt dispell the suspicion. Who's suspicion MY suspicion.

MY ASS... when the truth needs telling it gets told. The lapse on it sucks though so many years after the fact. I think it was Napolean who said and I paraphrase, it is not a matter of censoring the truth, just delaying it awhile till it doesn't matter anymore.

but it is relevant NOW those investigating all contridication just have to ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS until they are answered.

We don't need confirmation that something is FOUL. Which is what these investigations usually reveal. We need to know WHO AND WHY!!!

the theft of the 2000 election? 'Cause I'll push back sweet death for that admission.

The parallels are hard to ignore between then and know.

Maybe Magruder is encouraging someone in the current white house to face their Christian guilt and tell what they know.

God knows a bunch of them have to feel some guilt about what has and is happening.

and calling in old chits / issuing new threats to the Party Faithful that they need a new diversion to cover for Their Glorious Leader for the next 18 months or so. Rove, calling everyone telling them to let it out that Martians have landed, he doesn't care, just come up with something for the next few news cycles to draw attention from Their Glorious Leader and his feet of clay / mouth of sponge. :tinfoilhat:

Ah yes let us revisit watergate and why not go all the way to the bay of pigs Phase I and II. Shake the tree! Shake the tree!

I always suspected that Nixon knew more than the official story allowed. He resigned after the smoking gun tape was released. In this tape, Nixon and Haldeman discuss the burglary and the ivestigation on June 23, 1972, only a few days after the break in.

HALDEMAN:okay -that's fine. Now, on the investigation, you
know, the Democratic break-in thing, we're back to the-in the, the problem area because the FBI is not under control, because Gray doesn't exactly know how to control them, and they have, their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they've been able to trace the money, not through the money itself, but through the bank, you know, sources - the banker himself. And, and it goes in some directions we don't want it to go. Ah, also there have been some things, like an informant came in off the street to the FBI in Miami, who was a photographer or has a friend who is a photographer who developed some films through this guy, Barker, and the films had pictures of Democratic National Committee letter head documents and things. So I guess, so it's things like that that are gonna, that are filtering in. Mitchell came up with yesterday, and John Dean analyzed very carefully last night and concludes, concurs now with Mitchell's recommendation that the only way to solve this, and we're set up beautifully to do it, ah, in that and that...the only network that paid any attention to it last night was NBC...they did a massive story on the Cuban...
PRESIDENT: That's right.
HALDEMAN: thing.
PRESIDENT: Right.
HALDEMAN: That the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters call Pat Gray and just say, "Stay the hell out of this...this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it." That's not an unusual development,...
PRESIDENT: Um huh.
HALDEMAN: ...and, uh, that would take care of it.

All Haldeman says is that the FBI investigation is leading into some "productive areas." THat seems to be a very cryptic reference to the plumbers squad, but Nixon knows exactly what Haledman is saying. At least, he's not asking any questions about it.

One might expect Nixon to say, "What are you talking about, Bob?" But he doesn't. He knows. It always bothered me that he approved the cover up in a converstion where the details were left out and yet he seemed to understand just what they were.

was that it preemptively stopped the direct investigation.


I didn't much care if he was pardoned after investigation, and even before trial.

But that was such a mindblowing set of cold, black and white facts that were emerging. I guess it was getting too much like staring at bad roadkill.

we missed uncovering historical facts, necessary for a full understanding for the american people. who knows what would have been revealed about nixon had the investigation or a trial been allowed to go forward.

ford did a major disservice to america by pardoning nixon, as does every president who pardons governmental criminals.

I'm speaking of Jeb Stuart Magruder and JEB Bush. You can probably exclude the American Confederate Civil War soldier, Jeb Stuart. :-)

Is the name "Jeb" a bad omen? Do regular folks these days still name their children "Jeb"? Inquiring DU'ers want to know.

:evilgrin:

I believe it's John Ellis Bush, just another thing that bugs the shit out of me about that clan. Calling him "Jeb Bush" is like saying "John Ellis Bush Bush."

Anybody who knows Nixon knows that nothing happened without Nixon's knowledge. He was a control freak. Sort of like Rove.

" none of the investigators asked him what he knew about Nixon's participation."

These are the first people in 30 years to ask him about Nixon ? Does anyone seriously believe that.

" John Dean, Nixon's White House counsel who is credited with blowing the lid off the Watergate scandal, said via e-mail that he was unaware of the Nixon-Mitchell conversation until Magruder advised him about it a few weeks ago.

"I have never seen or heard a scintilla of evidence that Nixon was aware of these plans at the re-election committee," Dean said. "As best I know, based on both what I was told at the time, and subsequent information, Nixon learned of the break-in after the arrests at the Watergate. I have never had any evidence, either at the time or since, that anyone at the White House had advance knowledge of the Watergate break-in."

At the same time, Dean said, he can't dispute Magruder's characterization of the Nixon-Mitchell conversation because he wasn't present.

"I cannot imagine Jeb would lie about it," Dean said. "Nonetheless, I am very surprised he never provided this information when it could have been more critically tested. And I am also surprised that there is absolutely nothing on any of the Nixon tapes that might corroborate his statement."

-----

I wonder if we will hear in the next few weeks that Mcgruder is peddling a new book.

That President Nixon would order a burglary.

he has always said that the breakin was to prove a prostitution ring run by Mo Dean. I love it!!!!!

on edit - the guy is nuts!!!

http://www.liddyletter.com/letter/victory.htm

Man, is this revisionist history or what? <sarcasm>

Proof exists of Nixon's crookedness (i.e. corrupt dishonesty) prior to Watergate, as revealed on the Whitehouse tapes. From transcripts of Nixon's actual meeting with dairymen on March 23, 1971:

(Knowing the tapes were running, and having been presented with $3 million dollars in cash, Nixon was recorded)


"Uh, I know...that, uh, you are a group
that are politically very conscious...
And you're willing to do something
about it. And, I must say a lot of
businessmen and others...don't do
anything about it. And you do, and I
appreciate that. And I don't have to
spell it out."

After the dairymen had left, advisor John Connally was alone with Nixon, and said:

"They are tough political operatives.
This is a cold political deal."


On March 23, 1971, Secretary of the Treasury, John Connally summarized the day's events to Nixon:

"These dairymen are organized; they're
adamant, they're militant...And they,
they're massing an enormous amount
of money that they're going to put
into political activities, very frankly."




Get the whole story at http://www.notmilk.com/trickydick.html.