Meanwhile, special prosecutor Jaworski continued his investigation of the Watergate scandals. In March 1974 a grand jury indicted Haldeman; Ehrlichman; former attorney general John Mitchell, who had been head of CREEP at the time of the break-in; and four other White House aides for conspiring to block the Watergate investigation. The jurors also named Nixon an “unindicted co-conspirator,” Jaworski having informed them that their power to indict a president was constitutionally questionable. Judge Sirica thereupon turned over the jury’s evidence against Nixon to the House Judiciary Committee.
In an effort to check the mounting criticism, late in April Nixon released edited transcripts of the tapes he had turned over to the court the previous November. In addition to much incriminating evidence, the transcripts
When the White House tapes were turned over to the special prosecutor, several crucial sections had been erased. Rosemary Woods, Nixon's personal secretary, attempted to demonstrate how she had accidentally erased the pivotal sections.
Provided the public with a fascinating and shocking view of how the president conducted himself in private. In conversations he seemed confused, indecisive, and lacking in any concern for the public interest. His repeated use of foul language, so out of keeping with his public image, offended millions. The phrase “expletive deleted,” inserted in place of words considered too vulgar for publication in family newspapers, overnight became a catchword.
With the defendants in the Watergate case demanding access to tapes that they claimed would prove their innocence, Jaworski was compelled either to obtain them or to risk having the charges dismissed on the grounds that the government was withholding evidence. He therefore subpoenaed sixty-four additional tapes. Nixon refused to obey the subpoena. Swiftly the case of United States v. Richard M. Nixon went to the Supreme Court.
In the summer of 1974—after so many months of alarms and crises—the Watergate drama reached its climax. The Judiciary Committee, following months of study of the evidence behind closed doors, decided to conduct its deliberations in open session. While millions watched on television, thirty-eight members of the House of Representatives debated the charges and finally adopted three articles of impeachment. They charged the president with obstructing justice, misusing the powers of his office, and failing to obey the committee’s subpoenas. Except in the case of the last article, many of the Republicans on the committee joined with the Democrats in voting aye, a clear indication that the full House would vote to impeach.
On the eve of the debates, the Supreme Court had ruled unanimously that the president must turn over the sixty-four subpoenaed tapes to the special prosecutor. Executive privilege had its place, the Court stated, but no person, not even a president, could “withhold evidence that is demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial.”
When the subpoenaed tapes were released and transcribed, Nixon’s fate was sealed. Three recorded conversations between the president and H. R. Haldeman just after the Watergate break-in proved conclusively that Nixon had tried to obstruct justice by engaging the CIA in an effort to persuade the FBI not to follow up leads in the case on the spurious grounds that national security was involved.
When the House Judiciary Committee members read the new transcripts, all the Republican members who had voted against the impeachment articles reversed themselves. Republican leaders told the president categorically that the House would impeach him and that no more than a handful of senators would vote for acquittal.
•••-[Read the Document House Judiciary Committee's Conclusion on Impeachment at Www. myhistorylab. com
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