AVIARY TRANSCRIPTION

Reflections of Watergate

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Media File: MS0274_Watergate_event
Transcription File: MS0274_Watergate_event.vtt
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Plain Text Exported From Aviary: 2024-09-03T16:58:42


TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN

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Good evening. It was almost two years ago, in June

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1972, that five men broke into the Democratic

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National Committee headquarters in Washington. It

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turned out that they were connected with my

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reelection committee and the Watergate break in

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became a major issue in the campaign. The basic

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question at issue today is whether the president

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personally acted improperly in the Watergate

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matter.

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Well, when you grew up in Iowa, which I did. It

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was the son of immigrants we prided ourselves in

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our country, you know, we were proud of our

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country, proud of our president. We may not have

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agreed with everything the president said. So

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that's what I grew up with. I grew up with that

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names. We listened to the president's on the radio

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there, not as much television. And it gave us a

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sense of pride than that period where I go to

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Congress. And just because I was a different party

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from Nixon and I had met Nixon at the White House

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when we got sworn in, it wasn't enough just

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because we differed with him on policy or certain

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issues to vote for the impeachment. So that's

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really what I walked into when I was elected in

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November. In the general election, I had to decide

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what committees I wanted to be on and I decided I

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did not want to be on the House Judiciary

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Committee. Of course, not knowing that it would be

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in the middle of history when it would have to

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take up the impeachment of Richard Nixon, of

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course, if anybody had the slightest inkling that

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there would be an impeachment inquiry, you know, I

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would never have been put on the House Judiciary

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Committee. I was a brand new member. I had no

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clout. And there's no way that the leadership

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would have ever given me such a plum assignment.

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There have been allegations, insinuations that I

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knew about the planning of the Watergate break in

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and that I was involved in an extensive plot to

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cover it up. The House Judiciary Committee is now

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investigating these charges. From our perspective

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and from the committee's role, it was a

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combination of putting the presidency on trial. We

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had to decide whether or not under our

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Constitution, this one check of the abuse of power,

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whether this one check that the framers of our

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Constitution laid out, which they never expected

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probably to ever happen, whether that check was in

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play, what we didn't realize at the same time the

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presidency was on trial, the Congress was on trial

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because the Congress had to make a decision which

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was momentous, which affected the country. The

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stakes are very high. If we wanted to have justice

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done, we couldn't be seen to be.

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Acting in a partisan way, so the effort was very

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serious and sincere. The House Judiciary Committee

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went out of its way to act and as much a

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nonpartisan way as possible because we did not

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want any questions to be asked about where we

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being unfair to Richard Nixon. So we wanted to do

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whatever we did correctly.

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Ever since the existence of the White House taping

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system was first made known last summer. I have

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tried vigorously to guard the privacy of the tapes,

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I've been well aware that my effort to protect the

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confidentiality of presidential conversations has

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heightened the sense of mystery about Watergate.

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And in fact, this has increased suspicions of the

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president. Many people assume that the tapes must

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incriminate the president, otherwise he wouldn't

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insist on their privacy. We had no idea that there

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would be tapes that we would listen to and the

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impact of those tapes, which probably no president

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now is ever going to have in the White House again,

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really was a crushing blow. And when I heard the

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tapes and had to make that decision, that's that's

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really what was a major factor in terms of

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ultimately deciding the vote. No one in the White

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House was involved. I want there to be no question

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remaining about the fact that the president has

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nothing to hide. He wasn't able to admit his

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mistakes if he would have been able to have gone

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before the camera and said, look, I'm sorry the

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events happened that were not right. It was wrong

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and I was wrong. And I I asked the American public

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for forgiveness. And I still want to be your

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president. I think our public is a forgiving kind

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of public. And the voter would have accepted that.

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And I think it would have been very difficult to

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proceed. I think that argument would have been

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hard. He could have acknowledged what happened and

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I think it would have been taken on its face and

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perhaps would have changed the ultimate outcome.

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The only other emotional moment that came to me

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was that I felt sad when we had the vote

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was very emotional because I didn't want to

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impeach the president, I didn't want to remove a

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president. I didn't want to acknowledge the abuse

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of office. Mr. Flowers, I. Mr. Sarbanes. I. Mr.

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Railsback.

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MS. Holtzman, I. Nobody took any pleasure in that

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vote. I didn't agree with many of the things that

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Richard Nixon stood for, but I hated having to

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cast that vote because he was my president and I

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did not want to see president of the United States

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engage in that conduct. But I knew I had no choice.

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I knew I had a responsibility under the

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Constitution to hold him accountable. Mr. Cohen.

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Mr. Rodino, I.

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Mr. Connor, I.

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Mr. Mezvinsky, I mean, we talked among ourselves,

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including the Barbara Jordan and the other people

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and the chairman Rodino instead, it was a sad

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moment, but yet it was probably one of the finest

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hours for Congress. Later, we discovered when we

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voted for the impeachment of Richard Nixon, I

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don't recall that any poll had been taken. So

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nobody exactly knew what the consequences of this

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were going to be, we just did what the evidence

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and the Constitution and the law told us was the

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right thing to do. And then when Nixon had to make

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he made his resignation speech in the White House

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and he talked about it. And I was then driving to

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the Hill. This was after the hearings and

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everything. I literally pulled off the road and

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cried because I felt what it did to our country.

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But yet, on the other hand, it was as I indicated,

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Congress on trial was the test. And it probably,

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as I said, came out to perhaps be one of the

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finest hours.

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The impeachment of a president is a remedy of last

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resort. It is the most solemn act of our entire

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constitutional process. The impact of such an

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ordeal would be felt throughout the world, and it

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does have its effect on the lives of all Americans.

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For many years to come. There were many people who

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said the country can withstand an impeachment,

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that this would be tear the country apart, that we

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could never do this. It would be terrible. But,

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you know, the fact of the matter is, Americans are

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pretty strong people and our country is a pretty

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strong country and know the country did not

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collapse in the face of the of the impeachment

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effort. In fact, I think it became stronger

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because Americans discovered that in the end, we

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all shared the same value, or most of us

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overwhelming majority, shared the values that more

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important than a president, a party was the

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Constitution and the rule of law, that we were a

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democracy. So the president did something wrong

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and this was the procedure. Then the procedure was

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going to be followed. Here we are 40 years later

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and no one's really seriously attacked. The

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process in which under which the committee acted

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or the results of the impeachment process, the

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papers should be available for the public and for

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researchers to sort of know what what we went

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through. The history of this also maybe as a

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lesson as to perhaps how government. Can run,

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whether you're a partisan on one side or the other,

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that there comes a time when you know the country,

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you have to face issues and you have to come

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together as a people to deal with with volatile

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issues. Yes. That are emotional. But yet you

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expect your government and your representatives to

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sort of be to be able to do that, to take this

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position. So it really showed that the

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institutions of government can work and what the

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founders really intended to do. So I hope the

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papers will bring out perhaps what can be done

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rather than what we're witnessing perhaps on the

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front pages and on television today.

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