Continues. Host welcome back. The summer of 1973 and millions of americans were tuned in to watch the Senate Watergate hearings. The testimony led to Richard Nixon resigning the following year. Captain scott joins us. She is a associate historian and author of the Book Congress in vietnam and watergate area. Catherine, thank you for joining us. Take us back to 1972, 1973. What was happening in washington and what led to the creation of these senate the committee in the senate . Guest it is important to understand the context of the special committee. 1972 was a president ial election year. Richard nixon was seeking reelection for another term. He was going to face as yet undetermined democratic opponent. Prior to june 17, 1972 the name watergate in washington dc was known primarily as the name of high end condo and Office Complex situated along the banks of the potomac rer. After the break and water june 17, 1972 became synonymous with the largest political scandal that had ever occurred in the country. To set that stage, on the Early Morning of june 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the dnc, Democratic NationalCommittee Headquarters at the watergate complex. They were apprehended. They were arrested. They were Strange Group of regulars. They carried with them a lot of highend surveillance equipment. Among the five, were four cuban emigres. One of the cubans carried a contacts notebook that included a notation for howard hunt with the cryptic next to it w house, the white house. They have thousands of dollars in bills in their equipment. Immediately people began to make connections between the burglary and president Richard NixonReelection Campaign because there was a money trail. Thanks of the dogged reporting of Washington Post journalists, Carl Bernstein and bob woodward, it soon became clear there was a connection between the president s Reelection Campaign committee and this burglary at the dnc. The question was how i up how high up did it go . That was set the stage would set the stage for the investigation. Even before the order to get committee is formed by the senate, there is these burglars, the original five they broke into the dnc and then the additional two who served as accomplices are arrested. They are arraigned and indicted. They await trial. As the trial unfolds in Federal District court, five of the defendants pleaded guilty. Two of them enter a not guilty plea they are found guilty by a jury. As a trial unfolds, the federal judge becomes really troubled by the prosecutions case. He thinks theres a lot of holes in the case. He thinks not everything has been revealed over the course of the trial. He decides to hold off on sentencing these defendants until the senate when he left the senate is going to create the special committee. Host who made the decision . Who is controlling the senate at the time . Democrats or republicans . Guest in the senate, people are reading the same headlines. Theyre watching the trial with interest. Senators are asking questions about the connection between watergate burglars and the white house. The white house has been denying the connection to his Reelection Campaign and above varies burglary at the dnc. The senate is controlled by democrats. Many of them are eager to get to the bottom of these allegations. They also are watching the federal prosecution, the federal case and saying theres a lot of Unanswered Questions. The way things are going it looks like were never going to get to the bottom of the burglary and find out who was behind it. The senate does what congress has done in the past which is create a special committee. Early 1973 the Senate Leadership is beginning to think about what the committee will look like. One of the senators, senators arvin rice resolution that will create the special committee and the Senate Leadership begins is think seriously about who will be on the committee. And the purpose of the committee. Host i want to remind viewers if you would like to call in it is the 50th anniversary of the Senate Hearings in washington dc our phone lines are by region. Eastern central timezones, 2027488000. Mountain pacific timezones, 2027488001. You can text and interact via social media. I want you to talk about how it was made up, who was working the and the rationship. Guest this committee has potential to be politically very revelations that may come out of the course of t investigation may be politically explosive. We have a senate controlled by democrats that will b investigating republican president. Senators are deeply concerned that the investigati cannot be partisan. The people assigned Tthe Committee should not be seeking some kinof political or partisan advantage. By having this big platform. The Senate Leadership works carefully to establish the makeup of the committee. They the really smart choice majority leader mansfield make some assigned the tax chairmanship to senator durbin of north carolina. He sets the tone for the committee particularly in his really fantastic relationship with the polyp that republican leader of the committee and they work exceptionally well together. I want to say couple of things before we get to the other members about senator irvin. Senator irvin was a conservative democrat. He cannot be labeled as a liberal out to get the president. That was a really important of his resume. He had come into the senate in 1950s. Its taken part in other important Prominent Senate investigations including the investigation to senator mccarthy in 1954 that led in part to his censorship by the senate. Senator durbin was senator sam ervin has voted on a number of policy issues over the course of the next demonstration. He is not someone whos going to be perceived to be out to get the president. He was known in the senate to be a constitutional expert. He served in enough, supreme court. He had a harvard law degree and although he exuded a folksy charm, he was absolutely look smart. He knew the constitution backwards and forward. He like to quote the bible. Over the course of the investigation he would have his questioning with charming stories from his native north carolina. He was lowkey but he was also incredibly smart. Host what really stated goals of the committee . Guest to get to the bottom of three things. The watergate burglary and any effortver up the connection from the burglaryo the white house. The second stated goal was understand better any kind of dirty tricks that have been employed or the course of the 1972 president ial campaign. The third piece of the investigation was understand better understand any financial improprieties that had occurred. A financial transaction. Money that had been donated over the course of the president ial election that had not been declared. That been made under the table. Three primary goals. The structure the committee was such it have a broad mandate to investigate the 1972 president ial election broadly. Howard baker as the vice chairman of the committee was very much in favor of the at broad mandate. He comes from he has powerful family, political connection himself. His father was a member of the house of representatives. He represents the state of the tennessee in u. S. Sena. He h just won his second term weoined the committee. He has he is deeply ambition. He comesn with a lot of politil knowledge. He understands the situation very well. He is himself lowkey but ambitious and works really well established as quickly a beautiful working relationship with senator ervin. Host the here in on the way in mid may 1973. De, former white houses was john counsel. Im going to play cliper marks began in late june of 1973. [video clip] it is a difficult thing to testify about other people. It is far more easy for me to explain my own involvement in this matter. The fact that i was involved in instruction of justice, i assisted another in purging testimony. The fact that i made personal use of funds that were in my custody. It is far easier to talk about these things myself than to talk about what others did. Some of these people ill be referring to our friends. Summer man i greatly admired and respected. Protected with reference to the president of United States i would like to say this. It is my honest belief that while the president was involved, he did not realize or appreciate that at any time to application of his involvement. I think when the facts come out, i hope the president is forgiven. I will commence with a generalel description of the atmosphere that existed in the white house prior to june 1972. To one who was in the white house and became somewhat familiar with the inner workings, the watergate matter was inedible outcome of excessive concern over the clinical impact of demonstrators, excessive concern over leaks, an insatiable appetite for political intelligence, all coupled with a doityourself white house staff regardless of the law. However, the fact that many of these elements in this climate culminated with the creation of Covert Intelligence operation as part of the president s Reelection Committee was not by conscious design, rather than accident of faith. These of course are my conclusions that i believe they are wellfounded in fact. This committee however is not interested in my conclusions. Their interest in the batch as i know them interested in the facts as i know them. Host what were the impacts of his testimony and the fact that came out of it . \ guest it was just explosive. His testimony came six weeks after lowerlevel white house staff and lowerlevel stock from committee to reelect the president testifying. Theyre putting the case in pyramid form to the top level staff of the white house. By the time john dean testified in late june 1973, washington was on fire. He offered explosive testimony that suggested the type of culture that permeated the white house that permeated the white house the allowed for the creation of this special intelligence gathering unit that broke into the watergate Office Complex for the second time they were arrested, that was the second breakin. What it did was set up a he said he said situation. John dean suggested the president knew about the effort to cover up the watergate breakin. John dean offered over the course of the testimony which lasted over several days, his Opening Statement was more than 200 pages long and took him about five hours to read. He was the type of person who had carefully document everything. He offered details about meetings that suggested he was a really reliable witness. What he was suggesting was the president himself had been involved in the coverup. That was explosive. It was up to the Senate Committee to figure out how they were going to get how they were going to determine whether john dean was telling the truth or whether Richard Nixon would always denied being involved was telling the truth. Host chris is first up. Louisville, kentucky. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing this morning . Host good. Caller i wanted to share i am a 70 oneyearold vietnam veteran. I was a young command with was happening. I want to get contacts with the lady context with a lady. Back then there were three tv stations that rotated got to be sold big they rotated which station was covering the hearing and during that time that was the first time my recollection that politicians freely began really began to become work stars because watergate engulfed the whole country. The important names i want to share. John dean. John dean opened it off and set it off and we watched it like it was a soap opera. Every single day. Some of the other names. One of my heroes for the rest of my life was sam ervin. Sam are fed was such a brilliant man sam ervin it was such a brilliant man. It was like watching listening to shakespeare. He was s brilliant. Anotr ro was barbara jordan. She had everybody enthralled. The statement i remember that changed the whole thing was when howard baker said we need to find out what did the president know and went to he know it. That statement set the whole think in a different place. The other names elizabeth holtzman. John butterfield. The two organizations part of the president and the plumbers. Host remember all of this . Caller it galvanized the whole country because we just washed it and washed it and we knew even as it was happening, we could hear and see the historical significance and how in america no one is above the law. Guest thank you for the call. It is so cold with chris what is so cool about what he just explained it feels to him even 50 years later. He was not alone. Millions of american households tuned in to watch these hearings. Before Cable Television there were three major broadcast networks. Abc, cbs, and nbc. The first two weeks of the Senate Hearings they display steadily programming. The point about the soap operas is dead on the because the soap operas were all for a time. These hearings play live. Pbs recorded all of 200 hours of hearings and play them every evening some people came home from work they could watch them in the evening. It was a media sensation. After the first two weeks, the three networks began to take rotational turns broadcasting being supplied. The hearings live. Every american was touched by the hearings in part reflected in polling numbers. Only six weeks after the watergate hearings began, 97 of americans polled they knew about watergate. 67 of those polled said they believed Richard Nixon was in some ways connected to the burglary or coverup. It was a sensation. Chris really offered those sentiments very thoughtfully. And he would not be alone. His memories of those names. It has been 50 years people still members john deans testimony. Host howard baker. Guest and what the president know and what do you know it. A question he offered several times over the course of the hearing. Their lease stuck in peoples mind and it was coming from the it stuck in peoples mind is coming from the lead public in the committee was significant itself. Caller great conversation. A couple of quick points. Who adjudicated nixon did not own the tapes . John deere facilitated the cover up meanwhile kissinger was up to their eyeballs in the cambodian incursion. The third think they changed journalism. Thank you. Guest i will start with the third one. The duo, dynamic duo of woodward and bernstein. Without their target reporting in the second half of 1972, the story may have died. It is interesting to note deite their good reporting in the second half of the year, nixon won reelection in a landslide. The allegations never seem to undermine his popularity among the American Public that he handily won the election. Host the cambodian incursion . Nixon and kissinger. Guest there are so much going on in the white house at this time. A part of the story about getting the access to the nixon tapes is that we get we have an understanding that the watergate story, burglary and cover about cover up is going on at the same time to make the administration is working on these major Foreign Policy initiatives that were always for him, first and foremost in terms of what he wanted to leave behind as a president ial legacy. Host deborah is next in allentown pennsylvania. Caller good morning. I wholeheartedly agree with the last two callers about how galvanizing this event was. I am of the road where i voted the first time in president ial election in 1972. When 18yearold were given the right to vote. My question for the guest, given the fact that president ford then pardoned Richard Nixon for his act, i have to wonder, the death set a new precedent did that set a new president for the peril of the country is in now with all the allegations of President Trump and the difficulty trying to hold him accountable . These things that are factual and proven. Could you comment on what went into resident board decision on that . Who guided him in that way . I know on the blanket note is supposedly he did not want to do detriment to the country. Guest president ford would later explain about his historic decision to pardon Richard Nixon after Richard Nixon resigned from office. One, he did not want the nation to become further mired in the watergate scandal. He wanted the nation to move on. He thought a pardon would help to do that. He also suggested that by mixing nixon excepts of the pardon was a kind of admission of guilt. Ford maintains it was the right thing to do up into the end of his life. He always maintained that was a decision he stood by until the end. In terms of setting a precedent, i did not know it set a precedent. I do know that it was a decision that was that bothered many people across the country, including my parents. They still talk about the pardon in a very disappointed way. Host lets go back to more testimony. Alexander butterfield Deputy Assistant to president nixon. This is from mid july 1973. He was the one that revealed there were white house tapes. [video clip] are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in oval office of the president . I was aware of listening devices. When where those devices place in the oval office . Approximately the summer of 1970. I cannot begin to recall the precise date. My guest is my guess is the insulation was made between april or may of 1970 and perhaps the end of the summer or early fall of 1970. Are you aware of any devices that were installed in executive Office Building of the president . Yes, sir. Where they installed at the same time . There race taught at the same time. Can you tell us how they worked . How they were activated . Do not