Ashley Dalisera Watergate 31 October 2013 Nixon tapes; April 30, 1973 After Nixons first Watergate speech

on April 30, 1973 phone calls of support filled the switch board of the White House. Two of those phone calls came from our future presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan. All of the phone calls coming into the presidents office were calls of support and positive reactions to his speech. Nixons speech angered me. The irony of what he was saying was beyond irony; it was as if he should have been read this speech not reading the speech to everyone else. I small part of me would like to think he realized that too when he had a grimacing, self-reflecting look of distain on his face at the end of the address. Nixon takes the blame for what happened at Watergate, not because he was involved but because they were his subordinates that were involved and did what they believed was right, when in hindsight it was his place to take blame for the entire orchestration and it was his own belief that what he was doing was right. Nixon harps that the executive branch must be purged of all criminal acts, mob influences and bad people operating within the government and the presidency should be held as the highest office of ethics and respect. All of the things Nixon said we needed out of our presidential office were all actions and attributes he personally embodied. Nixon was one of the bad men he was speaking too. The speech was to announce the resignations of John Dean, John Ehrlichman, and Bob Haldeman; some of Nixons closest advisors. More suspicion should have been draw to Nixon when his nearest advisors were implicated in the Watergate scandal. Nixon can claim that the politics of his campaign were held outside of his office so he could focus on the presidency; however, his advisors were not likely keep an event such as bugging the Democratic Party headquarters out of an update to the President. As the Watergate scandal unfolded Nixon began his series of lies and scapegoating. Haldeman, Dean, and Ehrlichman were on the kill list so to speak on April 30, 1973. Nixon had to force

Haldeman and Ehrilchman to resign from their positions once he had learned that they were going to be implicated in the scandal. The second phone call Nixon took the night of the speech was from Haldeman. Nixon was a tough read on this call. He seemed to be apologetic to Haldeman by saying I hope I didnt let you down: that statement leads me to the conclusions that Nixon did not want to force Haldeman out of office but found himself in a position where it was him or Haldeman. Nixon continues to show his support and love for Haldeman by saying I love you like a brother, keep the faith, and youre going to win this son of a bitch. I am in a position of bias, but I would also say that the conversation with Haldeman airs Nixons involvement in Watergate. For one, if Nixon were a man of his word and was truly disappointed by the involvement of his advisors in a situation that disgraced the government and specifically the executive branch, would he not be less loving toward Haldeman? Nixon not only supports Haldeman, but he also makes requests for him to call and get reactions from people and wants his opinion on how the speech went. Haldeman did not think he was in a good position to fulfill these requests, but he did and later called to tell Nixon they may have gotten through to some people and CBS was impressed. If Nixon did not have inside information and only knew what he claims to have known in his speech, I do not believe he would have been so open and accepting toward Haldeman. Haldeman adds to the skepticism by staying Nixon has now laid out his position and taken steps; I would assume he is talking about his position of trying to look innocent which meant Haldeman was and knew he was a sacrificial lamb for Nixon to remain president without implication in the Watergate scandal. Finally, Nixon thinks he is down with Watergate after this speech because as he says to Haldeman he never, never, never wants to discuss Watergate again. This is the line that I think can implicate him because he is talking in confidence to a man currently on the chopping block for the Watergate scandal; to me, this is a clear admission that Nixon knew much more about Watergate than what he was letting on to in his speech.

Another conversation that cannot go without mention is Nixons new appointment to Attorney General, Elliot Richardson. Richardson seemed grateful for the new position and was upfront that he was there for Nixon, whatever he needed. Nixon was also very accommodating when he said he was always available to Richardson, and he could always get through. Elliot assured the president he would not let him down and that he knew he could do it right. I think this was Nixon and Richardsons unspoken way of saying he had Richardsons back if he had his. Nixon even insinuated and planted ideas of exhuming Charles Hughes in Richardsons head. The conversation left a bitter taste in my mouth because there seemed to be more unspoken meaning to the words being said. The final note I would like to make on Nixons post speech phone calls was his extreme fixation on his statement God bless America. Nearly every conversation Nixon had that night was about how he had to say that because it was what he was feeling and what his instinct said to do. It was Nixons instinct, but I dont think he was very confident in his choice to say it because he needed affirmation from everyone he talked to that it was a good idea to end his speech with God bless, again this is an example of his inferiority complex. Alternatively, Nixon may have been extremely proud of himself for making a bold statement in a critical speech, in which case, he should be thinking of was to make statements of substance and progress for the nation more important to him. Over all I am perplexed by the number of phone calls to Nixon that spoke to his victory as a president that night, how moving the speech was, and his courage to give that speech. Looking back on the speech and phone calls, I do hope the supporters realized in the speech and personal conversation Nixon was playing both sides and was a pathological liar. After listening to the tapes several times, I wish I could evaluate more conversations in this short paper and discover Nixons code in some of the conversations. Many people speculate that Nixon was drunk during the phone conversations which would not be surprising as he was known to be a drinking man. I would also make that assumption because it was extremely difficult to comprehend some of his

words through his slurred speech. My best guess for any kind of inscription at this point is in the conversation between Bebe Rebozzo and Abplanalp about 70 lobsters running potentially pointing to 1970 and republicans, the short lived conversation with General Hughes, or the conversation with Steve Bull where I could not understand the words or phrases being made.