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The Presidency of the United States
of America
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is often said to be one of
the most powerful positions in the world.
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But of all the U.S. Presidents accused
of misusing that power,
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only one has left office as a result.
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Does Richard Nixon deserve
to be remembered
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for more than the scandal
that ended his presidency?
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Find out as we put this disgraced
President's legacy on trial
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in History v. Richard Nixon.
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Order, order.
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Now, who's the defendant today,
some kind of crook?
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Cough. No, your honor.
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This is Richard Millhouse Nixon,
the 37th President of the United States,
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who served from 1969 to 1974.
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Hold on.
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That's a weird number of years
for a President to serve.
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Well, you see. President Nixon
resigned for the good of the nation,
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and was pardoned by President Ford,
who took over after.
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He resigned because he was about
to be impeached,
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and he didn't want the full extent
of his crimes exposed.
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And what were these crimes?
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Your honor, the Watergate scandal
was one of the grossest abuses
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of Presidential power in history.
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Nixon's men broke into the Democratic
National Committee headquarters
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to wiretap the offices
and dig up dirt on opponents
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for the reelection campaign.
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Cough
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It was established that the President
did not order this burglary.
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But as soon as he learned of it,
he did everything to cover it up,
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while lying about it for months.
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Uh, yes, but it was for the good
of the country.
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He did so much during his time in office,
and could have done so much more
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without a scandal jeopardizing
his accomplishments.
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Uh, accomplishments?
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Yes, your honor.
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Did you know it was President Nixon
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who proposed the creation
of the Environmental Protection Agency,
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and signed the National Environmental
Policy Act into law?
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Not to mention the Endangered Species Act,
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Marine Mammal Protection Act,
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expansion of the Clean Air Act.
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Sounds pretty progressive of him.
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Progressive? Hardly.
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Nixon's Presidential campaign courted
Southern voters
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through fear and resentment
of the Civil Rights Movement.
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Speaking of Civil Rights,
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the prosecution may be surprised to learn
that he signed the Title 9 ammendment,
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banning gender-based discrimination
in education,
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and ensured the desegregation of schools
occurred peacefully,
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and he lowered the voting age to 18,
so that students could vote.
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He didn't have much concern
for students
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after four were shot
by the National Guard at Kent State.
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Instead, he called them bums
for protesting the Vietnam War,
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a war he had campaigned on ending.
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But he did end it.
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He ended it two years after taking office.
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Meanwhile, his campaign had sabotoged
the previous President's peace talks,
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urging the South Vietnamese government
to hold out for supposedly better terms,
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which, I might add, didn't materialize.
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So, he protracted the war for four years,
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in which 20,000 more U.S. troops,
and over a million more Vietnamese,
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died for nothing.
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Hmm, a Presidential Candidate interfering
in foreign negotiations--
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isn't that treason?
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It is, your honor, a clear violation
of the Logan Act of 1799.
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Uh, I think we're forgetting
President Nixon's many
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foreign policy achievements.
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It was he who normalized ties with China,
forging economic ties that continue today.
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Are we so sure that's a good thing?
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And don't forget his support
of the coup in Chili
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that replaced the democratically-elected
President Allende
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with a brutal military dictator.
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It was part of the fight
against communism.
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Weren't tierney and violence the reasons
we opposed Communism to begin with?
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Or was it just fear of the lower class
rising up against the rich?
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President Nixon couldn't have predicted
the violence of Pinchet's regime,
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and being anti-Communist didn't mean
neglecting the poor.
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He proposed a guaranteed basic income
for all American families,
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still a radical concept today.
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And he even pushed for comprehensive
healthcare reform,
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just the kind that passed 40 years later.
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I'm still confused about
this burglary business.
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Was he a crook or not?
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Your honor, President Nixon may have
violated a law or two,
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but what was the real harm compared
to all he accomplished while in office?
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The harm was to democracy itself.
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The whole point of the ideals Nixon
claimed to promote abroad
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is that leaders are accountable
to the people,
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and when they hold themselves
above the law for whatever reason,
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those ideals are undermined.
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And if you don't hold people accountable
to the law, I'll be out of a job.
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Many politicians have compromised
some principles to achieve results,
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but law breaking and cover-ups threaten
the very fabric the national is built on.
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Those who do so may find
their entire legacy tainted
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when history is put on trial.