Fifty years ago, Richard Nixon resigned and became the first and (so far) the only President of the U.S. driven from the nation’s highest office. Unlike in the highly partisan impeachments of Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, who served out their terms after acquittal in the U.S. Senate, the American political establishment came together to force Nixon out of office because of his role in the Watergate scandals. After a bipartisan majority of the House Judiciary Committee voted for articles of impeachment, senior leaders of Nixon’s own Republican Party visited the White House to recommend his departure. The experience of Watergate, Nixon’s successor asserted, had vindicated American democracy. “Our Constitution works,” President Gerald Ford declared.
Nixon’s removal ignited bipartisan efforts to limit presidential power, clean up political corruption, and make government more transparent. In the early 1970s, it seemed like the nation’s leadership, Republicans and Democrats, had closed ranks to preserve widely held norms and restrain the imperial presidency.
Today, half a century later, the lessons of Watergate look very different. Instead of constraining the executive branch, Nixon’s ouster marked the beginning of a long-term effort to strengthen the presidency that culminated with last month’s Supreme Court ruling granting presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for certain actions. Today’s Americans live not in the immediate, reassuring afterglow of Watergate, but in its long, destabilizing shadow.
After Nixon’s resignation, the nation restored norms and restrained power. With bipartisan support, Congress reformed the campaign finance system (laundered campaign contributions had partly financed the Watergate break-in and other illegal Nixon administration operations) and passed a wide-ranging Ethics in Government Act that provided for routine disclosures by public officials and established a mechanism for independent counsel…
