Samuel Dash Quotes
Watergate was unique because it allowed the public to play its democratic role in expressing its outrage at the presidency. And as a result, for the first time in history a president resigned.
Dash, Samuel. Interview. Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement, 10 June 2000.
Senator Grimes thought that Andrew Johnson was a terrible President, but when the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson and he was tried before the Senate, Grimes voted for acquittal. His reason for the his vote was he thought that the Constitution did not provide for the removal if a President just because he has “Unacceptable.” Johnson survived removal from office by a single vote and had Grimes not been so principled about the Constitution, Johnson would have been removed from office. On the other hand, Johnson was a terrible President and many of the nations racial problems in later years emanated from his actions and inactions while in office.
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a friend in a hunting accident becoming the first U. S. Vice President to shoot a man since Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton. However, the Vice President and his staff did not make the shooting public till the next day and then by having a member of the hunting party call a small local, friendly, Texas newspaper. Finally, under great pressure the Vice President gave an interview to the Fox News Network, the network who had been most favorable in reporting on the administration.
Nixon however turned out to be very dishonest with the Watergate scandal allowing the public to see and hear what Nixon was really like. He was the only American President who resigned, as he did that to save himself from being impeached and tried for various fenonies he committed. Vidal had his number. However, Nixon was not a crook in the usual sense of the word. His violations of law and ethics did not enrich him fiscally. His corruption was the drive and mania for power and control.
His sentiment was also that of president Johnson although there were several of the President's aides who argued that the public was entitled to know the kind of character that Nixon had, his dirty tricks, and the extent that he would go to win an election. He had through intermediaries persuaded the South Vietnamese President to not attent the proposed Vietnam Peace Talks by promising that after Nexon was elected President he would hold our for a much better deal for the South Vietnamese Government that was generally bery corrupt and incompetent. For Rusk the issue was one of the moral tone of a Presidential Election. Making any accusation just before the election does not give the public to contemplate the information, let the opponent defend himself and the public to weigh in. The integrity of the election process was to Rusk and many others more important than who won or lost. In the hyperpolerized atmosphere 50 years later there were few American Politicians who would not use this kind of information as who won was then considered much more imnportant than the integrity of the election.
Nixon was the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee running with Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Coolidge had no involvement in politics after his Presidency. He was never consulted by his successor and never resented that fact.
Livingston could not stop the process, which had built up a momentum of its own among most Republicans. The debate went on, and, despite public opinion favoring the President, on a highly partisan party line vote Clinton was impeached by the house. The impeachment, only the second in U. S. history, then failed in the Senate.
Samuel Dash was an American lawyer. He was chief counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee during the Watergate scandal. Dash became famous for his televised interrogations during the hearings held by the United States Congress on the Watergate incident.
