OPINION: Congress lost independent streak after Watergate
Mar. 14—Yet another book about Watergate has hit stores, arriving 50 years after the scandal.
It's by historian Garrett M. Graff, 41, who brings fresh eyes to the third-rate burglary that brought down a president. Graff titled his 832-page book, Watergate: A New History.
Actually, the old history is good, even inspiring.
Republican politicians in 1972, the year of the Watergate break-in, generally were several cuts above those of 2022.
That might sound incongruous. After all, Republican President Richard Nixon resigned from office after running a criminal enterprise from the White House. It included Nixon authorizing aides to impede the FBI as it dug into the burglary of National Democratic Headquarters, housed in the Watergate Office Building.
Nixon had to quit in disgrace for one reason only: Members of Congress in his era were more loyal to the country than they were to a corrupt president.
With Nixon engulfed in scandal, Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona strode to the White House to inform the president he had almost no support in Congress.
If Nixon didn't resign, he would endure the humiliation of impeachment in the House of Representatives and conviction in the Senate. Republicans wanted Nixon out just as much as Democrats did.
Contrast the Watergate years to former President Donald Trump's final two months in office. After losing his bid for reelection, Trump falsely claimed he was robbed by rampant voter fraud.
Trump pressured Georgia officials to falsify election results. They had the good sense to record the phone call in which Trump urged the secretary of state to "recalculate" votes.
Republicans in Congress should have joined Democrats in condemning Trump. They didn't.
The lame-duck president or his harebrained cohorts also filed lawsuits claiming dishonest elections occurred in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump lost all those states.
Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in New Mexico by 100,000 votes. Even Trump's lawyers recognized the risk of litigating against a landslide.
They dropped the lawsuit against New Mexico's top election official, Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver.
New Mexico Republicans should have criticized Trump for trying to weaken voters' confidence in the election results.
The opposite occurred. Amarillo Steve Pearce, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, would later send a fawning statement on Twitter: "God bless President Donald J. Trump. He will be our president FOREVER and no one can take that away from us."
So much for Pearce respecting voters.
Pearce wasn't the only Republican with watered-down standards after Watergate.
Trump's lawsuits to upend election results failed in the other states. Many Republican politicians expected that outcome. They saw no evidence of fraud but refused to speak up.
On the worst day, hundreds of Trump's followers stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overthrow democracy.
Republicans still didn't unite against Trump for the good of the country. Many continued serving as his apologists.
Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, who represents Southern New Mexico, was one of 139 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to block Biden's victory.
Herrell herself had falsely claimed her defeat in the 2018 congressional election occurred because of cheating by Democrats. She never contested the election. Doing so would have required evidence.
Trump's allegations were similar to Herrell's — sensational but false claims of a rigged election.
Politics has always been a dirty business. Somehow, it got much worse after Watergate.
The Congress that refused to tolerate Nixon's crimes was more inclined to work together. That spirit is long gone from Washington.
Just six days after the Watergate burglary in June 1972, Congress approved Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding.
Title IX ranks second in importance among laws that changed schools for the better. First was Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation in public schools.
Title IX knocked down other unfair barriers.
I go back far enough to have played high school basketball before there was a three-point shot, and before girls had a chance to play at all. Boys at my high school had nine varsity sports programs. Only two teams existed for girls — gymnastics and track and field.
Sen. Birch Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana, introduced the Title IX legislation. He figured girls should have as many opportunities as boys. Congress came together to pass a momentous law.
As for Nixon, he might have survived if Republicans in Congress had closed ranks behind him.
Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who wrote many of the stories that advanced the public's understanding of Watergate, once summarized what was at stake.
"At its most virulent, Watergate was a brazen and daring assault, led by Nixon himself, against the heart of American democracy: the Constitution, our system of free elections, the rule of law."
Their words, written six years before Trump's election, were a harbinger.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.
