Page 76 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

What if…

Watergate hadn’t

been uncovered?

If audio tapes hadn’t linked Nixon to scandal, the president

would have sent US troops back to Vietnam and might
have kept Ronald Reagan out of office

Written by Jonathan O’Callaghan

n 8 August 1974, Richard Nixon became It’s likely the Vietnam War would have lasted “One of the most embarrassing things for Nixon
the first president of the United States to much longer. While the signing of the Paris Peace was the language he used,” said Oliver. “There
resign under threat of impeachment after Accords supposedly ended the conflict in 1973 with were a lot of references to ‘expletive deleted’ [in
the discovery of his links to the Watergate the withdrawal of American troops, the Soviet- the public transcripts], and it became clear that
Oscandal. To this day, it remains one of the backed North Vietnamese attacked and ultimately this man who sat happily with conservative family
most pivotal moments in the history of American conquered the South on 30 April 1975. values was swearing quite a lot and could certainly
politics — but what would have happened if he’d “There are some historians who think that talk a blue streak, and often engaged in anti-Semitic
never been caught? Nixon expected the [Paris Peace Accords] to fail, language as well. The tapes revealed this very
Nixon resigned less than two years after he was and intended all along to come back in to complex and dark character of Richard Nixon.”
re-elected in a landslide victory in 1972. While his Vietnam with a very strong display of air power,” If Nixon hadn’t poisoned public opinion towards
first term had seen him act as a relatively liberal explains Oliver. “[But] what happens is the Nixon the Republican Party, the modern American
and progressive Republican, some experts have administration is weakened by Watergate to the political landscape might look very different.
speculated the emboldened president might have point that it was never able to get the response After Democrat Jimmy Carter won the 1976
become more right-wing if his second term hadn’t to the North Vietnamese incursions in the South, election, in part due to public anger at Republican
been beleaguered by Senate investigations. But which led eventually to the fall of [South] Vietnam nominee Gerald Ford for pardoning Nixon, the
Kendrick Oliver, Professor of American History at in spring 1975.” Republicans shifted considerably to the right. But
the University of Southampton, disagrees. Regardless of whether the US could have if Ford had triumphed — perhaps riding on the
“His intention to whittle down the EPA succeeded in Vietnam the second time around, it’s coattails of Nixon’s hypothetical Vietnam victory
[Environmental Protection Agency] is often pointed likely that Nixon’s public standing on leaving office and successful healthcare reform — it would have
to as a sign that he would have moved in a more would likely have been higher. While he was never proved moderate politics still worked, so the party
conservative direction,” says Oliver. “[But] there is “beloved”, notes Oliver, the certain air of respect wouldn’t have needed to radically rebrand.
evidence prior to the election that he was talking that he had enjoyed was eroded by the release “You wouldn’t necessarily have seen a scenario
with Ted Kennedy [about] a sort of bipartisan of the White House tapes that irrefutably linked in which Ronald Reagan was a successful candidate
approach to healthcare.” him to Watergate. for the presidency in 1980,” says Oliver.
“The certain air of respect that he had PROFESSOR KENDRICK OLIVER

enjoyed was eroded by the release of a Kendrick Oliver is a Professor of American
History and Director of The Centre for
series of tape recordings” Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies at the
University of Southampton. He specialises
in US history from 1945 to 1980,
specialising in the modern political, social
How would it be diferent? and cultural issues.

l Tapes burned l Aides jailed l EPA scrapped l US re-enters Vietnam l No Spring Offensive
Before the White House Although some of Nixon’s Nixon axes the EPA Attempts by the North With a resurgent US,
tapes can be requested, aides are jailed, the three years after its Vietnamese to expand into there is no Spring
Nixon burns them, president himself emerges formation, due to fears the South are met with Offensive in Vietnam. The
destroying any evidence from the Watergate that it is becoming swift air resistance ordered South never falls and the
linking him to Watergate. scandal largely unscathed. too powerful. by President Nixon. country remains divided.
18 July 1973 August 1973 February 1974 December 1974 April 1975
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