Boomer’s Byts Of History: Watergate As A Young Bride
By cybrscrybe | Published | No Comments
Watergate as a young bride
As a young bride in the year 1973, the joy of my wedding and marriage kept me from truly focusing on the politics that year. During that summer, I was a camp counselor, and out of touch most of the time with media. However, on my first weekend off and home with media, I heard about Spiro Agnew’s arrest and subsequent resignation. During the next weekend off, I became aware of the appointment of Gerald Ford as Vice President. In addition, I was focusing on planning my wedding on those weekends, so was aware of these issues in the peripheral of my vision of the times.
As I focused on my wedding in November, the hidden tapes in Nixon’s office were being litigated in the Supreme Court. Again, these events were in the peripheral of my awareness of politics. However, I had voted for Nixon, and was proud of him stating that the “buck stops with me”, and felt that he was being a good leader in taking the heat for what his campaigners had done. So watched the subsequent Supreme Court ruling that the tapes must be used, and were listened to by Leon Jaworski, the Attorney General. From my understanding, Attorney General Jaworski, shared his findings with some congressional republicans who then approached President Nixon and advised him to resign from office.
Even though I was settling into a new married life, the drama following this case along with its historical significance, made me pay attention to the politics of it all. I watched in total surprise, along with the rest of the country, as Nixon made his resignation speech. Then watched the signing in of Gerald Ford as President and the subsequent signing in of Nelson Rockefeller as the new Vice President.
After the drama of the Nixon scandal, it wasn’t surprising to me that Ford only held the office for two years. While taking master’s courses in college, I was impressed by Jimmy Carter’s laid back demeanor, and his identity with the common American as a peanut farmer. In addition, his policies of trying to make the government more efficient, yet conservative, and trying to cut costs were amenable to many Americans. His commonality was evident during his presidential walk after being sworn in. He insisted on walking in the parade, and was the first president to do it that way since Jefferson and Jackson had done it. So even though in historical retrospect, Jimmy Carter’s presidency was seen as lack luster and lame, the calmness he brought after the Nixon scandal was welcome.
Other Baby Boomers are encouraged to add their experiences and remembrances to these thoughts. Where were YOU when…??
Email your answers to cybrscrybe@verizon.net or comment on my Learningbyts Blog @http://learningbyts.net/WordPressBlog/byts-of-history/
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