“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” Gerald Ford delivered the famous line upon taking the oath of office after the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The “internal wounds of Watergate” were “more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars,” Ford said. Now was a time to heal.
Whether or not the “nightmare” itself was over, the end of the Nixon presidency was only the beginning of the long-term effects of the scandal, which would change the institution of the presidency itself and intrude on nearly every successor. Fifty years later, the ghost of Watergate appears to be the White House’s one permanent resident.
June 17 marks 50 years since the break-in at the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex. Although this operation by Nixon’s “Plumbers” was initially dismissed by spokesman Ron Ziegler as a “two-bit burglary,” it would eventually lead to the end of an administration. Five decades later, it is clear the consequences continue to be felt.
