Innsbruck, August 1, 1974
Watergate
Following the recommendation by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives to institute impeachment proceedings against President Nixon, Watergate has now gained so much interest also on this side of the Atlantic that further developments are observed continuously. Speculations about the resignation of President Nixon have received a fresh impetus. Nixon has convened his closest advisers. Will he announce his resignation before the vote on his impeachment in the House of Representatives?
August 6, 1974
The Confession of Guilt
President Nixon has now publicly admitted that in the Watergate affair he did not until now tell the full truth. He knew about the break-in into the headquarters of the Democratic Party immediately after it had occurred, and he had tried to keep it secret. Rarely has there been such a breach of confidence toward the American public as Nixon’s in the Watergate affair. Nixon had several times stepped before the television cameras to assert that he had no knowledge of what had happened.
August 8, [17 hrs. Central European Time], 1974
The resignation of President Nixon is now expected any time. The Nixon era appears to be rushing to a sudden end.
The Resignation
At 9 p.m. Washington local time, what could be seen via satellite telecast from 3 a.m. on in Central Europe, President Nixon announced his resignation with the words, “therefore I shall resign the office of the presidency.” It was the first time in American history that a president resigned his office.
The second term of Richard Nixon was ill-fated. From the moment on, when Federal Judge John Sirica began to uncover the background of the Watergate affair, the events took their imperturbable course. From the start the question stood in the center, as Senator Howard Baker had raised it in the Ervin Committee: “How much did he know, and when did he know it?” As it turned out, President Nixon knew too much too early, and beyond that he had helped to cover it up.
Most likely, it will always remain a mystery, how Richard Nixon, who as statesman gave world politics a new face, let himself be taken in by such a trite stupidity like Watergate in the domestic political arena. Nixon became a tragic figure whose dimension can hardly be fully fathomed.
[President Nixon officially resigned on August 9, 1974. The House Judiciary Committee presented three articles of impeachment against the President. The most serious accusations were “obstruction of justice” and “abuse of power.” On grounds of the factual findings, he was advised to resign within his own Party. Nixon had resigned before the House of Representatives voted on his impeachment.]
Innsbruck, [Middle of August], 1974
Escapism
The many castles and palaces in and around Salzburg lend themselves to getting lost in illusions of the past. Here people live on dilapidated estates surrounded by hunting trophies, clinging to an aristocratic lifestyle without being aware of the shabby indigence they are in. American expatriates join their company. They are American citizens living abroad who have become obsessed with castle mania. It is a highly unreal, illusory world immersed in the splendors of the past, without paying attention to the problems of our times to begin with. But what is so typical of Salzburg proves to be a general European tendency, which, in variations, one may encounter everywhere.