Episode 125: RICHARD NIXON and WATERGATE 1973 Enemies at the Gate (Part 25) A Ford not a Lincoln (and a Gap)

In our 1973 Enemies at the Gate  season finale, we look at the explosive circumstances around the 2 missing calls and an 18 1/2 minute gap on one conversation in the tapes requested by the prosecutor's office. It sets the prosecutors off and the Judge does it all with the maximum of theatrics to insure the spotlight shines brightly on him, John J. Sirica.  It will all set the stage for the contentious year to come in 1974. 

At the sametime the appointment to the Vice Presidency sails through the Senate with a 97 - 3 vote to make Gerald R. Ford the 40th Vice President of the United States. We will sit in for the vote and hear the new Vice President address the nation. It is in this address he very humbly says to the nation "I am a Ford not a Lincoln". It is that humbleness that will serve Ford well over the next year as it becomes increasingly certain that he will end up President of the United States. 

We wrap up 1973 with an address by President Richard Nixon as he lights the Washington D.C. christmas tree and tries once again to put the nation back on track. But 1973 turns out not to be the year the nation had hoped for after the long protracted war in Vietnam. The divisions caused by that war are now breaking apart the very administration that had been able to set us free from its poisonous effect. 

But it appears that in 1974, Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, may end up its final casualty.

FYI - Our next season will begin in August with 1974 Through the Fire.
Next week join us for a special three part series on South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond.

Questions or comments at , [email protected] , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcasts
Thanks for listening!!