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Watergate was a vendetta among [[leftist]]s for Nixon tarnishing the reputation of a loyal New Dealer to advance his own career.  The duplicity and irony should not be missed however: Nixon's downfall was caused by Nixon attempting to cover up the mistakes of the two previous Democratic administrations. The leak of the [[Pentagon Papers]], a catalog of the sins of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, angered Nixon. Once again as in the Amerasia and Hiss cases the theft of government secrets and classified documents by anti-government leftists was something Nixon was all too familiar with.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bdEJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1038&lpg=PA1038&dq=nixon%2Bamerasia%2Bhiss&source=bl&ots=-71-_HVIBy&sig=OvhSd9icrctXNvDVn5YXNCGeDa4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidovL5so3NAhWNth4KHQRvCTcQ6AEIQTAF#v=onepage&q=nixon%2Bamerasia%2Bhiss&f=false Hearings By United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities]. 1948.</ref> FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was reluctant to act, based upon Hoover's own experience in the foregoing cases.<ref>http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/first-domino-nixon-and-pentagon-papers </ref> So Nixon authorized the creation of a secret, non-governmental "Plumbers unit" to fix government leaks. The outfit was funded by his 1972 re-election committee.  

Watergate was a vendetta among [[leftist]]s for Nixon tarnishing the reputation of a loyal New Dealer to advance his own career.  The duplicity and irony should not be missed however: Nixon's downfall was caused by Nixon attempting to cover up the mistakes of the two previous Democratic administrations. The leak of the [[Pentagon Papers]], a catalog of the sins of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, angered Nixon. Once again as in the Amerasia and Hiss cases the theft of government secrets and classified documents by anti-government leftists was something Nixon was all too familiar with.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bdEJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1038&lpg=PA1038&dq=nixon%2Bamerasia%2Bhiss&source=bl&ots=-71-_HVIBy&sig=OvhSd9icrctXNvDVn5YXNCGeDa4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidovL5so3NAhWNth4KHQRvCTcQ6AEIQTAF#v=onepage&q=nixon%2Bamerasia%2Bhiss&f=false Hearings By United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities]. 1948.</ref> FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was reluctant to act, based upon Hoover's own experience in the foregoing cases.<ref>http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/first-domino-nixon-and-pentagon-papers </ref> So Nixon authorized the creation of a secret, non-governmental "Plumbers unit" to fix government leaks. The outfit was funded by his 1972 re-election committee.  

But Nixon's enemies were ready to pounce based on any scintilla of evidence of wrongdoing. It began before he took office, when a [[lame duck]] congress repealed the tax deduction Nixon planned to use for donating his vice-presidential papers. Nixon aides backdated some documents to make it appear the donation had taken place before the time limit expired. Nixon invested his $600,000 tax refund in real estate, properties that became known as the "Florida White House" and the "Western White House" in San Clemente, California. Nixon's new found wealth attracted the attention of the [[IRS]], and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, and eventually the House Judiciary Sub-Committee on Impeachment.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44&dq=Nixon+Tax+Scheme+Vice-Presidential+Papers+Tad+Szulc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwio-KD9i43NAhVX0GMKHZ1dCZ0Q6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Nixon%20Tax%20Scheme%20Vice-Presidential%20Papers%20Tad%20Szulc&f=false How Nixon's Tax Scheme Backfired], Tad Szulc, ''New Yorker'', April 15 1974.</ref> Nixon's enemies couldn't attach the aura of scandal in the public's eyes until after the 1972 election. Nixon won re-election, carrying a full one-third of all Democratic voters with him in his Silent Majority coalition.<ref>[http://presidentelect.org/art_cooper_e1972an.html An Interpretation of the 1972 Presidential Election Landslide], by CRAIG W. COOPER, 1975.</ref>

But Nixon's enemies were ready to pounce based on any scintilla of evidence of wrongdoing. It began before he took office, when a [[lame duck]] congress repealed the tax deduction Nixon planned to use for donating his vice-presidential papers. Nixon aides backdated some documents to make it appear the donation had taken place before the time limit expired. Nixon invested his $600,000 tax refund in real estate, properties that became known as the "Florida White House" and the "Western White House" in San Clemente, California. Nixon's new found wealth attracted the attention of the [[IRS]], and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, and eventually the House Judiciary Sub-Committee on Impeachment.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44&dq=Nixon+Tax+Scheme+Vice-Presidential+Papers+Tad+Szulc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwio-KD9i43NAhVX0GMKHZ1dCZ0Q6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Nixon%20Tax%20Scheme%20Vice-Presidential%20Papers%20Tad%20Szulc&f=false How Nixon's Tax Scheme Backfired], Tad Szulc, ''New Yorker'', April 15 1974.</ref> But Nixon's enemies still couldn't attach the aura of scandal in the public's eyes until after the 1972 election. Nixon won re-election, carrying a full one-third of all Democratic voters with him in his Silent Majority coalition.<ref>[http://presidentelect.org/art_cooper_e1972an.html An Interpretation of the 1972 Presidential Election Landslide], by CRAIG W. COOPER, 1975.</ref>

=== Watergate ===

=== Watergate ===