Episode 121: RICHARD NIXON and WATERGATE 1973 Enemies at the Gate (Part 21) OCTOBER 1973 (Part D) All at Once, At War at Home and Abroad Artwork

BOB DOLE : The Life that Brought Him There

Randal Wallace Presents : Bob Dole The Life that Brought Him There

We begin our second season on Bob Dole's life and career, by traveling back in time to the battlefield of Italy in World War 2. A story that will begin with Bob Dole gravely wounded on a battlefield in Italy, and end on the threshold of the 1996 Campaign for President. It is truly one of America's greatest stories.

Over the next three seasons we will tell his story and the story of the rise of the modern Republican Party. It will be the final story of National leadership for the generation of people who built the American Century. For all the attention a new generation of Republican leaders would garner, it was in fact, Bob Dole, so often in the shadow of the giants of his age, from Nixon to Reagan to Bush, and who would largely be forgotten in the coming era of Gingrich , Clinton, and the second George W. Bush, who actually led the Republican Party out of the political wilderness and back to power in both houses of Congress, even as his own efforts to win the Presidency would fall short.

In our second of three seasons, we will look back at Bob Dole's life from his tragic injury, to the eve of his Presidential Campaign in 1996. In these episodes, we will see one of the most remarkable stories of resilience, faith, and willpower, in all of American history.

We invite you to come along with us on a wild ride through the high points and low moments of modern American History, in an effort to show the citizens of today that we are an amazing and resilient nation.

Our Podcasts are separated by individual Documentary style titles. --
Season 1 : Bridging the Political Gap episodes 1 -11 --- Season 2 : Lessons in Leadership : --- The GIANTS of the Senate and Joe Biden episodes 14 - 16 ---- World War 2 Episodes 17 - 20 --- General MacArthur You're Fired Episodes 21 - 23 ---- A Celebration of the life of George Shultz episodes 26 - 28 ---- November 1963 : The end of the Age of Innocence episode 29 --- Season 3 ----The Johnson Treatment episodes 32 - 39 ---- Upheaval 1968 episodes 40 - 50 ---- Season 4: Richard Nixon 1968 -1971 The Man Who Saved the Union episodes 51 -67 ----- Season 5 Richard Nixon 1972 The Foundation of Peace episodes 71 - 96 -----1973 Ten Days in January 97 - 100 -- Season 6 Richard Nixon 1973 : Enemies at the Gate 101 - 125 ---- Season 7 Richard Nixon 1974 Through the Fire 126 - 147 ---- Season 8 Richard Nixon 1974 - 1994 The Fall and the Re-Rise of Richard Nixon. 148 - 174 plus bonus materials --- Season 9 Gerald Ford Beyond Watergate 175 -190 -- Season 10 John Jenrette. & Jimmy Carter too 191 - 224 -- Season 11 George H.W. Bush : The Leadership Lessons 225 - 250 --- Season 12: Mayor Hirsch 253 - 259, George H.W. Bush : The Sweep of History 260 - 285, Season 13 George H.W. Bush The Gulf War, The Coup, Clarence Thomas & the Cold War's End 286 - 318, Season 14 George H. W. Bush 1992 The Changing of the Guard 319 - 363 Season 15 Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing 364 - 402, Special Season 16 The Great American Authors 403 - 419 , Season Seventeen Bob Dole The Life that Brought him there 420 -

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BOB DOLE : The Life that Brought Him There

Episode 121: RICHARD NIXON and WATERGATE 1973 Enemies at the Gate (Part 21) OCTOBER 1973 (Part D) All at Once, At War at Home and Abroad

July 10, 2022 • Randal Wallace • Season 6 • Episode 121

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Spiro Agnew resigns on October 10, 1973, the Arab Forces go on another offensive on October 11, 1973 all the while the Special Prosecutor's continue to push forward trying to get their hands on the Presidential recordings. Tom Brokaw of NBC News is right to describe the situation as "Richard Nixon was a President under siege." He seemed to be facing historic level crisis everywhere he looked.

Nixon went right to work to insure the Israeli government would have everything they needed to defend themselves and he was given some hope by his Attorney General that finally a deal could be struck not to hand over the tapes. He was determined not to give in to the mounting pressure of allowing the prosecutor's free run over the Nixon White House. That hope would turn out to be false.

Attorney General Elliot Richardson would waffle around on a proposal for third party verification of the tapes, in a compromise originally proposed by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox himself. But when it was originally proposed Richard Nixon had turned the idea down and pursued his options in court. The court would rule against him 5 -2 but add that they wanted the party's to find a deal themselves. So Richardson took the initiative to re propose the compromise that had been earlier rejected. It is a little murky as to what exactly happened or if it was all a misunderstanding but an idea was proposed that a prominent, well respected Senator, John Stennis, a Democrat from Mississippi would listen to the tapes and verify what he heard on them.

Stennis was a man of unquestioned character, (though he was a southerner and a segregationist) , he was also elderly, hard of hearing, and a huge supporter of the Republican President. The Prosecutors wanted no part of this deal and I actually can understand the reasoning on this point. However, it was Archibald Cox's idea, and though he now had a court decision saying he should get the tapes he had asked for, it could reasonably be argued that in good faith he should have honored his original proposal. But either way he chose to hold a press conference and face down the President of the United States while the President was dealing with an enormous crisis in Israel and for that a showdown became inevitable.

This episode takes you right up to that moment just before the most famous of showdowns happened and it includes Archibald Cox's press conference.

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