Capitol Issues

A few days before former White House counsel John Dean began testifying to the Ervin Committee Nixon addressed the nation about the economy. Evidently because he thinks it was a smashing success, Nixon employed the rhetorical device of his April 30 Watergate speech.

On April 30 he said: It would be “cowardly” to “blame those to whom I delegated responsibility to run the campaign.” So he accepted “responsibility” for recklessly rising above politics, for believing “the Presidency should come first and politics second.” Then he lavishly praised, and fired, two of his “closest associates,” saying that he would not blame “subordinates” whose “zeal exceeded their judgment and who may have done wrong in a cause they deeply believed to be right.”

About the Author

George F. Will

George F. Will has been a columnist, beginning with National Review, since 1973.

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A few days before former White House counsel John Dean began testifying to the Ervin Committee Nixon addressed the nation about the economy. Evidently because he thinks it was a smashing success, Nixon employed the rhetorical device of his April 30 Watergate speech.

On April 30 he said: It would be “cowardly” to “blame those to whom I delegated responsibility to run the campaign.” So he accepted “responsibility” for recklessly rising above politics, for believing “the Presidency should come first and politics second.” Then he lavishly praised, and fired, two of his “closest associates,” saying that he would not blame “subordinates” whose “zeal exceeded their judgment and who may have done wrong in a cause they deeply believed to be right.”