Nixon News & Notes
The Real Watergate Scandal
The United States Constitution establishes a republic, not a monarchy. If an American president ever had royalist or autocratic aspirations, it would pose an existential threat to the Constitution. Numerous Americans believe that’s what made President Richard Nixon so dangerous. When House Speaker Carl Albert denounced Nixon’s “one‐man rule” in 1973, he was channeling the opinion of many at the time—and since. But removing a monarch from office is no smooth, straightforward affair. If it’s true that Nixon acted like a king, then the closest the country has ever come to regicide was the drama of Watergate.
The scandal began with the arrest on June 17, 1972 of five men working for the Republican Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), who were caught breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate Office Building. The scandal appeared to end with Nixon’s resignation speech two years later, on August 8, 1974.
The successful removal of the president took presidential authority down in its wake, condemning any president who tries to recover it as another Nixon, another monarch-in-the-making. This has itself become a scandal, a stumbling block to understanding some of the most tumultuous years in American history, when the country and its politics changed forever.
As Edmund Burke understood, regicides are a foul business, leaving in their wake a false peace as well as a contagion that continues to break apart the political and social order. In the case of the French Revolution, we at least know who brought down Louis XVI: the National Convention delegates who voted for his execution. In the case of Watergate, we don’t really know the individuals who brought down Nixon.
Grand Strategy Summit 2026
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary year, the Richard Nixon Foundation’s 2026 Grand Strategy Summit will convene leaders in government, diplomacy, business, and national security from around the world to examine the domestic and foreign policy decisions shaping America today — and the America of tomorrow.
The Summit will take place on September 30 and October 1, 2026, at The Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. It will focus on key dimensions of great power competition, including diplomacy, economics, energy, and artificial intelligence, with discussions centered on America’s strategic position of dominance in each domain.
Inspired by Richard Nixon’s tenth and final book, Beyond Peace, the Summit builds on his vision for America’s long-term role in global leadership after the Cold War.