Watergate

On August 9, 1974, or exactly 40 years ago, United States President Richard Nixon resigned, the first and only resignation of a US President in its 230+ year history. Nixon stepped down in the face of an imminent vote of impeachment by the House of Representatives and an equally certain vote of conviction by the Senate.

Many from the younger generation are not familiar with Watergate which was the proximate cause for Nixon’s resignation. Watergate is actually a mixed-use office and residential complex in Washington, D.C.Several office units therein served as the Democratic National Committee headquarters.In June 1972, five men, who were engaged and funded by the President Nixon’s re-election team, broke in to the Democratic Party offices.They were supposed to photograph important documents and wire tap the phones of top Democrats. The burglars were discovered and arrested.

 It seems that Nixon himself did not authorize the intrusion.He was quoted to have asked “Who was the as&%#@e who ordered it?”.And if we fast forward to the November 1972 elections, Nixon won by a landslide against the Democratic party candidate, Senator George McGovern, 520 to 17 electoral votes (47 million vs. 29 million in the popular vote).So there was really no need to use underhanded tactics to win the election.Sound familiar? 

While Nixon may have not known about the break-in, it seems he took part in the cover-up.He ordered his chief-of-staff to have the CIA block the FBI investigation. It was also revealed during a Senate inquiry that the Oval Office had a tape-recording system which recorded many of the President’s conversations.The special prosecutor investigating the matter subpoenaed the tapes but the President refused to comply citing Executive privilege and confidentiality. In the landmark decision of U.S v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that specific request for information in respect of a potential crime prevails over a generic claim of executive privilege.Nixon had to turn over the tapes. An 18-and-a-half-minute gap in one of the recordings led many to suspect there was a cover-up.The rest, as they say, is history.Aside from Nixon’s resignation, the scandal resulted in the prosecution, conviction and incarceration of 43 individuals, a majority of whom were top administration officials. Watergate exemplified the principle that no person, not even the President, is above the law.

That said, less than a month later, Nixon was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.

Since then, the term Watergate has been associated with clandestine and illegal activities and the suffix “-gate” used to denote political scandals. Koreagate erupted in 1976 involving South Korean influence peddling in the US Congress.

There have been many other gates since then (including Bill). If we followed this practice in the Philippines, we would have had jueteng-gate, Garci-gate, PDAF-gate and in connection with the RH bill, if you are in favour then you would term it “li-gate”, and if you are against, you would probably call it “propa-gate.”

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Bombs away: Also today in history, we commemorate the 69th anniversary of the dropping of a plutonium implosion-type bomb (code-named Fat Man) on the city of Nagasaki.This led to the death of 60,000-80,000 inhabitants, roughly half of which died instantaneously.The other half died within four months from the effects of radiation, burns and other injuries. Three days earlier (August 6), the deadlier uranium gun-type atomic bomb (code-named Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima.This resulted in the death of an estimated 90,000 to 166,000 people.The atomic bombs were built under the auspices of the Manhattan Project which was a confidential, collaborative effort among the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.It started as a modest undertaking in 1939 but rapidly expanded to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion then (about US$26 billion in 2014 terms).This was the first and hopefully, last time, that nuclear weapons will be used in our planet.

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Laughing last: I found an ANC crawler the other night confusingly amusing.It read:“UP Maroons coach suspended for claims of point shaving.”Those who follow UAAP basketball know that the Maroons are still win-less after six games this season 77 and in fact has been unable to break a 27-game losing-streak since 2012.So how can a coach of a team that has been perennially losing (with most games by a wide margin) be suspected of point-shaving?I was later clarified that UP coach Rey Madrid was being penalized for accusing league referees of point-shaving. Still, while it is common knowledge that Filipinos wager on basketball, one would wonder why they will place bets on games that are not interesting to watch and where the margins are big? 

In any event, Madrid’s suspension can turn out to be blessing.Not having him in the bench may inspire his players to give their all. His absence may, literally and figuratively, be a game-changer. And at this point, losing has become par for the course and there is no way to go for the team but win. 

Basketball masochists are looking forward to today’s “battle for the bottom” between the Maroons and the Adamson Soaring Falcons.The latter did not live up to its monicker in the game against the NU Bulldogs.They scored a measly 25 points the entire game — one three point shot in the first quarter, eight points in the second, six in the third and another eight in the final quarter.They converted just nine out of 57 attempts for a mere 16% shooting. This was the lowest score recorded in modern UAAP history. Yes, FEU beat UP 31-19 in 1946 but this was the first post-World War II game when the league was made up of four teams, the game time was not as long and three-point shots were non-existent. So the game today should be interesting. The team that laughs last, laughs last.

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“God would not bring you through a Red Sea and turn around and allow you to perish in a fish pond.” – Johnnie Dent Jr.
 

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