spite initial problems it worked. Interestingly, Nixon true to his pattern of abusing power, arrogantly thought he could control the office of the special prosecutor (The Saturday Night Massacre). Fortunately Leon Jaworski, who was selected by Nixon to replace Archibald Cox, recognized the seriousness of the situation and continued the prosecution in an honorable fashion. Jaworski is one of the true heroes of this episode in American Political History along with Elliot Richardson. These two men who recognized Nixon for the corrupt person he was and refused to be controlled by him. The question of changing the ongoing political movement to the right is an extraordinary one. At the time Nixon resigned he was seen as a patriot by the right wing much like Lt. Col. Oliver North was viewed in the Iran Contra affair, subscribing to the notion that the ends justify the means. This was true of Nixon and his entourage of ex-CIA officers such as E. Howard Hunt, Bernard Barker (Cuban Exile and former CIA Contract agent), Chuck Colson (protege of E Howard Hunt) and Frank Sturgis a.k.a. Frank Fiorini, a former CIA operative who reported to E Howard Hunt. The CIA and Military are natural hotbeds for right wing extremism. Oliver North is our political history's most recent publicized example. The problem here is that Military and Agency Officers, by the military code of the United States, are not allowed to express their political views because of the potential for acts of treason. In America, conservatism has triumphed in America by and large. One could argue that Watergate did impede this trend to the right, if only temporarily. In the off-year elections of 1974, Democrats gained 43 new seats in the house and four in the Senate. This created a more liberal Congress. Many lower-court decisions made it illegal for the president to withhold funds, and the War Powers Act gave Congress greater control over war making, checking the president’s ...
