District Judge John J. Sirica (left) talks with his law clerk Todd Christofferson on Aug. 3, 1974, in Washington. Sirica’s subpoena for presidential tapes started President Richard Nixon’s final downfall in the Watergate scandal. | William Smith/AP Photo Watergate ‘smoking gun’ tape released, Aug. 5, 1974

In April 1974, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the tapes of 42 White House conversations that dealt with the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Office Building and the subsequent attempted coverup.

At the end of that month, President Richard Nixon released edited transcripts of the White House tapes, citing executive privilege and national security as the reason he needed to withhold certain material. The Democratic-led Judiciary Committee, however, rejected the redacted transcripts, saying that they failed to comply with the subpoena.


U.S. District Court Judge John Sirica thereupon issued a subpoena for the tapes of 64 presidential conversations to use as evidence in the criminal cases being prepared against indicted former Nixon administration officials. Sirica acted on a request from Leon Jaworski, the special Watergate counsel Nixon had named after having fired his predecessor, Archibald Cox, in the “Saturday Night Massacre” of Oct. 19, 1973.

When Nixon refused, Jaworski appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to force Nixon to turn over the tapes. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered Nixon to release them. In the 8–0 ruling, Justice William Rehnquist disqualified himself because he had worked for U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, one the targets of the investigation. In United States v. Nixon, the high tribunal found that Nixon had erred in arguing that courts are compelled to honor, without question, any presidential claim of executive privilege.

In late July 1974, the White House turned the subpoenaed tapes over to Jaworski. One of those tapes was the so-called “smoking gun” tape, from June 23, 1972, six days after the Watergate break-in. On that tape, Nixon recorded an Oval Office meeting with H.R. Haldeman, his chief of staff.

During their exchange, Nixon agreed that administration officials should approach Richard Helms, the director of the CIA, and Vernon A. Walters, its deputy director, and ask them to ask L. Patrick Gray, the acting director of the FBI, to halt the bureau's investigation into the Watergate break-in because it was a national security matter. Jaworski believed that Nixon, in so agreeing, had entered a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice.

On this day in 1974, the “smoking gun” tape was made public. At that point, Nixon’s remaining political support on Capitol Hill all but disappeared. The 10 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee who had voted against impeachment in committee announced that they would now vote for impeachment once the matter reached the House floor.

Nixon lacked support in the Senate as well. Sens. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) and Hugh Scott (R-Pa.), the minority leader, told Nixon that no more than 15 senators were willing to even consider an acquittal. Facing impeachment by the House and near-certain conviction in the Senate, Nixon announced his resignation on the evening of Aug. 8, 1974, effective as of noon on the following day.

SOURCE: “THIS DAY IN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY,” BY PAUL BRANDUS (2018)

