WI: Nixon Doesn't Resign

I don't think Nixon would live long enough to make it to trial, under these circumstances I could see the various security apparatuses and intelligence agencies deciding that having Nixon take the witness stand, with EVERYTHING that he knows would simply be too dangerous. Not just for the nation, but their own careers! :eek:

I think Nixon would be 'taken care off' by these forces before a trial could be conducted to ensure his eternal silence.

Contrary to tinfoil hats, the American government does not engage in conspiracies to assassinate presidents. There are no smoke filled rooms of the Illuminati. Only a bunch of barely competent, flawed humans. If you want evidence for why conspiracy theories don't happen, Watergate is it.
 
Contrary to tinfoil hats, the American government does not engage in conspiracies to assassinate presidents. There are no smoke filled rooms of the Illuminati. Only a bunch of barely competent, flawed humans. If you want evidence for why conspiracy theories don't happen, Watergate is it.

But a disgraced Impeached ex-President with knowledge of ALL their activities and operations about the take the witness stand where he could be asked ANY question...?

That's something else...
 
But a disgraced Impeached ex-President with knowledge of ALL their activities and operations about the take the witness stand where he could be asked ANY question...?

That's something else...

That's not how the American legal system works. Perry Mason is not a documentary. He would be barred from discussing anything classified except in the case of a closed hearing.
 
But a disgraced Impeached ex-President with knowledge of ALL their activities and operations about the take the witness stand where he could be asked ANY question...?

That's something else...

Not only would he be barred from spilling classified information, his lawyers would object to any question not relevant to the case at hand, and the prosecution would need to withdraw those questions if they even tried.

Nixon committing suicide prior to trial - well, I can see that. Being poisoned by the CIA? No...
 
Was him related to Jane ?

More seriously, can someone provide a calendar about the impeachment ? would it be all over before the 1976 election ?
Probably a few months more than OTL I doubt the two houses would hang around on the vote once he refuses to go...especially with mid-terms so close.

This could easily cost the republicans power for a decade or more as they'd be so contaminated by Nixon. Also he can forget a comeback as an elder statesman and probably see some jail for this.

In OTL once you strip out watergate he's actually not that bad; good on forign policy, poor on domestic. In this ATL I expect the stench of watergate will be so horrible that no one can separate him from it and look at his first term and see any good in it. He'd be rock bottom of the presidential rankings; if he's not seen as worse than buchanan he's in a close tie with him...
 
Nixon committing suicide prior to trial - well, I can see that. Being poisoned by the CIA? No...
This kind of shit certainly happens in other countries, and as human beings, I don't think we're particularly immune.

Now, high officials in defense and intelligence community might figure that at the end of the day, Nixon won't actually play these aces, like a school bully counts on the fact that someone won't actually tell. And it's a strategic decision, because it often does go worse if you tell, even in this day and age.

Plus, Nixon had his own secrets to keep, chief among these that he sabotaged the Vietnam peace talks in October 1968!
 
Even without the classified state secrets, he probably had a lot of dirt on congress

Reminding congressmen that a vote to impeach him means those embarrassing secrets and photos of theirs come out could make the vote closer than expected or delayed for months.
 
The party leaders told him that he might have 10 votes against impeachment in the house and 15 in the senate. This was after a recording of him was released on august 5 that as early a week after the break in he was trying to cover it up. As a sad note he was in poor health and was suffering from phlebitis and blood colts in his left leg that put him in the hospital for 2 months after his regsignation.
 
Even without the classified state secrets, he probably had a lot of dirt on congress

Reminding congressmen that a vote to impeach him means those embarrassing secrets and photos of theirs come out could make the vote closer than expected or delayed for months.

Hoover is dead, and with him all his files are behind the wall of the FBI. Nixon has no support for underhanded blackmail.
 
Aslo, the Joint Chiefs and other Congressional leaders advised him to resign, IIRC. Significantly, defense secretary James Schlesinger ordered the Pentagon not to accept any crazy orders from the president unless it had his signature on them as well. Was Schlesinger paranoid or was he only trying to prevent a probable coup by Nixon??
 
In OTL once you strip out watergate he's actually not that bad; good on forign policy, poor on domestic. In this ATL I expect the stench of watergate will be so horrible that no one can separate him from it and look at his first term and see any good in it. He'd be rock bottom of the presidential rankings; if he's not seen as worse than buchanan he's in a close tie with him...

Bangladeshis and Chileans would disagree on the matter of his foreign policy.
 
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