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Articles on Richard Nixon

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Approach with caution, advises a journalism scholar. simon kr/E+/Getty Images

Don’t trust the news media? That’s good

Journalism has been fodder for politicians’ contempt for generations. A huge percentage of the public doesn’t trust the news media either. That mistrust isn’t a bad thing in a democracy.
President Nixon urged the IRS to audit his perceived enemies; Donald Trump wanted to do the same. LPettet/ iStock / Getty Images Plus

The weaponization of the federal government has a long history

The House GOP is scrutinizing federal investigators for alleged abuses of power. But will they probe abuses that may have been committed by members of their own party?
Attorney General Merrick Garland, right, announces his appointment of a special counsel to investigate handling of classified materials in Joe Biden’s possession. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Special counsels, like those examining Biden’s and Trump’s handling of classified documents, are intended to be independent – but they aren’t entirely

Special counsels can help administrations avoid the perception of bias, but politics is never fully out of the picture.
A Dec. 19, 2022 meeting of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, DC. Getty Images

Jan. 6 committee tackled unprecedented attack with time-tested inquiry

The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report is the latest in a long series of congressional studies that have tried to answer hard questions about government failures and suggest ways to avoid them.
Merrick Garland, center, announcing on Nov. 18, 2022, that he will appoint a special counsel for the Department of Justice investigation into former President Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Special counsels, like the one leading the Department of Justice’s investigation of Trump, are intended to be independent – but they aren’t entirely

Special counsels are not entirely independent, but they do still help administrations avoid the perception of bias.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, second from right, ran the investigation that led to former President Donald Trump’s indictment. AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

Prosecuting a president is divisive and sometimes destabilizing – here’s why many countries do it anyway

Both sweeping immunity and overzealous prosecutions of former leaders can undermine democracy. But such prosecutions pose different risks for older democracies like the US than in younger ones.
The gate to former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 8, 2022. Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images

How the FBI knew what to search for at Mar-a-Lago – and why the Presidential Records Act is an essential tool for the National Archives and future historians

A presidential scholar sets the history and context for the battle over President Trump’s official records – and says it isn’t the first records battle between the government and a former president.
Two political conservatives, Greg Jacob, former counsel to Vice President Mike Pence, and Michael Luttig, a retired judge who was an adviser to Pence, testified to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack . AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Jan. 6 committee hearings show what went right, not just what went wrong

Coverage of the House Jan. 6 hearings focuses on what went wrong that led up to Trump supporters’ laying siege to the US Capitol. A government scholar looks at what went right, both then and now.
U.S. President Richard Nixon at a White House lectern reading a farewell speech to his staff following his resignation on Aug. 9, 1974. George Tames/New York Times Co./Getty Images

Woodward and Bernstein didn’t bring down a president in Watergate – but the myth that they did lives on

Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward broke stories about the Watergate scandal that helped unravel Richard Nixon’s presidency. But they were not the sole force to bring him down.

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