We are the June 17, 1972, Republican Richard Nixon has been at the head of the first world power, the United States, for more than 3 years. Mired in a Vietnam war that never ends, the Americans will vote within a few months, and Nixon intends to stay in the White House.
AT Washington, headquarters of the Democratic Party, the campaign is in full swing, everything is in place to win the party’s candidate: George McGovern. But today, it’s not just the campaign that’s on everyone’s lips, because last night, 5 men were arrested when they had entered the premises of the Democratic Party to put microphones there and take photos. From spooks somehow.
In the middle of the campaign, it seems suspicious… Especially when you realize that one of them is a member of the committee for the re-election of Richard Nixon. But, a few days later, the president takes the floor and declares: “The White House has not no part in this particular incident”.
The explosive investigation of the “Washington Post”
Behind the scenes, we are busy trying to cover up the affair, and it works. Weeks go by and nothing happens: the matter of the microphones is almost forgotten. Campaign requires, we move on. However, Bob Woodward et Carl Bernstein, two journalists from Washington Post sniffed out the scandal. They decide to investigate and quickly realize that all the clues lead to the highest spheres power.
Meanwhile, President Nixon is re-elected in the month of November 1972, hands down even, with 60% of votes, a landslide victory and he is back for a second term. But, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein persist. For its part, justice, too, is doing its job. And in the entourage of the president, heads are falling one after the other…
Nixon no longer has a choice, he must resign
Very quickly, there is no longer any shield to protect Richard Nixon. From commissions of inquiry to journalistic revelations, the machine is racing and the president understands that an impeachment procedure, that is to say a dismissal procedure, is being plotted against him.
For Nixon, he is unthinkable to become the first impeached president in the history of the United States. Only one solution: resign. After thinking for a long time about all the possible schemes, the inevitable happens. the August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon then addresses the Americans and announces his resignation.
Every day in Jour J, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on RTL, Flavie Flament makes you discover the great news moments that have marked the collective memory.
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