April 2014 Auction Ends Tuesday, April 29th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/29/2014
Wide collection of signed documents relating to the infamous Watergate Scandal, with signatures of most all of the key players in the scandal, from its uncovering to investigation. Signatures include: (1) Sam Ervin, Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee, and (2) all other members of that committee, (3) Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, and other ''Saturday Night Massacre'' players, (4) Eliot Richardson and (5) Leon Jaworski, (6) U.S. District Judge John Sirica, (7) Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell, (8) Nixon FBI Director L Patrick Gray, (9) the ''Watergate Seven'' autographs of Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, and three of the five burglars, and (10) Peter Rodino, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in charge of the impeachment hearings. Many notables in the Scandal also are quoted in the collection of documents. Key quotes included in the archive: (1) Lowell Weicker, Member of Senate Watergate Committee in 2003: ''I believe President Ford was wrong to pardon President Nixon. The American judicial process should have been respected.'' (2) Howard Baker, Member of Senate Watergate Committee in 2003: ''I suppose I would have (voted to impeach) because the fact probably justified it. However, since we have never impeached the President, I don't know what threshold we cross in order to justify it...I think it was legal for President Gerald Ford to pardon President Nixon. On balance I think it was the best thing to do for the country, however, it was a terrible political mistake for President Ford.'' (3) Donald Segretti, political operative for Nixon's lawyer in 2003: ''I...believe that Attorney General Mitchell informed President Nixon within a few days of the incident...there are many reasons for the pardon...was it fair and equitable to maintain the sentences of others involved.'' (4) H.R. Haldeman Nixon's Chief of Staff, with no date: ''I really don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on the present administration. It's too easy to criticize from the outside.'' (5) Archibald Cox, first Watergate Special Prosecutor in 1993: ''It seems likely that on that day he [Nixon] intended to disobey the court order to produce nine tapes; that he realized that I would persist in seeking further court orders aimed at securing compliance; and that he hoped by causing my dismissal to put the investigation back in the Department of Justice under men who would do his bidding.'' Cox in 1998: ''I can comment upon claims of executive privilege. As you seem to suggest, for anyone to claim privilege rather than answer a question suggests that he or she may have something to hide...in the case of the Watergate tapes our argument was that even if there were an initial executive privilege, the privilege must yield upon our showing a considerable likelihood that the tapes of nine specific conversations contained evidence bearing on whether a crime had been committed involving the President or a high White House assistant.'' Cox 2003, ''The available evidence, so far as I know, does not show any criminal misconduct in the 18 1/2 minute erasure from a Watergate tape. I have not speculated further.'' (6) Alexander Butterfield, Deputy Assistant to the President who installed the taping system in Nixon's office, in 1993: ''I didn't volunteer the information - I simply answered a direct question which was put to me. I feel I had no choice but to answer honestly. But my guess is that he [Nixon] would have wanted me to waffle, equivocate or lie. That was his nature.'' (7) Sam J. Ervin Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee in 1980: ''Ford's pardon...was entirely premature and that he ought never to have considered pardoning him [Nixon] at all unless he had been charged, tried, and convicted of some criminal offense, such as obstructing justice...Ford did great violence to the fundamental principle of good government embodied in the doctrine that all men should stand equal before the law.'' (8) Maurice Stans, Finance Chairman of CREEP in 1974: ''This is not an experience I relish, but I am determined to fight through all the charges because they are false, and I am sure that will ultimately be determined.'' (9) Rose Mary Woods, Personal Secretary to President Nixon in 1974: ''The events of the past weeks have been difficult for all of us who have known and are very proud to have had the privilege of working so closely with President Nixon.'' (10) Robert Taft, Senator from Ohio in 1973: ''Although all the facts have yet to be disclosed regarding this matter, it is quite clear that certain illegal and unethical activities were undertaken.'' Documents vary in size and condition, though very good overall.
Incredible Collection of 140+ Signatures of Key Players In the Watergate Scandal -- Including President Nixon, Woodward & Bernstein, Haldeman & Erlichman & Senate Watergate Committee Members
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