Description:

Watergate -
With Nixon's Watergate resignation imminent, Rosemary Woods forwards a statement on same

TLS, on White House stationary, 6.25" x 9.25", dated "April 5, 1974', and signed by Rose Mary Woods "Rose Mary" as the Executive Assistant and Personal Secretary to Richard Nixon. Expected folds else near fine. Accompanied by a three typed pages composed by Nixon's daughter Tricia for Ladies Home Journal, which she titled "My Father And Watergate: An Exclusive Statement by Tricia Nixon Cox", on 8" x 10.5" paper. Near fine with small staple holes to upper left corner.


Rose Mary Woods, on White House stationary, forwards a defense of Watergate just after her testimony of the 18 minute tape erasure and shortly before Nixon's resignation. This moment was leading to the climatic conclusion of a two year investigation. Woods was gwriting to Jack Dreyfus, who had a very long standing friendship with Richard Nixon. Dreyfus, considered the 2nd most significant money manager of the last century, had contributed heavily to Nixon's campaigns both in 1960, and in 1968 and met frequently with Nixon.

The letter dated just months before Nixon's resignation announcement notes that his daughter, Tricia "has written an exceptional article entitled "My Father and Watergate" ... and (she) was enclosing a copy for you". The enclosed piece by Tricia begins her declaring "Accusation without proof, accusation by unnamed so-called sources, accusation by rumor, is just often a license to libel and lie." Tricia thought impeachment would be a "political act" that would damage "our system of checks and balances."

As the crisis intensified in 1974, Tricia decided that she needed to offer her father more public support. Tricia told NBC reporter Russ Ward she was outraged "at the witch-hunt atmosphere" that she felt surrounded the president and his administration. Quoting her father, she said, "One year of Watergate is enough. Let's get on with the business of the country." On January 31, 1974, Tricia and Ed joined fifteen hundred people at "National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis," a pro-Nixon rally in Lafayette Square across the street from the White House.

In March of 1974, Tricia told Washington correspondent Trude B. Feldman that the Watergate burglary was "stupid and dishonest," a sentiment her sister Julie shared. Promoting her father as a "man of peace," Tricia stated that Nixon was "a completely honest person." Julie also stated her public faith in her father's integrity. It had to have been extremely painful when they later found out that their father had been lying to the American public. In April, in order to debunk wild rumors about their own marriage, Tricia and Ed spoke to Winzola McLendon of Ladies Home Journal. The Coxes dismissed rumors that they supposedly "had three children, the marriage had fallen apart, [and] she had Hodgkin's disease." The Coxes were particularly incensed that Newsweek magazine had accused them of cheating on their tax returns. They had paid what they owed.

In the final days, in late July, the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of an article of impeachment charging that Nixon had tried to obstruct the investigation of the Watergate case. On August 2, Dick asked Pat, Tricia, Julie, David, and Ed to meet with him in the Lincoln Sitting Room. He described the contents of the June 23, 1972, tape in which he supported obstructing the FBI's investigation of the Watergate break-in. He told the family that this tape, which had been subpoenaed and was about to be released to the Senate Watergate Committee and the special prosecutor, would make it impossible for him to continue his fight to stay in office. Tricia, Ed, David, and Julie took copies of the transcripts to their rooms and read them.

These final days and the resulting fallout will forever be etched in history. A revealing and personal TLS accompanied with Tricia's statement, both of which show the events through the eyes of the Nixon family. Even once the truth came out ,Tricia and Julie were still opposed to his resigning. Ed encouraged Nixon to stay on and David told the president to do what he felt was best.

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