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.The withdrawals rapidly became routs as largeARVN units disintegrated into columns of refugees.One by one the coastal citieswere abandoned, and by early April the ARVN had abandoned the northern half oftheir country to the North Vietnamese forces.The troops of the ARVN began to meltaway, and the remaining Americans escaped by air and sealifts with Vietnamesefriends and coworkers.On April 21, President Thieu resigned and flew to Taiwan.OnApril 30 what remained of the South Vietnamese government surrenderedunconditionally, and North Vietnamese tank columns occupied Saigon without astruggle.A military government was instituted, and on July 2, 1976, the country wasofficially united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with its capital in Hanoi.Saigonwas renamed Ho Chi Minh City.The Watergate Burglary (June 17, 1972)Near the end of President Nixon s first term, on June 17, 1972, five men were arrestedbreaking into the Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate office-appartment building in Washington, DC.It was quickly learned that the arrestedburglars had been hired by the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP).Immediately, attorney general John Mitchell resigned as director of the CRP.Clearly,this was an embarrassment for President Nixon, but the incident did not impact theensuing fall elections which Nixon won by a landslide.The Democrats retainedmajorities in the House and Senate.A few days after the break-in, charges of burglary and wiretapping were broughtagainst the five men arrested at the scene, plus two additional officials within theNixon administration.They were E.Howard Hunt, Jr., a former White House aide,and G.Gordon Liddy, general counsel for the Committee for the Re-Election of thePresident.Investigation into the scandal continued for the next two years and culminated withthe resignation of President Nixon on August 9, 1974.6As previously mentioned, the Watergate burglary occurred a month after the SALT Iagreements were signed by Nixon and Breshnev.SALT I and accompanyingagreements marked a new era of détente between the two superpowers.Division Between Nixon and the MilitaryAs it turns out, Watergate was not the only cover-up in the Nixon White House.JoanHoff, a research professor of history at Montana State University, recently wrote anarticle asserting that on December 21, 1971 six months before the Watergateburglary occurred Nixon approved the first major cover-up of his administration; 225however, he was not covering up his own misdeeds.He was covering up the Navy s.Nixon had learned that Admiral Thomas Moorer, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,had authorized his subordinates to spy on the White House s National SecurityCounsel.For thirteen months, from 1970 to late 1971, Navy Yeoman Charles E.Radford systematically stole and copied NSC documents from Alexander Haig, HenryKissinger, and their staff.When Nixon learned of this, he ordered it hushed up; but helet the military know he was aware of the spying.Apparently Nixon and his aidesthought that approach would give them more leverage with a hostile defenseestablishment.7Bob Woodward and Naval IntelligenceThe news media slowly began to cover the Watergate burglary.Several majornewspapers investigated the possible involvement of the White House in the break-in.Leading the pack was The Washington Post and its two young reporters, CarlBernstein and Bob Woodward, whose stories were based largely on information froman unnamed source called "Deep Throat"; the mysterious identity of Deep Throatbecame a news story in its own right and continues to be speculated on to this day.The journalistic integrity of Yale graduate Bob Woodward became tainted andcomprised years later when it was revealed, by authors Len Colodny and RobertGettlin, that prior to working at the Washington Post, Woodward had worked at thePentagon for the Office of Naval Intelligence as a Naval Lieutenant.Silent Coup a1991 book by Colodny and Gettlin reveals that in 1969, the twenty-six-year-oldLieutenant was the briefing officer for Admiral Moorer, head of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff who had authorized his subordinates to spy on the White House s NationalSecurity Counsel.A briefing officer sees, hears, reads, and assimilates informationfrom one of several sources and passes it on to more senior officers.This is a covetedposition for young officers seeking career advancement.The work is often Top Secret.Colodny and Gettlin asserted that Admiral Moorer sent Lieutenant Woodward to thebasement of the White House to act as a briefer for Alexander Haig.8 Theramifications of this information are staggering.Nixon s War on DrugsOn June 17, 1971 Nixon declared that heroin addiction was "Public Enemy No
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