RICHARD NIXON: 1913-1994 : Voices

“I think he concluded, however, in the final analysis, that the economy was beginning to erode very seriously, that conflict was shaping up in the Middle East and that he simply couldn’t govern, and therefore it was time to leave.’

--Alexander M. Haig, Nixon’s last chief of staff

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“I thought it (the Watergate break-in) was a Democratic dirty trick to embarrass Nixon in the ’72 campaign. . . . But the real triggering episode that brought about the fall of Richard Nixon was that decision to try to contain the thing instead of going to the American people and saying “You wouldn’t believe what some of these clowns have done” and firing them, maybe on television. But he didn’t make that decision, and it brought him down.’

--former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. (R-Tenn.)

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“I think the evidence, the accumulation of evidence, was simply overwhelming. As we sat and listened to the tape-recorded conversations, you could not ignore the fact that there were encouragements to commit perjury . . . discussion of the payment of hush money, obstruction of justice--it was just the total accumulation of evidence that said this conduct is inconsistent with the powers that the people expect the President of the United States to exercise.’

--Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.)

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“We faced what looked like a Communist monolith with a badly divided country. . . . We divided the Communist bloc. We demonstrated that the Communist world was not a monolith. We then began to play these two (China and the Soviet Union) against each other. We gradually weakened their self-confidence.’

--former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger