Watergate and Impeachment, 1971-1974

This subseries contains files related to Hogan’s work as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation and successive impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. The documents cover three main areas of the Judiciary Committee’s work that focused on the Watergate break-in: determining who was involved and President Nixon’s role in it; establishing a historical precedent for the impeachment of a President of the United States; and conducting the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon through formal hearings.

This investigation began on October 30, 1973, a year after the United States Senate established the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (also known as the Senate Watergate Committee). The Committee investigated the Watergate break-in itself during the 1972 presidential election and President Nixon’s administration's attempts to cover up its involvement. During this investigation, it was revealed that there was a recording system in the White House.

The Select Committee created summary documents, called “Books,” that included testimonies, memorandums, hearings, and reports, which summarized what was revealed and discovered during the Watergate investigation. There were nine books in total, with each book containing several titles. The books were given to each member of the Judiciary Committee to review during the impeachment proceedings.

The Judiciary Committee commenced the impeachment hearings in April 1974. Following a subpoena from the Judiciary Committee, the White House handed over 42 edited transcripts of White House tape recordings. Later, following a ruling from the United States Supreme Court, United States v. Nixon (1974), the White House was required to hand over the original audio tapes and other related materials. The Judiciary Committee’s impeachment staff made transcripts of the recordings and gave copies to the committee members.

The Judiciary Committee hearings concluded in July 1974 with the adoption of three articles of impeachment that charged President Nixon with 1) obstruction of justice, 2) abuse of power, and 3) contempt of Congress. Hogan voted yes to all three articles of impeachment. He was the only Republican to do so. As the Judiciary Committee began to draft a report to support the articles of impeachment that would be reported to the full membership of the House, Hogan sent a letter on July 30, 1974, to his Republican colleagues explaining his reasoning for voting yes to impeachment and encouraged his fellow Republicans to ignore party lines and to consider the evidence before them.

Hogan’s letter and speeches, including his “Why I Will Vote for Impeachment” speech before the House Judiciary Committee on July 23, 1974, are some of the noteworthy documents in this collection. These materials highlight Hogan’s challenge to remain true to his conscience, the Constitution, and American democracy, while faced with party divide and evidence of criminality from the highest office in the United States and from a President he supported in the past.

Recurring names of individuals that appear in the documents include: Phil Campbell, John Connally, Archibald Cox, John Dean, John D. Ehrlichman, Gerald R. Ford, Alexander Haig, H. R. Haldeman, Clifford Hardin, E. Howard Hunt, Richard Kleindienst, Egil "Bud" Krogh, G. Gordon Liddy, Jeb Stuart Magruder, James McCord, John Mitchell, Richard M. Nixon, Henry Petersen, Donald Rice, Peter W. Rodino, George Shultz, John Sirica, John Whitaker, and Ron Ziegler.

Materials include book drafts, office memos, memorandums, reports, testimonies, stenographic minutes, and transcripts.