April 29

This Day in History

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Lead Story
World War II monument opens in Washington, D.C., 2004
American Revolution
Nathanael Greene takes command of Long Island, 1776
Automotive
The end of the road for Oldsmobile, 2004
Civil War
Union captures New Orleans, 1862
Cold War
American statesmen deny Lattimore's influence, 1950
Crime
Rodney King trial verdict announced, 1992
Disaster
Cyclone kills 135,000 in Bangladesh, 1991
General Interest
Joan of Arc relieves Orleans, 1429
First African-American college chartered, 1854
Dachau liberated, 1945
Riots erupt in Los Angeles, 1992
Britain's Prince William weds Kate Middleton, 2011
Hollywood
Daniel Day-Lewis born, 1957
Literary
Henry James' Transatlantic Sketches is published, 1875
Music
Hair premieres on Broadway, 1968
Old West
William Randolph Hearst is born, 1863
Presidential
Nixon announces release of White House Watergate tapes, 1974
Sports
Roger Clemens strikes out 20 batters in single game, 1986
Vietnam War
U.S.-South Vietnamese forces launch Cambodian "incursion", 1970
New casualty figures released., 1971
Operation Frequent Wind begins, 1975
World War I
British forces surrender at Kut, Mesopotamia, 1916
World War II
Adolf and Eva marry, 1945
International Military Tribunal indicts Hideki, 1946

Presidential

Apr 29, 1974:

Nixon announces release of White House Watergate tapes

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On this day in 1974, President Richard Nixon announces to the public that he will release transcripts of 46 taped White House conversations in response to a Watergate trial subpoena issued in July 1973. The House Judiciary committee accepted 1,200 pages of transcripts the next day, but insisted that the tapes themselves be turned over as well.

In his announcement, Nixon took elaborate pains to explain to the public his reluctance to comply with the subpoena, and the nature of the content he planned to release. He cited his right to executive privilege to protect state secrets and stated that the transcripts were edited by him and his advisors to omit anything "irrelevant" to the Watergate investigation or critical to national security. He invited committee members to review the actual tapes to determine whether or not the president had omitted incriminating evidence in the transcripts. "I want there to be no question remaining," Nixon insisted, "about the fact that the President has nothing to hide in this matter" and "I made clear there was to be no cover up."

In June 1972, five men connected with Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) had been caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. A subsequent investigation exposed other illegal activities perpetrated by CREEP and authorized by senior members of Nixon's administration. It also raised questions about what the president knew about those activities. Nixon vigorously denied involvement in the burglary cover-up, infamously proclaiming "I am not a crook." In May 1973, the Senate convened an investigation into the Watergate scandal amid public cries for Nixon's impeachment. In July 1974, the Supreme Court rejected Nixon's claim of executive privilege and ordered him to turn over the remaining tapes. On one of them, the president could be heard ordering the FBI to end its investigation of the Watergate break-in; this came to be known as the "smoking gun" that proved Nixon's guilt.

On August 8, 1974, Nixon avoided a Senate impeachment trial by becoming the first American president to resign from office. He was later pardoned by his successor, President Gerald Ford, "for all offenses against the United States which he committed, or may have committed."

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This Week in History, Apr 29 - May 5

Apr 29, 1974
Nixon announces release of White House Watergate tapes
Apr 30, 1789
George Washington gives first presidential inaugural address
May 01, 1931
Herbert Hoover dedicates Empire State Building
May 02, 2001
George W. Bush forms commission on Social Security
May 03, 1940
FDR addresses thousands of Democratic women
May 03, 1961
JFK receives honorary degree
May 04, 1865
Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Illinois
May 04, 1977
David Frost interviews Richard Nixon
May 05, 1985
Reagan visits concentration camp and war cemetery

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