Watergate | 5. True Believers

Summary

Slow Burn: Watergate | Episode 5: True Believers

Date: January 2, 2018
Host: Slate Podcasts
Host/Storyteller: Leon Naifau

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Overview

This episode of Slow Burn, titled "True Believers," examines why so many Americans—particularly those from working-class backgrounds—continued to support President Richard Nixon in the thick of the Watergate scandal. Through reporting, archival clips, and historical interviews, the episode delves into the psychology and motivations of Nixon’s most loyal defenders, unraveling how partisanship, cultural anxiety, and deep emotional investments shaped public reaction as damning evidence against the President emerged.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Gail Sheehy's Assignment: Understanding Nixon Loyalists

• [00:32–02:17]
  • Journalist Gail Sheehy attended Terry's Bar in Astoria, Queens, specifically to observe and engage Nixon's most steadfast supporters on the first day of the Watergate hearings.
  • The bargoers—mostly blue-collar men—were not just indifferent to the hearings; they saw the proceedings as a “big show put on by liberals who wanted to take down the President.”
  • A sense of disempowerment and "nobodies" identity pervaded the bar, with Nixon viewed as the strongman providing them dignity and protection against social upheaval.
  • Memorable Bar Owner Quote:
    “You need some strong man on the top now to start whipping everything into shape. It might scare some people. It doesn’t scare me.” — Terry, bar owner [01:41]

2. The Rhetoric and Psychology of Nixon Defenders

• [02:17–03:12]
  • The episode spotlights the narratives Nixon supporters reached for, as humorist Art Buchwald catalogued:
    • “Everyone does it.”
    • “What about Chappaquiddick?” (referencing Ted Kennedy’s scandal)
    • “Wait until all the facts come out.”
    • “I’m sick and tired of hearing about Watergate and so is everybody else.”
  • Quote from Rick Perlstein:
    “My dad said Watergate. You know, everyone did that kind of stuff. Nixon just got caught.” — Rick Perlstein [02:44]

3. Cross-Party Support & Cultural Backdrop

• [03:12–04:26]
  • The support wasn’t purely along party lines. Many Nixon defenders were lifelong Democrats—frustrated by social turmoil in the late ‘60s such as the antiwar, civil rights, and women’s movements.
  • Discomfort with social change drove some voters to Nixon, despite their traditional Democratic allegiances.
  • Host’s Paraphrase:
    “They saw this eruption in ’68...it was overwhelming. They couldn’t stand it. So they gravitated towards this man who appeared to speak for them...” [03:54]

4. Political and Institutional Endurance

• [04:26–05:19]
  • Some politicians clung fiercely to Nixon, framing the investigation as a legislative “lynch mob.”
  • George H.W. Bush, then-chairman of the RNC, rallied supporters to let Nixon “do the job he was elected to do,” despite mounting evidence.
  • George H.W. Bush Address:
    “The people are going to tell their members of Congress...Let the man do the job he was elected to do.” [05:07]

5. The Overwhelming Evidence and the Unbroken Faith

• [05:19–06:11]
  • Testimony by John Dean, James McCord, and the former Attorney General had exposed Nixon’s role in the cover-up and criminal activities—yet support remained solid among “true believers.”
  • The episode probes: Why did many persist in loyalty even as “indefensible behavior piled up”? How did they reckon with the existence of Nixon’s secret tapes?

6. Refusal to Accept Nixon’s Guilt

• [06:11–06:26]
  • Even as new revelations spilled out, defenders insisted Nixon couldn’t have acted alone, likening Watergate to “everybody does it.”
  • Refrains comparing Watergate to previous presidential misdeeds were used as rationalizations.
  • Memorable Quote from a Loyalist:
    “I don’t think a man in his position would resort to something like that. That was foolhardy anyway. The FBI said that Franklin Roosevelt did it a lot. Truman did.” [06:11]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [01:41] Terry (bar owner):
  "You need some strong man on the top now to start whipping everything into shape. It might scare some people. It doesn’t scare me."

• [02:44] Rick Perlstein (Historian):
  "My dad said Watergate. You know, everyone did that kind of stuff. Nixon just got caught."

• [05:07] George H.W. Bush:
  "The people are going to tell their members of Congress. The people are going to tell their members of the United States Senate. Let the man do the job he was elected to do."

• [06:11] Unnamed Loyalist:
  "I don’t think a man in his position would resort to something like that. That was foolhardy anyway. The FBI said that Franklin Roosevelt did it a lot. Truman did. If the election were held again today, the results would not be measurably different."

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:32–01:58 – Gail Sheehy enters Terry's Bar to meet Nixon’s blue-collar supporters
• 01:58–02:17 – Descriptions of the sense of “nobody” identity and Nixon’s appeal as a tough leader
• 02:17–03:12 – Art Buchwald’s satirical guide and Rick Perlstein’s commentary on rationalizing Nixon’s actions
• 03:12–04:26 – Cultural anxieties and cross-party support for Nixon, with focus on the Democratic shift
• 04:26–05:19 – Political elites’ defense of Nixon, including George H.W. Bush’s speech
• 05:19–06:11 – Recap of mounting evidence, yet unwavering loyalty from supporters
• 06:11–06:26 – Rationalizations about presidential misdeeds and lasting unshaken belief in Nixon
• 06:26–end – Episode title, closing to main content

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Tone and Style

The host maintains a reflective and analytical tone, contextualizing archival material and interviews to evoke the tension and confusion of the Watergate era. The episode aims not just to describe what happened, but to capture what it felt like to navigate a country divided by loyalty, fear, and the stubborn insistence on believing in a political hero against all odds.

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Summary Statement

"True Believers" dives into the unyielding faith of Nixon’s defenders during Watergate, revealing the interplay of partisanship, social anxiety, and emotional identity. Through first-hand reporting and sharp historical context, the episode underscores how facts alone rarely shatter political loyalties—and how major scandals, then and now, often deepen, rather than diminish, a leader’s core support.

Transcript

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[Narrator/Interviewer]

The following podcast.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Contains explicit language In May of 1973, Gail Sheehy was out on assignment for New York magazine to find some of Richard Nixon's most unwavering defenders.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It was the first day of the Watergate hearings that I installed myself on a bar stool in Terry's Bar in Astoria, Queens.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Sheehy went to Terry's bar every day for a week straight. The customers there were blue collar Nixon voters. They were iron workers, construction workers, elevator repairmen. Sheehy's plan was to watch the Senate hearings alongside them and talk to them about why they loved Nixon. But when the bar owner put the hearings on TV and floated the idea with his regulars, hey guys, you want.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

To watch that Watergate thing?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Their answer was unanimous.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Turn it off.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It wasn't just that they weren't interested. As far as the barflies at Terry's were concerned, the the Senate hearings were just a big show put on by liberals who wanted to take down the President. Why should anyone reward them by watching? Over the course of her week in Queens, Sheehy got to know the President's people. She found them to be angry, demoralized, and disconcertingly comfortable with the idea of a police state run by Richard Nixon. Terry, the bar owner, told Sheehy that you need some strong man on the top now to start whipping everything into shape. It might scare some people. It doesn't scare me. Behind the bar, Terry had hung up a novelty certificate that said Nobody of the Year award.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

And that's the way these guys felt. They were nobodies, except that Richard Nixon gave them an identity. Richard Nixon was the tough guy who was going to get rid of all those anti war people, all those anarchists, terrorists, the people who were tearing down our country.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Richard Nixon's apologists thought liberals were obsessed with attacking the President. Liberals, meanwhile, thought the Nixon apologists were willing to go to absurd lengths to ignore the truth about Watergate. That summer, as the Senate hearings captivated the nation, the Humorist Art Buchwald wrote a column in which he mapped out the rhetorical style of the Nixon apologist. He listed a series of instant responses that loyal Nixonites could deploy when attacked at a party. Number one on the list was everyone does it.

[Historian Rick Perlstein]

And I used to hear that from my dad. My dad said Watergate. You know, everyone did that kind of stuff. Nixon just got caught.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

That's historian Rick Perlstein, author of the Invisible Bridge.

[Historian Rick Perlstein]

Number two was, what about Chappaquiddick?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Chappaquiddick was the place on Martha's Vineyard where Ted Kennedy had driven his car off a bridge leading to the drowning of a young woman who was rumored to be his mistress. Nixon may have been a bad guy, the argument went, but Ted Kennedy was way, way worse.

[Historian Rick Perlstein]

Number eight was, wait until all the facts come out. That was Ronald Reagan's favorite.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Number 28 was, I'm sick and tired of hearing about Watergate and so is Everybody else. Number 32 was what about Chappaquiddick? To a large extent, the public response to Watergate broke down predictably along party lines. A study from August of 1973 found that Democrats were substantially more likely than Republicans to express grave concern over Watergate, while Republicans were more likely than Democrats to find the President credible. But the divide between people who loved and hated Richard Nixon wasn't always a partisan one, as Gail Sheehy found in her reporting for New York magazine. Many of the patrons at Terry's Bar were lifelong Democrats who had turned to Nixon as the world changed around them.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They saw this eruption in 68 the anti war movement, the civil rights movement, promoting blacks, denigrating our war, and then the women's movement. I mean, it was overwhelming. They couldn't stand it. So they gravitated towards this man who appeared to speak for them, who was pro war when he came in, who was a closet racist, who was very down on intellectuals and liberals.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Nixon's supporters kept the faith for a very, very long time. That included members of the electorate who had voted for him in 1968 and 1972 and would have voted for him a third time if given the opportunity. It also included elected officials, politicians who had backed the President for years and didn't see any reason to stop. One Republican congressman from Tennessee urged his fellow lawmakers to resist joining the legislative lynch mob. To underscore the point, he held up a rope tied into a hangman's noose. The chairman of the Republican National Committee at the time was George H.W. bush. Here's Bush speaking to a gathering of Southern Republicans in Atlanta in December of 1973.

[George H.W. Bush / Host Leon Naifau]

The people are going to tell their members of Congress. The people are going to tell their members of the United States Senate. Let the man do the job he was elected to do.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Remember by this point, John Dean had testified about Nixon's participation in the COVID up and James McCord had testified about the grubby particulars of bugging phones on behalf of Nixon's re election campaign. The former Attorney General had testified about the deranged acts of political sabotage that had been discussed inside the Department of Justice. And still Nixon's people held on. Why did so many Americans continue to stand by Richard Nixon even as it became clear that he was a criminal who had abused his power? How did Nixon's admirers, allies and foot soldiers defend him? How did even as more and more evidence of indefensible behavior piled up? And how did these loyalists react when they learned there were tape recordings of the President's private conversations, Recordings that could settle once and for all the question of who was lying about Watergate and who was telling the truth? This is Slow Burn. I'm your host, Leon Naifau.

[George H.W. Bush / Host Leon Naifau]

I don't think a man in his position would resort to something like that. That was foolhardy anyway. The FBI said that Franklin Roosevelt did it a lot. Truman did. If the election were held again today, the results would not be measurably different.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Episode 5 True Believers.

[Podcast Host/Promoter]

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