ad he done so, Nixon would probably have avoided having to resign.
17/4/1973, President Nixon dropped the ban on White House staff appearing before Senate Committee hearings on Watergate.
16/4/1973. (1) US bombing raids resumed on Laos.
(2) Criminal indictments were expected to be issued against senior members of President Nixon’s staff over the Watergate affair.
29/3/1973, US pulled its last troops out of South Vietnam. The quadrupling of oil prices by OPEC worsened the finances of the USA. Nixon was in trouble with Watergate and Congress reasserted its power over US foreign policy. The War Powers Resolution of November 1973 removed the President’s power to make war without prior Congressional approval, nullifying Nixon’s promise to send troops to support South Vietnam if the Communists threatened again. In 1974 Congress slashed the budget for the war in Vietnam. US influence also declined in Cambodia, where extensive bombing had disrupted society and promoted the growth of the Communist Khmer Rouge, backed by Prince Sihanouk. Many Cambodians regarded Sihanouk as their legitimate leader, and by 1974 Sihanouk’s US-backed replacement, General Lon Nol, controlled just one third of Cambodia. In Laos an extensive bombing campaign to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of routes used to supply the Communist Vietcong, simply resulted in the strengthening of the Pathet Lao, the Laotian Communists. Throughout 1974 the North Vietnamese quietly built up strength in the border regions of South Vietnam, and on 7/1/1975 they captured the South Vietnamese province of Phuoc Long.
28/3/1973, Marlon Brando refused an Oscar because of Hollywood’s abuses of the American Indians.
28/2/1973, US Indians took hostages at Wounded Knee. They challenged the US Government to ‘repeat the massacre of Sioux Indians’ that happened there over 80 years earlier.
21/2/1973, A ceasefire agreement was signed in Vientiane, capital of Laos, between the Pathet Lao Communist guerrillas and the Lao Government. By now the Communists occupied much of Laos. See 2/12/1975.
13/2/1973, The USA devalued the Dollar by 10%, causing the price of gold to rise to US$42.22.
12/2/1973, The first group of American POWs was released from North Vietnam.
30/1/1973, G Gordon and James McCord were convicted of burglary, wire-tapping, and attempted bugging of the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Building in Washington. The men were part of the Campaign to Re Elect the President (CREEP) campaign (President Nixon). See 17/6/1972 and 17/5/1973.
29/1/1973, The USA’s balance of payments deficit for 1972 was estimated at US$ 6 – 7 billion; the Dollar collapsed.
27/1//1973. The war in Vietnam ended, as President Nixon signed the ceasefire agreement in Paris. One million combatants had been killed. The last US troops left Vietnam on 29/3/1972. This was just days before the Watergate scandal erupted. US astronauts were preparing for the launch of Skylab. However fighting later continued between North and South Vietnam, see 30/4/1975.
15/1/1973. Bombing of North Vietnam halted by Nixon, as he ordered a ceasefire. This followed an intensive US bombing campaign of Hanoi over Christmas 1972, in which a hospital was destroyed and 1,600 civilians killed as 36,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city, leaving much of it in ruins. US Congress was hostile to further bombing raids.
18/12/1972. Heavy bombing of Hanoi by US B-52s.
22/11/1972. The first US B-52 bomber was shot down over Vietnam.
3/10/1972, The US and USSR signed SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) accords, limiting submarine based and land based missiles.
26/9/1972. President Nixon opened the Museum of Immigration, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, New York.
15/9/1972, Seven men were indicted in Washington over the Watergate burglary on 17/6/1972. They were charged with burglary, wiretapping and conspiracy. Five of the seven were arrested at the scene, attempting to install bugging devices. All seven were members of the Republican committee to re-elect President Nixon.
8/7/1972, US President Nixon announced t