1974 Richard Nixon - Secret Recordings and the Privacy Act of 1974

Richard Nixon’s secret recordings destroyed him politically but reminded Congress that "personal privacy as a cardinal principle of American liberty."  Ironically, just months after arguing that the President had the implicit authority to secretly record conversations in the Oval Office, Nixon urged Congress to “erect new safeguards” to ensure that an individual’s privacy rights are upheld.  Many in Congress received his words with a healthy dose of skepticism, and after impeaching Nixon was impeached for obstructing justice, they used the Watergate scandal as a catalyst for Congress to put Nixon’s privacy proposals into the Privacy Act of 1974.

On August 15, 1973 President Nixon addressed he nation on the Watergate Investigations. The incident had dominated the media of over four months as they became increasingly absorbed in efforts to implicate the president. In Nixon's address, he did not attempt to deal with each charge in detail but tried "to put the events in perspective from the standpoint of the Presidency". When it came to the "secret tapes" that Nixon had made of conversations he held in his office on the telephone, Nixon stood by his decision not to make them public. Nixon, stated that if he "were to make public these tapes, containing as they do blunt and candid remarks on many different subjects, the confidentiality of the office of the President would always be suspect from now on." No Congressman, senator or public figure would ever speak candidly with the President again. Furthermore, Nixon defended his right to secretly record the conversations. Pointing to the Supreme Court, who had just recently argued the President had the implicit constitutional duty and power to "protect our Government against those who would subvert or overthrow it by unlawful means", Nixon argued that for internal security matters, every President since World War II believed they had the power to authorize wiretaps without first obtaining a search warrant.

Unfortunately for the president, his arguments fell flat. The newspapers and television news shows continued to paint Richard Nixon as a man who took little interest in safeguarding the privacy of others. So, when President Nixon announced in 1974, "major initiative" and "new safeguards" on the matter of privacy the New York Times suggested that "Skeptical chuckles may have seemed in order". For President Nixon, pushing for new safeguards was a political move. With approval ratings at only 25%, his aids suggested that he use his State of the Union Address to make a bold stand for privacy. In his January 30 address of 1974, he put forth several privacy proposals including a code on fair information practices, and a privacy committee within the Domestic Council. 

"One measure of a truly free society is the vigor with which it protects the liberties of its individual citizens. As technology has advanced in America, it has increasingly encroached on one of those liberties--what I term the right of personal privacy. Modern information systems, data banks, credit records, mailing list abuses, electronic snooping, the collection of personal data for one purpose that may be used for another--all these have left millions of Americans deeply concerned by the privacy they cherish.

And the time has come, therefore, for a major initiative to define the nature and extent of the basic rights of privacy and to erect new safeguards to ensure that those rights are respected.

I shall launch such an effort this year at the highest levels of the Administration, and I look forward again to working with this Congress in establishing a new set of standards that respect the legitimate needs of society, but that also recognize personal privacy as a cardinal principle of American liberty."

Just a few months later in April, the Judiciary Committee began issuing subpoenas for the tape recordings, but Nixon refused to turn them over. On July 24, 1974, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision against Nixon, which ordered him to comply. Finally on August 5, 1974 Nixon released a transcript of one additional conversation that became known as the "smoking gun" tape. The disclosure turned even his most loyal defenders in Congress to declare they would vote to impeach Nixon for obstructing justice.  Nixon resigned from the presidency on August 9, 1974. The secret recordings that destroyed the Nixon presidency reminded Congress that "personal privacy as a cardinal principle of American liberty." Gerald Ford who Nixon had appointed to head up the privacy committee was now president and signed the Privacy Act of 1974 into law.  The law regulated the collection and use of personal information by federal executive agencies.

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2021. Address on the State of the Union Delivered Before a Joint Session of the Congress | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-state-the-union-delivered-before-joint-session-the-congress> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2021. Address to the Nation About the Watergate Investigations. | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-nation-about-the-watergate-investigations> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

Forbes.com. 2021. Gerald Ford: Privacy's Godfather. [online] Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/2007/01/04/privacy-protection-ford-oped-cx_res_0105privacy.html?sh=4b01cb0f6716> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

Nytimes.com. 2021. Mr. Nixon Discovers Privacy (Published 1974). [online] Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/05/archives/mr-nixon-discovers-privacy-in-the-nation.html> [Accessed 20 May 2021].