"On a hot, drizzly Friday in August more than 51 years ago, I stood with other reporters on a temporary riser outside the East Wing of the White House. There, we watched as a disgraced Richard Nixon climbed the stairs to a presidential helicopter, turned at the doorway, extended his arms in a bizarre victory salute, and flew off into history. A short time later, we were ushered into the East Room, where Nixon had earlier given an emotional farewell speech to his staff."
"A uniformed Secret Service agent wearing body armor, a pistol holstered across his chest, stood guard at a closed gate that had admitted thousands of visitors a year to the "people's house." I couldn't help thinking that, just as the historic structure of the East Wing is gone, so too are the norms and guardrails that got the country through a crisis half a century ago."
Reporters observed Richard Nixon depart by helicopter after his resignation and Gerald Ford’s swearing-in, accompanied by calls for healing and reconciliation. Chief Justice Warren Burger expressed relief that the Constitution and peaceful transfer of power had functioned amid the Watergate crisis. Recent changes at the White House include demolition of the East Wing to make way for a gilded ballroom, closed gates restricting visitors, and armed Secret Service guards. Those physical and security alterations symbolize a broader erosion of norms and institutional guardrails that once helped the country navigate constitutional crises.
Read at The Atlantic
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