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'Hoping to defend the president' | How an East Tennessee senator changed the course of Nixon's impeachment hearings

The late senator Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) asked a key question about President Nixon's knowledge of the Watergate Scandal.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Decades ago, President Richard Nixon was the subject of an impeachment inquiry after the infamous Watergate Scandal. 

He turned to his trusted colleague, Howard Baker of Huntsville, Tennessee, to defend him. 

"[Baker] and Nixon were friends before the Watergate hearings," said Kris Bronstad, the modern political archivist at the University of Tennessee Libraries. "Nixon was happy that [Baker] was on the committee because he could kind of be a voice for the president."

Baker was the ranking Republican on the special Senate committee tasked with investigating the Watergate Scandal. He asked former White House counsel John Dean a question Baker thought would help defend Nixon, according to Bronstad.

Instead, it changed American history.

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"He asked, 'What did the president know and when did he know it?'" Bronstad said. "It turned out that John Dean was going to go ahead and tell the entire country that the president was in fact involved in these crimes."

While Baker is nationally renowned for asking that question, he made a lasting impact on the state of Tennessee.

Today, hundreds of boxes filled with his papers sit in the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at UT. Some of those papers are currently on display as part of the UT Library System's exhibit "Nixon: From Crusade to Conspiracy." 

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"We did this exhibit on the 45th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation and his impeachment hearings because we have the papers of Howard Baker," Bronstad said. "He was really a huge focal point of the Watergate committee that helped uncover Nixon's involvement."

The exhibit showcases artifacts from Nixon's presidency, his visit to the University of Tennessee, the Watergate hearings and reactions from people across the nation.

In one letter, a George Gassett of Dickson, Tenn. wrote to Baker to express his "disappointment at Baker's failure to support our president."

In another, Sen. George McGovern wrote Baker to say "all of us who love this country are in your debt." 

The exhibit at UT's Hodges Library is open daily to the public. If anyone is interested in looking at Baker's papers, they may contact mpa@utk.edu to schedule an appointment.

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