… By the time of the Saturday Night Massacre, on October 20, 1973, Nixon’s approval had already reached its “steady state” low point, with almost no change until the bitter end.
The Massacre itself and subsequent revelations, including tape transcripts, and impeachment proceedings did little to reduce his approval ratings. Republican support remained about 54%, independents about 25% and Dems about 15%.
This last point deserves emphasis. The shocking Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon cited as an “unindicted co-conspirator”, the release of tape transcripts that introduced “expletive deleted” to the lexicon barely moved opinion. CONT.
Charles Franklin, Marquette Law School
