Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
Tape Part 1 Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities May 17,1973. Opening statement from Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Harold Baker (R - Tennessee). Senate Caucus Room, Washington DC
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Sam Ervin (D -North Carolina). Also, I'd like to recognize at this time, the other senators so they may present their statements. And first I recognize the Vice Chairman Senator Harold Baker, who has been most alert and most cooperative in the work of the Committee. Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Harold Baker (R - Tennessee). Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I believe there is no need for me to further emphasize the gravity of the matters that we begin to explore publicly here this morning. Suffisant to say that there are most serious charges and allegations made against individuals and against institutions. The very integrity of our political process itself has been called into question.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
Commensurate with the subject matter under review and the responsibility of the Committee and the witnesses who come before it, we have a great burden to discharge and carry. This Committee is not a court nor is it a jury. We do not sit to pass judgment on the guilt or innocence of anyone. The greatest service that this Committee can perform for the Senate, for the Congress and for the People of this Nation is to achieve a full discovery of all of the facts that bear on the subject of this inquiry. This Committee was created by the Senate to do exactly that - to find as many of the facts, the circumstances and the relationships as we can, to assemble those facts into a coherent and intelligible presentation and to make recommendations to the Congress for any changes in statute law or the basic charter document of the United States that may seem indicated.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
But this Committee can serve another quite important function that neither a Grand Jury investigation or a judicial proceeding is equipped to serve - and that is to develop the facts in full view of all the People of America. Although juries will determine the guilt or innocence of all persons who have been and may be indicted for specific violations of law, it is the American People who must be the final judge of Watergate. It is the American People who must decide based on the evidence spread before them what Watergate means and how we all should conduct our public business in the future.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
When the resolution which created this Committee was being debated on the Floor in February of this year, I and other Republican Senators, expressed concern the enquiry might become a partisan effort by one party to exploit the temporary vulnerability of another. Other Congressional enquiries in the past have been conducted by Committees made up of equal numbers of members of each party. I offered an amendment to the Resolution which would have given the Republicans members equal representation on this Committee. And that amendment did not pass. But any doubts that I might have had about the fairness and impartiality of this investigation, have been swept away during the last few weeks. Virtually every action taken by this Committee, its members, and staff, since its inception have been taken with complete unanimity of purpose and procedure. The integrity and fairness of each member of this Committee and its fine professional staff have been made manifest to me and I know they will be made manifest to the American People during the course of these proceedings. This is not in any way a partisan undertaking. But rather it is a bipartisan search for the unvarnished truth.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
I would like to close, Mr. Chairman, with a few thoughts on the political process itself in this country. There has been a great deal of discussion in the nation in recent weeks on the impact that Watergate might have on the President, the office of the Presidency, the Congress, on our ability to carry on relations with other countries and so on. The Constitutional institutions of this country are so strong and are so resilient that I have never doubted for a moment their ability to function without interruption. On the contrary, it seems clear to me, the very fact that we are now involved in the public process of cleaning our own house, before the eyes of the world is a mark of the greatest political strength. I do not believe that any other political system could endure the thoroughness and veracities of the various enquiries now underway within the branches of government and our courageous, tenacious free press.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
No mention is made in our Constitution of political parties. But the two party system, in my judgment, is an integral, and an important part of our form of government and as important as the three formal branches of the central government themselves. Millions of Americans participated actively on one level or another and with great enthusiasm in the Presidential and other elections in 1972. Their involvement in the political process across the land is essential to participatory democracy. If one of the effects of Watergate is public disillusionment with partisan politics, if people are turned off and drop out of the political system that would be the greatest Watergate casualty of all. If on the other hand, this national catharsis in which we are now engaged should result in a new and better way of doing political business, if Watergate produces changes in laws and campaign procedures, then Watergate may prove to be a great national opportunity to revitalize the political process and to involve even more Americans in the day to day work of our great political parties.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
I am deeply encouraged by the fact that I find no evidence at this point and time of to indicate that either the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee played any role in whatever may have gone wrong in 1972. The hundreds of seasoned professional politicians across the country and the millions of people who devoted their time and energies to the campaign, should not feel implicated or let down by what has taken place. With these thoughts in mind, I intend to pursue, as I know each member of this Committee intends to pursue, an objective and even-handed, but thorough, complete, and energetic enquiry into the files. We will enquire into every fact and follow every lead unrestrained by any fear of where that lead might ultimately take us.
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities - Opening statement from Senator Harold Baker
Mr. Chairman, my thanks to you for the great leadership you have brought to this Committee in its preparatory phases. My thanks to Mr. Dash who has served with distinction as Chief Counsel for the Committee. And Mr. Thompson who serves as Minority Counsel to the Committee. I believe we are fully prepared to proceed with the business of discovering the facts.