What happened next marked a fairly important point in the public's relationship with their Commander in Chief. Nixon could have said the tapes had been destroyed. It would have looked suspicious, but not as suspicious as a tape that features audio of you admitting you broke the law. Not by a long shot. However, he didn't destroy those tapes, because Nixon, for all intents and purposes, felt he had the absolute right to lie. He believed his executive privilege granted him the authority to keep those recordings a secret, and he was willing to take that silly argument to court.
I mean, the only reason I say it's silly is that he lost. By a lot. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ordered him to hand over the tapes. A win for Nixon would have set an ugly precedent for this country -- namely, that the powers of the Executive Branch know no boundaries. Granted, every president since forever has managed to find new and exciting ways to get around those boundaries, but Nixon's stubbornness in the '70s guaranteed it would at least be a little more difficult going forward.
Wikipedia
What a hero!
Even better, not long after Nixon left office, Congress overrode President Ford's veto by a wide margin and gave us the Freedom of Information Act as we know it today. It sucked that we had to have a criminal for a president to make it happen, but still, it's a good thing to have. Especially if it means the government has to tell us the truth about aliens someday.
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Zoroastrianism used to be one of the biggest religions in the world, but their idea of heaven had a slight twist on it: To get there, you'd have to cross a bridge -- sometimes rickety, sometimes wide and sturdy. If you fell off, you'd go to the House of Lies for eternity. Fun! Not terrifying at all! This month, Jack, Dan, and Michael, along with comedians Casey Jane Ellison and Ramin Nazer, discuss their favorite afterlife scenarios from movies, sci-fi, and lesser-known religions. Get your tickets here, and we'll see you on the other side of the bridge!
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