July 25 1974
President Richard Nixon last night averted a major constitutional crisis by agreeing to obey the Supreme Court and surrender 64 Watergate tapes and documents.
His decision was announced by presidential lawyer James St Clair after hours of suspense and tension resulting from the court’s historic ruling issued earlier in the day.
The President declared: “While I am, of course, disappointed in the results, I respect and accept the court’s decision, and I have instructed Mr St Clair to take whatever measures are necessary to comply with the decision in all respects.”
The presidential statement said there were two reasons why he had challenged the right of the special Watergate prosecutor to issue a subpoena for the tapes.
One was the belief it was unconstitutionally issued – that the President, as head of the executive branch of government, could ignore demands of the special prosecutor, who was his subordinate.
The second was his strong desire to protect “the principle of confidentiality” of presidential conversations in the US system of separation of powers among the executive, the legislature and judiciary.
Pressure on Richard Nixon to resign grew as he was ordered to surrender tape recordings of conversations and meetings he had in the White House that could implicate him in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in.
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IRA: Why We Put Bomb on Jet
The Provisional IRA said the bomb placed aboard the British Airways Trident on Tuesday was not intended to explode, but to show that the IRA could reach airport security at will.
A statement telephoned to The Irish News by a man who said he spoke on behalf of the Provisionals’ Brigade Staff added: “In future, when we wish it so, the bomb will explode.”
The caller cleared the line before he could be asked whether the bomb was placed on the Trident at London or Belfast.
This was still the question the authorities were trying to answer last night. And did the jet make a complete trip from England to Aldergrove and part of its return journey with the bomb on board?
The British Airline Pilots Association decided yesterday not to impose a total ban on flights to Belfast.
