m War, which had driven his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, from office. Much of Nixon's electoral support came from what he called the 'great silent majority' in his speech of November 3, 1969, who, according to Small, felt "threatened by these social and cultural revolutions" (33). White explained the ideas and beliefs of Nixon's closest political advisers, men like White House Chief of Staff Robert Haldeman, John Erlichman, John Mitchell, Attorney General Richard Kleindienst and Charles Colson. White stated that they ôbelieved the new culture was not only undermining the authority of their President to make war and peace, but striking into their homes, families, and schools [and] undermining the values with which they had grown up and still held dear" (331).
Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger wanted to end the war in Vietnam, but believed they had to do so in a manner, which preserved American world power and prestige in the world. These beliefs led them to engage in a secret escalation of the war and yet their beliefs also led them to pursue peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese and other communist powers at the same time. The Watergate crises grew out of their obsessive concern over preserving secrecy and Nixon's reelection strategy for 1972.
Step by step, the Nixon administration intensified and broadened its illegal surveillance of American citizens. Previous presidents from Franklin Roosevelt onward had authorized warrantless wiretaps and other illegal activities to protect national security. Nixon's efforts began with warrantless wiretaps in May 1969 by the FBI of national security aides and reporters to discover the sources of leaks. Rising antiwar protests following the invasion of communist sanctuaries in Cambodia in April 1970 and the shooting of students at Kent State and Jackson State Universities led to increased surveillance and infiltration of domestic radical groups which had begun o...