[JasonC]

He asked Congress with $722 million for emergency military assistance to South Vietnam. They told him to get lost. He asked for clarification of his authority to use force to protect the lives of American servicemen still in country e.g. at the embassy. They gave him none. When there are already 10 NVA divisions inside the country and ARVN was collapsing, he asked for $300 million to fund evacuation efforts. They said no.

Nor was this an aberration. The following year, after already seeing the consequences, they passed another law preventing any discretionary use of funds by Ford to prevent a communist takeover in Angola. Communists took over Angola.

It was not Ford's fault, it was all the congress, and before that Nixon having the bad sense to break laws and get caught.

[RWB Patriot]

“and before that Nixon having the bad sense to break laws and get caught.”

Congress was dead-set against winning in Vietnam before Nixon even took office. Watergate or no Watergate, chances are events would have been the same. They would have just found a different way to circumvent the President’s war authority (perhaps a Vince Foster solution?)

And technically, Nixon didn’t break the law, did he? I learned in History class that he didn’t know about the break in and only tried to cover it up (a good idea considering what the RATs would do if they found out. He just didn’t do a good enough job).