Southern Exposure Archive

Richard Nixon and Watergate helped define a decade, and Southern Exposure in turn helped unveil the powers behind that attempt to destroy America's two-party system.

As "The Sunshine Syndicate Beyond the Watergate" explains, behind Richard Nixon stood a group of "cowboys" that rose to power in lock-step with the ascendancy of Lyndon Johnson and Nixon himself, a group cultivated by the South and Southwest. This area -- known as the Southern Rim -- gave birth to this cowboy power base exclusively dominated by "government made men," a dubious collection of individuals whose fortunes were inexplicably tied to oil depletion allowances and huge Washington aerospace and defense contracts.

"Conservative, anti-union, anti-consumer and anti-black-chicano," the Southern Rimsters rose to high political power and personally lined the Watergate burglar's pockets.

The full story can be found in ISS's digital Southern Exposure collection here.