Wright Patman was a congressman from Texas and the chair of the House Banking Committee, which meant he was able to investigate anything as long as he could find an angle that related it to banking. He got hooked on investigating the break in of the Democratic National Committee and assigned several of his men to look into it, which they took very seriously. Patman released a list of people that he wanted the banking committee to subpoena, but in order to do that he needed a majority vote from the entire banking committee. Seeing this as a threat, Nixon asked then House minority leader Gerald Ford, to make sure everyone voted in line against Patman. This plan worked and the banking committee voted against the subpoenas. Ford's influence would be confirmed when the following year he admitted to using his position as House minority leader to help thwart Patman.
Wright
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