Several history-making events occurred during this period. The Watergate Scandal occurred, which caused the only Democratic turnover in the state's history, and kept Hayden on the Ways and Means Committee.
Secondly, Hayden became friends with a handful of crucial people: Wendell Lady, who soon became speaker, and Bill Bunten, who accepted the vice-chairman position of the Ways and Means Committee instead of the chairman position, so that Hayden could have the chairmanship. After four years of chairing the Ways and Means committee, Michael Hayden was the "one person left standing" for the position of speaker.