Richard Nixon convicted on charges of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering during his tenure as governor of Maryland. Believing his first choice, John Connally, would not be confirmed by Congress, Nixon chose Gerald Ford, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to replace Agnew. One researcher suggests Nixon effectively disengaged from his own administration after Ford was sworn in as Vice President on December 6, 1973. On November 17, 1973, during a televised question-and-answer session with the press, Nixon said, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything
Winter in America still funny as hell." On the recording, Scott-Heron stated: The resulting track features sharp criticism by Scott-Heron of then-US president Richard Nixon and his vice-president Spiro Agnew, among other politicians involved in the scandal; the Watergate incident had yet to reach its conclusion when the song was recorded. Scott-Heron introduces the song with a short speech discussing the blues and referencing current events: "But lately we had Frank Rizzo with the 'Lie Detector Blues'/We done had the United States government talkin bout the 'Energy Crisis Blues'". The final chorus line directly references Nixon and the scandal: "And there are those