It has been 42 years since the Nixon presidency was brought to an end by the Watergate scandal. All the President's Men, the movie depicting the Watergate Scandal, accurately portrays the events surrounding President Nixon and the taping of the Democratic Party Headquarters. This historical accuracy is evident in the portrayal of the two Washington Post journalists that covered the story, in the depiction of the events that took place to uncover the scandal, and in the rendering of the steps that led to Nixon's resignation from office.
The two journalists that investigated and unearthed the wrongdoing were accurately represented in the film. These two reporters were named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Together, they formed an investigative duo that changed history. Woodward was an inexperienced reporter at the time. "Woodward had worked for the Post for only nine months," states the book All the President's Men (Bernstein and Woodward 13). Bernstein was the reporter who had more experience. "Bernstein was a college dropout. He had started as a copy boy at the Washington Post when he was 16, become a full-time reporter at 19, and had worked at the Post since 1966" (Bernstein and Woodward 15). The head reporter of The Washington Post notes in the movie on Woodward's lack of experience and asks that a more experienced reporter get the case. However, if another reporter had taken the case, it is possible that he/she would have viewed the case as meaningless and not have investigated it further. Woodward and Bernstein's determination and perserverance were what unearthed one of the biggest political scandals of the 20th century. Bernstein and Woodward were not aware of how well they worked together. "They had never worked on a s...
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...used his resignation, too. Through Woodward's and Bernstein's investigation into Nixon, the film All the President's Men accurately portrays the main reason Nixon later resigned.
In conclusion, the movie All the President's Men is a precise depiction of the Watergate scandal. This is visible through the representations of Bob Woodword and Carl Bernstein, the events that took place to reveal the crime, and the steps that ultimately ended Nixon's presidency.
Works Cited
Bernstein, Carl, and Bob Woodward. All the President's Men. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974.
Schell, Jonathan. Observing the Nixon Years. New York, New York: Random House, 1989.
Bernstein, Carl, Bob Woodward. The Final Days. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976.
Pious, Richard M. Richard Nixon: A Political Life. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Julian Messner, 1991.
The documentary entitled, Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History, documents the political decisions and environment within the Nixon Administration from 1969-1974. The documentary specifically details and describes the environment and culture in which the Watergate scandal could occur and the events and abuses of power that lead to its occurrence. Setting the tone and the political climate of the Nixon Administration was the Vietnam War; making him a wartime President, a war that he inherited from his predecessor. The Vietnam War faced a lot of opposition from the general public, with massive protests and political demonstrations by the younger generations and overall general public. Nixon’s presidency was surrounded by this climate amidst the
Historians on the opposing side believe that Nixon had a choice, but he chose the wrong one. He wanted to cover up the Watergate scandal, and that was the turning point of his presidency. Maurice H. Stans explains, “Nixon was not a party to the Watergate break-in. That has been established, especially by the White House tapes beginning in June 1972, which showed his initial consternation at learning about it.” (Nixon 178)
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the United States was experiencing disorder and hysteria as domestic and foreign issues; created stress and tension within the nation. In the late 1960s, when Richard Nixon was running for president, the nation saw the death of two influential people, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy. Following the death of King, race riots broke out across the country. To add to the anger and tension, many students and young Americans began to protest the war in Vietnam. Nixon promised to restore order to the country if he were to be elected. Unfortunately for Nixon, the Democrats, who had control of both sides of Congress, were prepared to block many of Nixon’s initiatives. Thus, CREEP (the committee to re-elect the president) began its corrupt path towards getting Nixon into office, even going as far as to break into the Democratic Party's National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate office in the nation’s capital ("Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon"). The Watergate scandal, which led to the first resignation of a United States President, changed the political landscape of the nation through its impact on Americans' trust in the government and its employees, its effect on government ethics, and its influence on journalism and the rise in investigative reporting.
Firstly, the journalists are reporting from two vastly different locations. One is reporting from the comfort of an office and familiar surroundings, while the other is reporting from a war stricken foreign land. Although, there is a common tie, they both involved and had the ability to effect the government and they were all in danger. All of the journalists had the opportunity to report on the truth, even if it were to have political and even personal repercussions. Thus, due to the political nature, all of the journalists were putting their lives at risk and were aware of this. They also had the ability of putting other lives in danger. Woodward and Bernstein discovered how the information they were gathering had to be used strategically in order to not harm their sources, and Flynn and Henderson had the ability to create further conflict and terror for the country they were reporting about. Thus, all of the journalists had to learn how to use precautions while investigating, writing, and reporting on their given
DeGregorio, William. The Complete Book of U.S Presidents. Richard M. Nixon. New York: Wing Books, 1997. Print
The years leading up to the 1972 election were filled with new political tactics. Going into the election year, President Nixon seemed like he could never lose the second term election after successfully negotiating with Vietnam, Beijing, and Russia to improve international relations (Emery 4). Raising international toughness made Nixon seem like the most worthy person to stay president. Fred Emery analyses in his novel Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon, the president was also setting up the first summit meeting in history with Soviet Union Presidents (3). There seemed to be nothing capable of holding the seemingly responsible man back. However, this assurance came with massive consequences. The absolute certainty that Nixon would be reelected fueled the lies and abuse of power by the Nixon government (Emery 195). As the outlook of landslide winnings took over the White House, the moral reasoning, “the end justifies the means” became more prevalent. Nixon was obsessed with winning and being successful. Under his command his staff did whatever possible to ...
Woodward, Bob. 60 Minutes Interview. CBS News.com. “A Rare Glimpse Inside Bush's Cabinet”. Nov. 17, 2002.
"The Watergate Story: The Post Investigates." Washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
As television exposed the truth of government, so did Journalists. Daniel leaking of the Pentagon Papers that explained in detail the Vietnam War, and the leaking of the information to the New York Times in 1971. Scandals like this played an active role throughout the late 1960’s and into the early 1970’s. This eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. The critical stand point of the journalists led to the marked contradictory of American politics that grew into turbulent during the 1960s.
Nixonland is four stories put into one novel that was written by Rick Perlstein. Each story was about a different campaign that happened between the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Besides Nixonland, Perlstein has also written another novel, “Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus”. Although he does go into detail about some of the Presidents that were mentioned in the book, the book is not a biography. It is classified as nonfiction.
In world where you are only as good as the next headline, Bob Woodward played by Robert Redford is an inexperienced journalist working for the Washington Post, who was selected to take on a burglary story pertaining to the five men caught at the Water Gate complex. Bob Woodward arrives at a local courthouse where the five men are standing trial, while going into his routine in seeking core information obtain detain for the story. He discovers that the men had used spy bugging devices in their burglary attempt and James McCord, one of the five men reveals to the judge that he recently left the CIA. A confession that ultimately connects him all the way to President Nix...
Nixon’s run as an international crook finally caught up to him in 1972, when burglars were caught and arrested inside of the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate hotel complex in Washington. Nixon attempted to cover it up, but eventually he was found caught in his own web of lies, and was forced to resign in 1974 (Lecture 30, December 12). Nixon’s promises of a return to normalcy were shattered with these revelations. The confidence in the Presidency that he had hoped to restore was even lower than it was when he entered office. If the 1960’s were defined by political and social instability, then Richard Nixon did nothing but further the sixties into the 1970’s. The 1960’s truly ended with the pardon of Richard Nixon by President Ford in 1974. After doing so, Ford declared: “our long national nightmare is over”.
Bob Woodward is an award-winning investigative journalist perhaps best known for his work with Carl Bernstein in the investigation of the Watergate scandal and a series of articles for which The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize ("Bob Woodward," n.d.). Woodward is also a renowned author of fifteen non-fiction books; eleven of the fifteen have become number one best sellers, the highest of any contemporary author ("Full Biography," n.d.). The New York Times has even gone so far as to call Woodward, “… the most famous investigative reporter in America” (DeParle, 1992).
Woodward and Bernstein's undertaking constructed the cornerstone for the modern role of the media. The making of the movie about the Watergate Scandal and the ventures of the two journalists signify the importance of the media. The media’s role as intermediary is exemplified throughout the plot of the movie. The movie is the embodiment of journalism that guides future journalists to progress towards the truth, no matter what they are going up against. It was the endeavor of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that led them to the truth behind the president’s men. They showed that not even the president is able to deter the sanctity of journalism in its search of truth. The freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and people’s right to know account for the same truth that journalists pursue; the truth that democracy is alive and will persist to live on.
Nixon was long associated with American politics before his fall from grace. He was along time senator before finally being elected president in 1968. During his first term, his United States went through the Vietnam War and a period of economic inflation. In 1972 he was easily re-elected over Democrat nominee George McGovern. Almost unnoticed during his campaign was the arrest of five men connected with Nixon’s re-election committee. They had broken into the Democrats national head quarters in the Watergate apartment complex, in Washington D.C. They attempted to steal documents and place wire taps on the telephones. By March of 1973, through a federal inquiry, it had been brought to light that the burglars had connections with high government officials and Nixon’s closest aids. Despite Nixon and his lawyers best efforts, it was shown that the president had participated in the Watergate cover-up. On August 8, 1974 Nixon announced, without admitting guilt, that he would resign. He left the Oval Office the next day: an obvious fall from grace.