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Richard nixon's involvement in watergate
Richard nixon's involvement in watergate
Richard nixon's involvement in watergate
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A scandal now known as Watergate occurred on June 17, 1972. This scandal occurred when five men were caught trying to wiretap the Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. At 1:55 A.M., Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate hotel, discovered evidence of a break-in and called the police. The five men, who broke into the hotel, tried to wiretap the sixth floor where the headquarters was but failed. Though it now makes sense, it was a surprise to many people when Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reported that the men involved in this break-in were directly or indirectly involved with Richard Nixon’s reelection committee known as CREEP. The five men involved in the break-in, as well as two others, faced jail time for their roles in the Watergate scandal in January of 1973. In March of 1973, James McCord, one of the burglars, wrote a letter to a judge where he admitted that there was an attempted cover-up of the burglary.
Though it has been nearly forty years since this scandal occurred, evidence of Nixon’s role in the Watergate scandal does not exist. To this day, no one knows if he was the one who ordered the break-in to occur at the Watergate Hotel in the first place. However, his role after the break-in initially occurred is now a well-known part of history. On June 23, 1971, Nixon and his White House Chief of Staff, H.R. “Bob” Haldeman recorded a conversation they had pertaining to how they would use the CIA to obstruct an investigation conducted by the FBI on the Watergate break-ins. During the recording, Nixon also mentioned that he asked the CIA to slow the FBI’s investigation down, claiming that an investigation done now would serve as a national security risk. When...
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...nald Nixon was another person who have ran everything to protect his brother and Richard could have obstructed justice to protect Donald. However, if anyone is the real villain, it is Meier. He was the one who lied and misinformed Nixon in order to destroy him. Every scandal has more than one party involved. In my opinion, there are no winners in this scandal because everyone involved played a negative role and/or did something immoral and/or unethical.
Works Cited
1. Kelly, Martin. "What was Richard Nixon's role in the Watergate cover-up?." About.com. The New York Times Company, 24 Jun 2011. Web. 24 Jun 2011. .
2. "Watergate scandal." Wikipedia . The Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 24 Jun 2011. Web. 24 Jun 2011.
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 choose 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) He could have turned the guilty party to the police, but he thought that it would end up hurting him.
‘Confidence in the government declined between 1968 and 1980 largely due to political scandal’. To what extent do you agree?
“Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon.” Watergate.info. N.p., 1995. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
Finney, Daniel P, “Watergate Scandal Changed the Political Landscape Forever,” USA Today, June 16, 2012. Web 17 April 2014.
During the 1970’s, the United States experienced "Watergate," the most famous political scandal in American History. It was a scandal that began with a break in and ended in resignation. On June 17, 1972 five intruders were caught and arrested for illegally entering the rooms of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington’s Watergate Complex. "The investigation of the break-in lead directly to the reelection campaign of President Richard M. Nixon and unraveled a web of political spying and sabotage, bribery and the illegal use of campaign funds" (Washingtonpost.com). Two-and-a-half-years later along with a number of court hearings led to the 1974 resignation of Richard M. Nixon. Nixon became the first President in U.S. History to resign. During all the political drama the United States brought an end to an unpopular war and made great strides in space exploration.
Richard Nixon's first term as president will always be connected with the Watergate scandal, the biggest political scandal in United States history. Various illegal activities were conducted including burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, sabotage, and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents to help Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. There were about 40 people charged with crimes related to the scandal. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty. Watergate involved more high-level government officials than any previous scandal. It has been etched in the minds of millions and is still being recalled today when faced with the present day scandal of President Clinton. In All The President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, former Washington Post reporters, recount, illustrate, and analyze the Watergate scandal time and their work in reporting and revealing these events for the newspaper.
All throughout history, from Greece to modern day, tragic heroes have existed, not only in literature, but in real life as well. President Richard Nixon meets the criteria of a tragic hero. During his presidency, Nixon exhibited goodness and high standing before his fatal mistake that led to his downfall. When people think about President Richard Nixon, they immediately associate him with the Watergate scandal, but actually “.his pre-Watergate record is a lot better than most [people] realize.” (DeGregorio 600).
Despite the national attention the Watergate scandal had gained President Nixon, he won the second term presidency. The major problem for Nixon would come later. The investigations of the Watergate scandal lead to the discovery of other criminal acts by officials including Nixon. During the investigation many things begin to surface. It was discovered that documents had been destroyed that may have made a link between Nixon and the Watergate scandal. These documents may have shown that he had some acknowledgement in what had happened. There was evidence that people involved in the Nixon campaign had been wire tapping phones illegally for a long time according to “dummies.com”. The greatest issue would come to light during the 1973 Watergate hearings. During testimonies it came to light that every conversation was recorded in the Oval office according to “study.com”. It was demanded that these tapes be reviewed to learn how much involvement President Nixon had in the Watergate burglary. The President felt that he had the right to withhold these tapes through what he referred to as executive privilege. This means that if it is the best interest of the public the president has the right to keep information from the
“The Watergate Files”. The Ford Library. 1995. The Gerald Ford Library and Museum. 5 May
"The Watergate Story: The Government Acts." Washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
“On June 17, 1972, five men, including CIA agent James McCord were arrested in the burglary of the Democratic party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C.” “The Post Investigates.” Later that year, the Federal Grand Jury indicted these five men for their involvement in the Watergate burglary. Less than two months later, Richard Nixon was reelected President in an unprecedented landslide over George McGovern, the Democratic candidate. At the end of January the following year, James McCord and Gordon Liddy were convicted of illegally wiretapping the Democrats Watergate apartments, (“The Watergate Decade”).
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.
During the first initial weeks of the scandal, the media seemed disinterested and didn’t want to report anything to early in fear of the Nixon administration. It took the work of two young reporters constantly investigating and getting anonymous help to spark a firestorm of investigations into the scandal itself and increase public interest into the newly discovered Watergate scandal. The names of those two young reporters were Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and their approach to investigative journalism is what helped bring the story more into the public eye. Information about the Watergate scandal kept pouring out in the form of countless newspaper articles, editorials, and other news related organization after Woodward and Bernstein’s stories got more exposure. “Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and the White House”(“Watergate Scandal” 19). The press...
In June 1972, five burglars broke into Watergate complex, and were arrested on the spot. A reporter of Washington Post, Bob Woodward, starts an investigation to write a story and later is joined by another journalist, Carl Bernstein. In the process, they find out that the break-in leads much higher to H.R. Haldeman, “second most important person in the country” (after President Nixon).