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The media effect of the watergate scandal
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All the President’s Men was a film made in 1976 and was directed by Alan J. Pakula. It details the events that lead up to the famous Watergate Scandal, and how this caused Nixon’s “impeachment.” Although some may say the film has no significant values or lessons to be learned, however, the movie shows the role expectations and deceit present during the Watergate Scandal and how this relates to modern politics. The role expectation in the movie shows how politics influenced people’s decisions in the Watergate Scandal. For example, the white house aide that, “Accidentally,” deleted 18 minutes of tape was just filling the role of Oval Office Aide who does and the president says to do. If the president says delete the last 18 minutes of tape there was no question. It’s just like any job, if your boss tells you to complete a task you do it without further question. Most likely, the aide was also told to lie in court and say that it was a mere mistake. However, everyone knew otherwise and this is what really started to open up the case. Numerous other white house representatives also filled in …show more content…
roles to protect Nixon. Many stepped down and resigned in hopes that doing so would help blow the Watergate scandal away. By doing this they would also contribute to the status of their party as their ideology would also remain in office. This did nothing but cause suspensions to rise about the truth behind the scandal. Deceit is a contributing factor throughout the movie as it is what the Watergate scandal is all about.
President Nixon is very dishonest and not straight forward throughout the trial. He tries, and fails, multiple times to cover up his tracks, but this only adds to the evidence against him. Instead of being honest with the American People, he should of admitted his faults and continued on with his presidency. However, he tried to cover it up instead and paid the price for his actions. During the trial, he was caught on multiple occasions lying and was exposed for these lies as the truth always came out due to Deep Throat. Deep Throat provided inside information on the president and kept him in check with his lies and stories. All in all, Nixon was deceitful and scandalous towards the American people and deserved to be impeached which has caused a stain on the United
States. Lastly, the Watergate Scandal in All the President’s Men related directly to modern politics. Recently, Hillary Clinton has been accused of deleting 30,000 emails on her private server which could of contained a number of many things. She could of been negotiating with the enemy, or even discussing nuclear launch codes. In the Watergate Scandal, Nixon had deleted 18 minutes of tape. A lot can happen in 18 minutes, and what could of been discussed during that time could have proven Nixon to be guilty on all charges and shortened the trial down to a matter of days. In conclusion, the movie was quite good and I give it an 8 out of 10 rating. Pakula did a great job portraying the true story from all sides instead of focusing on one perspective. This helped the audience see the true scandal for what it was and exposed all the flaws of the American government.
The American culture was portrayed very well in this novel. It shows how everyone in the U.S. trusted and supported they're elected officials and very rarely doubted them. It also portrays how political figures can get away with sabotaging a national election and get any with it without having criminal charges filed against them. The novel also portrays how people can lie to the American people and get away with it. It also portrays the American political culture as willing to do anything to win. It also shows political figures dedication to the president by doing anything to protect his reputation even going as far as to take the blame for a crime they had nothing to do with. Woodward and Bernstien accurately portray American culture at the height of the Watergate scandal.
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
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.
When Nixon was inaugurated, he took a sworn oath to protect the people and the country. He lied to his people. He states, “The major problem on the Watergate is simply to clean the thing up by having whoever was responsible admit what happened. Certainly I am satisfied that nobody in the White House had any knowledge or approved any such activity.” (Memoirs 646).
The book I chose to read for this assignment was All the President's Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. The book was about the biographical accounts of two Washington Post reporters and of how their investigative journalism played a major role in solving one of the largest political scandals in American history. Me being a history buff was happy that the book was on the list of selective readings that we could choose for this assignment and before even reading a page was most certain that I would enjoy the book. I knew some about Watergate already and was eager to jump on the chance to learn more about it, especially from the two people who played the major role of bring the whole scandal to the surface. I had seen the movie before and had known from past experiences that movies leave out so much information when they are based on a book so I knew that I would be getting the full detail in account from the authors that I missed out on before. I am not the type who enjoys reading and it always ends up being a hard struggle for me to get through an entire book, but this book ended up not being like pulling teeth for me. Reading the book ended up being the exact opposite, enjoying it so much that it was hard to put down, not only because of the fact that I was fascinated with the information being provided, but also in the direct way that it was presented.
‘Confidence in the government declined between 1968 and 1980 largely due to political scandal’. To what extent do you agree?
It takes a smart man to learn from his mistakes, and Nixon did that. That is why he deserved to be President of the United States.
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.
There are many accurate depictions of the political process in this movie, but there are also some areas where this movie was just being a people pleaser. The American President accurately portrayed the rolls of the media, the effects of polling, the impact of primaries, and it showed the process of introducing a bill to congress. However, it also was being a typical Hollywood movie at times. This was mostly true in the cases where the President came off being naïve, when he through caution into the wind for a girlfriend, and at other times, like when he was to dignified to join into the smear campaign.
Out of all of the current presidents in our time the most interesting president to explore was President Richard Nixon and out of all of them he was the only one in term to resign. That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment to be executed to the fullest extent of their nature. His poor choices and decisions led to his resignation. Although he did have some good qualities in helping the U.S. the bad however override the good. In the CRS (Congressional Research Service) It states: “ Obstruction of justice is the impediment of governmental activities. There are a host of federal criminal laws that prohibit obstructions of justice. The six most general outlaw obstruction of judicial proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1503), witness tampering (18 U.S.C. 1512), witness retaliation (18 U.S.C. 1513), obstruction of Congressional or administrative proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1505), conspiracy to defraud The United States (18 U.S.C. 371), and contempt (a creature of statute, rule and common law). Simple perjury in a federal investigation or judicial proceedings carries an extensive fine and up to 5 years in prison.” This was the first article president Richard M. Nixon was charged with by the House of Judiciary Committee. The vote was 27 to 1 for Nixon to be charged with the first article of impeachment, which was Obstruction of Justice. In denial of his liability in part taking in the Watergate scandal by saying he wasn't involved in the scandal He pointed finger at others that were involved in the break-in. However, tapes were found of conversations that proved his involvement and he was going to be impeached. Before he was charged, he made a resignat...
Even if Nixon made bad decisions that caused his downfall, he was a respected and good president. His presidency may always be best known for the scandals that led to his downfall, but the passage of time and the study of his accomplishments by historians have led many people to conclude that he was a good president.
...e. This action, though many disagree, makes Nixon a better person because, unlike Creon from Antigone, he was willing to admit his mistake and to tell the truth. Most people will not admit to their mistakes because they are arrogant and have too much pride to be able to. This is because the right choice often is not the easy one to do, but if done, it is what makes that person a better man.
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.
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
For example, in the movie, the impression given was that their reporting and investigation was essential to urge the federal and congressional investigations that at the end produced tape-recorded evidence that showed Nixon conspired to cover up the crime of Watergate, while a variety of historians have demonstrated federal investigators were far ahead of Woodward and Bernstein. “Federal prosecutors and agents never truly learned anything germane from The Washington Post’s [Watergate] stories — although they were certainly mortified to see the fruits of their investigation appear in print. … The government was always ahead of the press in its investigation of Watergate; it just wasn’t publishing its findings.” (Max Holland, Leak). One of the major flaws in All the President's man is the minimization or the lack of given importance to the contribution of the federals and