Analysis Of The Watergate Scandal

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The Watergate Scandal also known as the Watergate Affair was the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. Members of Nixon’s administration broke into DNC headquarters in the Watergate building to steal top secret documents and bug the office phones. The Watergate Scandal that occurred from 1972-1974 led to members of the Nixon administration fired and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. After Nixon resigned from his presidency, Gerald Ford took office in 1974. When he became president he issued a pardon on Nixon. Some people think Nixon should not have been pardon, and some people believe that it was right for Ford to pardon Nixon. Richard Nixon shouldn’t have been pardoned because he is deceptive,showed no integrity, his actions were despicable and he committed or ordered a felony. In Nixon’s first Watergate speech he addresses the issue of what is known as the Watergate scandal, and explains why members of his administrationresignedor weresacked.In this speech Nixon is speaking as if he didn’t know about the incident and he is innocent. For an example Nixon says” I was appalled at this senseless, illegal action, and I was shocked to learn that employees of the re-election committee were apparently among those guilty.” Later on people found out that he did indeed order them to break into the DNC Headquarters. Nixon deceives hisviewers when he says, “I was determined that we get to the bottom of the matter.” Nixon wanted the viewers to believe that he was not a part of the affair, and he wason the same side with the FBI.As the issue got more intense that is when Nixon delivers his second Watergate speech. Four months after the first one, President Nixon delivers his second Watergate speech. Inthis speech Nixon i... ... middle of paper ... ...e (the discretionary right claimed by certain U.S. presidents to withhold information from Congress or the judiciary).When Nixon began hearing rumors of impeachment, he decided turn over the subpoenaed White House tapes. It was obvious that some conversations were deleted. On one of the tapes there was a 18-minute gap. M. Carlson explains information about the Watergate tapes in his article “Notes from Underground.” According to Carlson “The so-called smoking-gun tapes prompted Nixon's resignation in 1974.” The smoking-gun tapes held the conversations on delaying the investigation and paying hush money to the hired hands who participated in the Watergate break-in. Carlson states that the tapes “also detail many of the charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, tax evasion, wiretapping and destruction of evidence that landed some of Nixon's closest aides in jail.”

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