The team of men were disguised as plumbers known as the White House Plumbers. They needed to get to the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg’s office. Dr. Lewis Fielding was the psychiatrist for Daniel Ellsberg and he was in possession of the mental health records that the team was in search of (History.com.) When the plumbers got into Fieldings office, they did find Daniel Ellsberg’s file, however, the contents of the file were not what the team was trying to get their hands. They were hoping for embarrassing information regarding Ellsberg’s mental state which would discredit the source of the pentagon papers that were leaked. The team sent another memo of approval to Ehrlichman for another covert operation that they wanted to accomplish. The …show more content…
second covert operation was to break into Dr. Fielding’s home to look for more information about Ellsberg. This second break in was denied and the operation was put down, they could not move any further. This break in was not know by Ellsberg or the public until the trial of Ellsberg and Russo in April of 1973 (The Washington Post.) The break in into the Watergate Office building was a quite extensive compared to the Fielding break in. This break in was for the benefit of the president, since he was looking to stay in office for a second team. This break in was specifically against the democrats. They wanted the wiretaps placed in the Democratic National Headquarters so they could receive information that would give them the votes that they so desperately needed to beat the democratic nominee in the presidential election. The first Watergate Break In took place on May 28, 1972. G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, James Mccord, and the rest of the team was ready to break in, little did they know they were taking part in one of the biggest political scandals of all time. On the night of May 28, the team bugged two phones in the Headquarters (The Washington Post.) These phones were in the offices of Robert Spencer Oliver and Larry O’Brien. It was later brought to attention that the listening devices were not working properly and they needed to be repaired. To fix this minor problem, the team of “Plumbers” planned a second burglary for June 17, 1972 (The Washington Post.) This second break in would be the downfall of the whole plan that the team had in store. A security guard by the name of Frank Willis, would be the person who brought the whole plan down to the ground. He noticed pieces of tape on the door latches which would keep the doors unlocked even when they were closed. He decided to remove the tape from the doors and didn’t think anything about it. He came back to the doors that were taped a little later and noticed that the latches were somehow taped over again. At this point Frank decided to contact the police because he got very suspicious. When the police arrived at the Watergate Complex, they discovered five men in the Democratic National Chairman's office. These five men were Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis. These “plumbers” were charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. The plumbers were in possession of some very suspicious materials, most which normal plumbers would have no need for. These various items included lock picks, door jimmies, a receiver to pick up police calls, $2,300 in cash, forty rolls of unexposed film, two cameras, and three tear gas guns. Daniel Ellsberg and his accomplice Anthony Russo were facing charges of Espionage, Theft, and Conspiracy for their actions against the United States.
These charges against them would lead to hefty jail sentences towards both of the men. Ellsberg had the possibility of being sentenced to 115 years in a federal prison. Russo had the possibility to be sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. Their trial would take place on January 3rd in Los Angeles, California. Ellsberg was trying to come up with anything that would help reduce his sentence, and maybe even make an attempt to prove he was not in the wrong. Ellsberg tried to claim that the documents were illegally kept classified and should have been public information. These claims were later ruled irrelevant and he was put silent immediately. Ellsberg’s trial started to turn in his favor when a memo was shared with the jury that showed proof of the break in into his psychiatrist’s office. More information was released later in the trial that showed the FBI had illegally recorded conversations between Ellsberg and Morton Halperin (The Washington Post.) Since there was an abundant amount of illegal information gathering and government misconduct, Judge Byrne dismissed all of the charges that were placed on Ellsberg and
Russo. Along with this trial against Ellsberg, there was later a trial against the men involved in the Watergate scandal. Immediately after the arrest of the burglars, the Nixon administration began to try to cover the whole scheme up. Nixon reaction was full of skepticism (Biography.com.) He ordered Haldeman to put a stop to the FBI’s investigation into the source of the funding for the break ins (History.com.) This move that the president was a major red flag for the court. On September 15, 1972, the five men along with Hunt and Liddy, were indicted by a grand jury. They were charged with conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping regulations. The five men were put on trial pled guilty in front of Judge John Sirica. They were convicted and sentenced on January 30th, 1973. Rather than just stopping the investigation on this date of the trial, the investigation into Nixon’s involvement grew immensely. Tapes of conversations involving Nixon were released and it proved that Nixon had knowledge of the whole situation. The tapes made a whole new conspiracy which made it seem like he was trying to cover up a cover up. This conspiracy continued on until the end of Nixon’s presidency. Dean had a meeting with Nixon on April 15th, 1973 (Biography.com.) This meeting was critical for the president, it was believed that it would save the presidency of Nixon. On March 1st, 1974 seven former White House aides were indicted for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation (The Washington Post.) Richard Nixon could not be indicted because he was still the president, he could not be indicted until he was no longer in office. The supreme court later ruled out on July 24th, 1974 an order for the Nixon administration to release the tapes that they possessed. On July 30th, 1974,Nixon complied with the court and released the tapes to the public. The release of the tapes revealed many crucial conversations involving the president. One tape in particular was the last straw for Nixon’s presidency. This tape became known as the “Smoking Gun Tape.” In this tape, Nixon approved plans to cover up the break ins and the White House involvement. This “Smoking Gun” proved the president was involved in the cover up plan from the very beginning (Biography.com.) This proves to the American people that the president lied to the country when he said he had no involvement whatsoever. Since this tape destroyed him politically, he decided to resign from office on August 8th, 1974. Vice president Gerald Ford was then sworn in as the president immediately. Impeachment charges that were placed on Nixon were dropped when he resigned from office. He claimed he was innocent until his death in 1994. The Watergate Scandal is still the biggest political scandal to ever take place in the United States. There were numerous accusations place on many government officials who were then convicted and sentenced time in federal prison. A total of seventy people, including Nixon, were indicted regarding this scandal. This will remain a huge piece of history for many years to come. The amount of unjust events and illegal events that took place during this time period are the reason that many US citizens to this day still don’t trust the government. The events before the scandal, both of the break ins, and the events following the break ins had a major influence on President Nixon’s final decision to resign. After all of the evidence against Richard Nixon, do you still think he is innocent?
Mr. Cockburn concluded that the evidence presented in this case was misinterpret and misapprehend, the leading investigation was “unscientific and slipshod” which lead to the sentence of Edward splatt. Many questions were raised, whether police officers should collect trace elements from the crime scene? The involvemet of police officers collecting samples rather than scientific experts which could lead to wrong and misleading evidence? The scientific procedure undertaking in this investigation. And these collected samples collected from officers and tested would lead to unvaluable piece of evidence.After Edward splatt conviction, anattorney- general by the name of Mr Griffin keeped a close eye on the case and examined the moran report and
Team owner Fay Sollenberger was pleased that the team was recognized at their awards banquet.
Scott Peterson was an educated man from California Polytechnic State University where he graduated with a B.A. in Agricultural Business. He was married to his wife Laci Peterson who was also pregnant with their unborn son. In December of 2002 Laci Peterson went missing in the Modesto, California area where she shared a home with Scott. Once the investigation of Scott’s missing wife started authorities began to suspect Scott as a suspect in her disappearance. In April of 2003 a fetus and a female torso that was missing hands, feet, and a head were found on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The San Francisco Bay area was where Scott was boating the day of Laci’s disappearance. The body was later identified as Laci Peterson and the fetus as Laci and Scott’s unborn son. Scott was also arrested in the month of April shortly after the discovery of Laci and their son’s body and was later sentenced to the death penalty. Over the course of this paper I will cover the whole event of the disappearance of Laci Peterson, relating it to a sociological theory, the impact the event had on our society and how the media had influence over this national event.
Story: Andrew Bedner is an American man at the center of bioethical controversy regarding the rights of parents to make medical decisions for children they have allegedly abused
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
The “pentagon papers”, officially titled: Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force, was a U.S. government study commissioned, by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, in 1967. [Robert McNamara served under both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.] The study traced the United States involvement in Vietnam from World War II to the present. The papers were highly confidential and compiled by many sources. Groups, such as the military, universities, and private organizations, worked on portions of the study. The joint efforts created a 47-volume study; only 38 of the 47 volumes were physically produced. One of the groups which had worked on the study was RAND Corporation. An employee of Rand Corporation, Daniel Ellsberg, used his clearance to gain access to a printed copy of the Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg then began secretly removing and copying volumes o...
In reality, he and his security advisor, Admiral John Poindexter, had lied to Congress, shredded evidence, and refused to inform the President of details in order to guarantee his “plausible deniability”. Ultimately, the Iran-Contra investigation raised more questions than it answered. Reagan held fast to his plea of ignorance, the full role of the CIA director remained murky, and the role of Vice President Bush remained mysterious as well. The Iran-Contra affair revealed how secretive government officials undermine the Constitution and compromise Presidential authority under the facade of patriotism.
The “NATIONAL BRIEFING; COLORADO” stated he could face 97 ½ years in prison if he was convicted of all charges he was facing at this point. Concluding, that Brucos’ charges were immense because of the crime he
Rothstein) were indicted for conspiracy to defraud the public. All were acquitted for want of
Because they were army personnel working directly for the government, several doctors and scientists were contacted secretly to deal with the issue. Once all the men were contacted, they were set to meet at the "Wildfire Project Installation", which was a top-secret government installation intended to study and correct any alien virus. When the men arrived, they immediately began studying and trying to understand what exactly happened in piedmont and why.
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
The Alan Gell case was in North Carolina where Alan was sentenced to the death penalty however after further investigation he was freed from determination as it was found that the prosecutors had withheld important evidence in the case. Its significance was that it led to new reforms in NC that requires all evidence, whether exculpatory or not, to be turned over as well as any complete files of all law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies involved in the
The CIA had turned around a little when President Eisenhower had appointed Allen Dulles the new director of the CIA. Allen Dulles had made cover operations the secret ...
On June 31, 1971, President Nixon picked up a copy of his New York Times newspaper and found the 1st story on the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers was a hidden government document that had information on the Vietnam War. It was also a government study in Southeast Asia. Daniel Ellsberg knew that the government was hiding something. Daniel Ellsberg was a political activist. He was the one who leaked the information to the New York Times. Daniel Ellsberg was morally correct, but what he did was illegal.
May, Ernest R., and Philip Zelikow. The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House during the