Nixon the Villain?: The Watergate Scandal

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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.

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