The Watergate Scandal The Watergate Scandal involved a number of illegal activities that were designed to help President Richard Nixon win re-election. The scandal involved burglary, wiretapping, campaign financing violations, and the use of government agencies to harm political opponents. A major part of the scandal was also the cover-up of all these illegal actions. “Watergate, however, differed from most previous political scandals because personal greed apparently did not play an important role. Instead Watergate attacked one of the chief features of Democracy – free and open elections” (Worldbook 1). The Watergate Scandal got its name from the Watergate Complex in Washington D.C. This large office building was the home of the Democratic National Headquarters, and the site of the break-in that began the largest scandal in American Politics. However, even before the break-in, President Nixon had begun illegal operations. President Nixon had created a special investigation unit to prevent the leaking of confidential documents to the public. He did this after a number of Defense Department papers were released to the public concerning President Nixon’s paranoia over the public’s criticism of his Vietnam War policies (Owens 1). The “Plumbers”, as they were nicknamed, were headed by two of Nixon’s top aides, G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt. In order to prevent all information leaks, the “Plumbers” investigated the private lives of Nixon’s political enemies and critics. The White House rationalized the actions of the plumbers by saying that they were protecting National Security. The actual Watergate Scandal began on June 17, 1972, with the arrest of five men for breaking into the Democratic Party’s National Headquarters located in the Watergate Complex in Washington D.C. The five men were part of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). They were attempting to fix a broken phone tap that they had installed about a month before. The five men were charged with burglary and wiretapping. Throughout the next few months this minor break-in turned into a full blown political scandal. When first questioned about the situation in early 1973, Nixon denied all allegations that either he or any White House official was linked to the break-in. Later that year evidence was uncovered that linked several White House officials to the bre... ... middle of paper ... ...r the break-in. They revealed that Nixon had ordered the FBI to abandon its investigation of the break-in. Nixon ordered them to close the investigation for he feared that the FBI would discover the involvement of his campaign. After the release of these final three tapes, Nixon lost nearly all his support in Congress. With no support, and having already been impeached, President Nixon’s top aides advised him to resign. On August 9, 1974 President Richard M. Nixon followed their advice, and resigned from the presidency to avoid being removed from office. Vice President Gerald R. Ford replaced him that very same day. On September 8, 1974 President Ford pardoned Nixon of all federal crimes that he had committed while serving as the President of the United States. The resignation of the President, charges to nearly forty people, and a nation in disgust were not the only results of the Watergate Scandal. In 1974 Congress approved reforms in the financing of political campaigns. The reforms limited the amount of money that could be given by contributors and required detailed reporting of all contributions and spending. These new laws were soon adopted by state legislation as well.
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.
Famously known as Watergate, President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign brought in $20 million in secret donations. Nixon told his chief of staff to inform donors, “Anybody who wants to be an ambassador must at least give $250,000”. As a result, the Federal Election Commission was set up, and Congress imposed new limits on campaign gifts as a result. The Federal Election Campaign Act, despite being backed by 75 percent of House Republicans, and 41 percent of Senate Republicans, caused immense controversy in Washington. Senator James Buckley sued the secretary of the Senate Frances Valeo on the Constitutionality of FECA.
The source from TeachingAmericanHistory.org gives me the background and discussions about this case. The case United States v. Nixon happened after the Watergate scandal. In 1972, when Nixon won the reelection, some burglars intruded the Watergate
First, what were Whitewater and Watergate? Whitewater started as a land development of riverfront property in Arkansas in the 1980s. The Clintons received a large share of the development without putting up any money. The development went bad, so additional capital was needed. There is evidence and testimony suggesting that this cash was obtained illegally from the federal government and never paid back. As for Watergate - though it was revealed by the Senate Watergate committee as an unprecedented abuse of presidential power that was extremely dangerous to the country, it is remembered 25 years later as a strange and unsuccessful burglary in the Watergate office building by people linked to the reelection committee of Nixon. But Watergate was so much more than a political burglary. The Senate hearings showed Watergate was composed of constant criminality by the Nixon White House, and was driven by an extreme commitment to maintain control of power by any means, including criminal conduct. It included the break-in of a psychiatrist's office for the purpose of smearing Daniel Elsberg - the leaker of the Pentagon Papers; the misuse of the IRS and other federal agencies to punish those on the president's "enemies list"; the illegal wiretapping of journalists and members of Nixon's own administration; and the purposeful editing of government documents to enhance a political agenda.2
Super, John C., ed. “Nixon’s Resignation and Pardon.” Salem Press. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
The Watergate Scandal and the resignation of President Nixon was the beginning of American’s mistrust of politicians. This can be viewed as a positive effect. As a result three important open record reforms created. The first of the reforms is the Sunshine Act in 1976. This requires government agencies to conduct meetings that are open to public, with a few exceptions. In 1978, the Ethics in Government Act requires public officials to disclose financial and employment records. The Presidential Records Act, also initiated in 1978, required preservati...
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.
The Watergate Scandal happened when burglars broke into Watergate, on June 17, 1972. The break-in was discovered by a security guard who noticed that someone had taped a lock of one of the office doors at Watergate. Five men wearing expensive gear were caught and arrested. They also had a lot of money with them. They were planning to bug some of Watergate’s offices. It was later discovered that Richard Nixon’s, the president, aides bugged Democratic offices and lied about their opponents in politics (Wilmore and Landauro).
In 1972, Nixon and his aides hired people to break into the Watergate, a hotel where Democratic election plans and budgets were stored. Nixon’s plan was to steal the campaign plans and counter them, getting the winning results. When all of this information came out, a special prosecutor working on the case asked for the tapes recording calls in the Oval Office as a part of the investigation. Nixon didn’t want to hear it, so he fired the first special prosecutor. The next one assigned to the case also wanted the tapes. Nixon finally gave up edited versions of the tapes, but the D.C. Appellate Court of Appeals wanted the full tapes, but Nixon wouldn’t let it happen. It finally was taken to the Supreme Court where Chief Justice Warren E. Burger had the task of proving Nixon guilty. But Nixon claimed he had Executive Privilege, which states that he does not have to give up confidential information involving his branch as it could be sensitive to his branch only, due to checks and balances. Nixon was eventually convicted, because of his two operations. Operation Sandwedge, and Operation Gemstone. Operation Sandwedge was essentially collecting sensitive information on the other presidential candidate that would harm his chances of being elected, and taint him in the eyes of the public. Operation Gemstone was actually the action of breaking into the hotel and stealing the information.
Be that as it may, the Congress played out their role by having a group called The Senate Watergate Committee. They participated in nationally televised hearings and investigated the issue. They helped in catching a bunch of links that were connected to Nixon’s chain of lies and paranoia. A lot of the people that were somehow involved in the whole ordeal were top Nixon administration officials, some being The Plumbers (the men that were involved with putting an end to the leak of classified information Nixon wanted to keep classified) and obviously the burglars played a big role. Congress had to hold several conferences to solve the situation and get answers, putting all their information on the table. After a lot of inquiry on Nixon, Chairman Ervin said the executive privilege didn’t go as far to cover any aides in this case, so anyone else had to cooperate or get arrested. They complied and Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of the tapes. It was Ervin who first said Nixon had to give up the tapes, using subpoenas, but it didn...
“Watergate” is a general term used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974. Underlying
By this time there was a handful of people that had begun to suspect there was more to this scheme than what Nixon was setting it out to be. These handful of people that were catching onto Nixon was reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, trial judge John J. Sirica and members of a Senate investigating committee. As most convicts and conspirators do, they all crack under pressure and under the stress of being questioned. Some of the conspirators of this case ended up cracking under the pressure. They couldn’t take it anymore and they
The Watergate Scandal was political problem that occurred in the United States during the 1970s. On June 17, 1972 a break in occurred at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon's administration attempted cover up of its involvement. In the morning of June 17 1972, a couple of burglars were caught and arrested inside the of the Democratic National Committee, located at the Watergate building in Washington D.C. this was no ordinary robbery. The robbers were connected to the United States president Richard Nixon re election campaign, and they were caught trying to wiretap the phones. The robbers who tried to wiretap the phones were not successful. more robbers broke into the Watergate building with a new microphone, but a guard noticed that they broke the locks on the doors. The guard called the police as soon as possible, they showed up and caught the crooks red handed and took the to jail. it was not completely clear that the crooks were connected to the president Richard Nixon. There were suspicions that they were connected to nixon because detectives found the white house phone number in the spies junk. In later came that the president was not telling the truth. a few days after the break in president nixon provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in “hush money” to the spies/burglars. Then president Nixon and his aides established a plan to instruct the Central Intelligence Agency to impede the fbi's investigation of the crime. this was a bigger crime the the break in at Watergate this was abuse of presidential power and deliberate obstruction of justice. The watergate scandal was about president nixon and a few secret agents trying to steal secret government i...
cover the investigation up and not let it get out to the public. President Nixon according to the article showed no interest in allowing the public to get insight into the investigation.