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The media effect of the watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
Impact of the watergate scandal
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The water gate scandal was a brake in to the water gate building by President Nixon. Watergate was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s, following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. in 1972 and President Richard Nixon's administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration's resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.
The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, an impeachment process against the president that led to articles of impeachment, and the resignation of Nixon. The scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty, many of whom were Nixon's top administration officials. The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the DNC headquarters
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He removed the tape, thinking nothing of it. But when he returned an hour later and discovered that someone had retaped the locks, Wills called the police. Five men were discovered inside the DNC office and arrested. They were Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis, who were charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. On September 15, a grand jury indicted them, as well as Hunt and Liddy, for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The five burglars who broke into the office were tried by a jury, Judge John Sirica officiating, and were convicted on January 30,
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
New York case, a suspect named Vignera was picked up by the New York police in which Vignera was connected to a robbery of a dress shop that happened three days before Vignera was picked up. He was taken to several precincts and police headquarters before going to trial. He first went to the 17th Detective Squad Headquarters, then the 66th Detective Squad. At the 66th Detective Squad, he orally admitted to the robbery and was arrested formally. He later went to the the 70th Precinct and was questioned by an assistant district attorney in the presence of a court reporter, who typed the questions and answers from the questioning. When the trial began, the reporter gave out the transcript of the questioning to the jury and along with the oral confession. Vignera was found guilty of robbery of the first degree and was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison. The conviction was affirmed without the opinion of the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals ( United States Courts,
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).
Conversations recorded by Bugs were enough to indict him on RICO charges once again; however, the final decision to prosecute came when Sammy Gravanno, Gotti’s consigliore, struck a deal and agreed to testify against him. With Gravanno’s testimony and the taped evidence, the prosecution’s case was irrefutable. After deliberating for only 14 hours, the jury found Gotti guilty on all counts (Mustain & Capeci, 1988). Assistant director of the FBI’s New York branch, James M. Fox, is documented in saying, “The don is covered with Velcro and every charge stuck” (FBI, 2007).
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
1. On March 1, 1974 a grand jury returned an indictment charging seven of President Nixon's close aides with various offenses, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and to obstruct justice having to do with the Watergate Affair.
“From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known; our Constitution works. And during Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one - absolutely no one - is above the law.” -Leon Jaworski, special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal.
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.
After it became clear Nixon was responsible, he manages to resign before he was impeached. President Nixon was involved with the Watergate scandal and should be sentenced to jail because he organized it, which then got leaked out and finally led to his resignation. Nixon was the mastermind behind the mission and the main reason he organized it was to find out secret information about the Democrats. He organized a committee to help him ensure his victory in the elections. “The committee to reelect the President” (CRP) used unfair tactics to get what they wanted.
There was a break-in in 1972 at the Watergate Office Complex of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters and Ronal Reagan was involved. This crime was committed on June 17, 1972 in the very early morning, which will prove that it will be the end for President Nixon. Seven burglars were found inside the Complex and they were arrested inside the DNC, this was a planned out robbery and was linked to to President Nixon’s re-election campaign, the burglars were trying to steal top secret documents and to wiretap the phones. History can't surely say that Nixon took part in this. However, he did take part in covering this up and raising hush money for the burglars, and even trying to stop the FBI from investigating. So in August of 1974, after the conspiracy had become public, President Nixon resigned and was pardoned by Gerald Ford.
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.
In 1974 President Richard Nixon stepped down from the job duties of the President of the United States. This made him the only President that has ever stepped down in United States history (Roper). James McCord which was the retired CIA agent was convicted of “eight counts of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping, spending two months in prison” (history.com). He had written a letter about the involvement of White House officials in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal. He later in life wrote a book claiming all of his involvement in the Watergate scandal. A Cuban refugee Virgilio Gonzalez was one of the burglars and only spent one year and a month in prison. John Dean was a Nixon staff member. He was involved in the cover up of the Watergate scandal. During the trail he told about his and other officials involvement in the scandal. Dean served only four months in prison. G. Gordon Liddy was the former FBI agent involved with the burglary. For his involvement in the burglary and providing money for the burglaries he spent four and a half years in prison (history.com). There were many people that were involved with this scandal and the majority spent less than two years in
The Watergate Scandal is known as the robbery at the Watergate building in Washington DC. After investigation, it was learned that the robbery was ordered by President Nixon to help ensure his reelection. Two crooks were caught attempting to steal secret documents and wiretap the phones. Now that the criminals were caught, in order to save Nixon’s reelection from the discomfort of the American people, he instated a cover-up and reassigned himself. This forever affected
The Watergate scandal significantly changed many things in America. Changes to American journalism were the biggest changes that occurred because of the scandal. Prior to the scandal, journalism was very straightforward and did not use any innovated ways to get stories. The journalists of the time hardly ever used anonymous sources in their reports because they didn’t think that the public would accept the information if it wasn’t coming from a named
Upon arrival Police from the Second Precinct D.C police arrived to discover Five men In the Democratic National Committees office attempting to plant surveillance equipment. The men were arrested on attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications charges. The five men involved with the burglary within the Watergate complex were: Bernard L. Barker, Virgilio Gonzales, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord and Frank Sturgis. These men