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The Watergate Scandal

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The Watergate Scandal Richard Milhous Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States of America from 1969 until 1974. Nixon completed his first term as President in 1973 and was re-elected for the position for the next four years. However, Nixon would have his time in the White House cut short by the series of events that occurred in the twenty-six months that followed the Watergate burglary. On June 17, 1972 five men, one White House employee and four Cubans, broke into the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC in an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office. The break in and the events that took place afterwards led to the resignation of Richard Milhous Nixon on August 8, 1974. The morning of …show more content…

Soon after the conversation with Haldeman, Nixon found out that Hunt was the largest conspirator in the Watergate Burglary and Colson had nothing to do with it. He decided to try and shift the attention to the Cubans (White 149-155). Nixon saw advantages in this idea because it would take the heat off of the CRP, and make it appear as if Cuban nationalists were scared of the Democrats. During an August 29, 1972 press conference, his first in three months, President Nixon stated, “Within our own staff, under my direction, the counsel to the president, Mr. Dean, has conducted a complete investigation of all leads which might involve any present members of the White House staff, no one in this administration, presently employed was involved in this bizarre incident.......what really hurts is if you try to cover things like this up.” (WHT 828) Dean was surprised at this statement because it was the first time he heard of his inquiries publicly and also not bit of it was true. Dean knew that Nixon knew of the involvement of Liddy, Hunt, and several other White House employees. President Nixon all the while was becoming more upset at the situation and was looking for answers from his staff. Haldeman held a senior meeting trying to find something he could tell the president. Haldeman told Nixon that Liddy was responsible for the Watergate break in and Nixon immediately focused on John Mitchell, director of the

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