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
Richard Nixon was the United States 37th President during 1969 to 1974 where he ultimately resigned from office due to the Watergate Scandal. During his presidency, June of 1972, five males broke into the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Complex and attempted to steal top secret files about the running Democratic parties for the upcoming election. The fourth attempt to break-in (one previous break-in succeeding but not accomplishing the goal) had been planned by Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy at the hand of the Committee to Reelect the President, Nixon's campaign committee. Mitchell was the key approver for the break-in to take place. They were unsuccessful due to the security guard working that night discovering many of the
1972 – 1974: Watergate Scandal: In June, 1972, Police arrested five men who broke into the the Democratic National Committee Office in the Watergate District of Washington, D.C. When further investigated, two more men were arrested. Following a background check, it was revealed that the men belonged to a committee to re-elect the president. It was also revealed that men were paid by the committee and the committee was controlled by the people who work in the White House. This information was gathered by the Washington Post, which had an FBI informant, nicknamed “Deep Throat.” The investigation revealed that some of Nixon’s closest advisors may be involved in the scandal. Nixon was also thought to be involved as the investigation proceeded. During Senate hearings, Nixon denied an affiliation with the scandal, but it was revealed that Nixon recorded every conversation in this office. After refusing to hand-over the tapes, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to do so. He did turnover the tapes, however there were minutes missing from the recordings. Congress drew up the Articles of Impeachment to impeach Nixon, but he decided to resign before he was
At first light of June 17, 1972, a considerable amount of burglars were aprehended inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. This was no everyday robbery, the crooks were linked to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. Upon getting caught in the Watergate building, the robbers were in there attempting to wiretap phones and abduct secret records. Nixon poorly persued to cover up any relation to his administration and to avoid indictment he relinquished himself from office on August 8, 1974. Although Nixon was never araigned for his potential role in this scandal, it forever altered American politics, driving many Americans to have inquiry about the leadership of their
The Watergate Scandal and crisis that rocked the United States began on the early morning of June 17, 1972 with a small-scale burglary and it ended August 9, 1974 with the resignation of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon. At approximately 2:30 in the morning of June 17, 1972, five burglars were discovered inside the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington DC. The burglars, who had been attempting to tap the headquarters’ phone were linked to Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Over the next few months, what had began as a minor break-in quickly escalated into a full-blown political scandal. It was
During the early 1970’s, a scandal took place at the hands of former president, Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon wanted to ensure that he got the chance to get reelected. He took extreme measures to do so, one of those extreme measures included espionage. On June 17, 1972, five burglars were taken down to the police station after breaking into the Watergate complex buildings in Washington, D.C. The five burglars; James McCord, Virgilio Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez, and Bernard Baker. “These five men broke into Headquarters for the Democratic National Committee, which was located in the Watergate hotel. This triggered the entire scandal and eventually led to Nixon’s demise.”
The Watergate Scandal was truly the biggest political scandal in United States History. Over forty people where charged with crimes relating to the scandal. Bernstein and Woodward were given a fantastic oppourtunity to uncover something truly significant in history. The twenty-one months of investigative reporting done by these two men would ruin Nixon’s name and make these two common everyday reporters lives change forever. Woodward first got his life changing call on June 17th 1972 with his editor telling him about a small invasion of the Democratic Party Headquarters. With being related to the scandal, two members of President Nixon’s cabinet, H.R. Hadlemen and John Ehrlichman, quickly resigned. When first thought of the president even having something to do with the Watergate Scandal, he made every effort to possibly hide this career ruining event. The break in was first found by a security guard by the name of, Frank Wills. Wills saw a piece of tape covering a broken lock. Wills was
On June 17, 1984, burglars broke into Watergate hotel where the Democratic National Committee is located. Four of the burglars were identified as Cuban Nationals and the fifth burglar was identified as James McCord. James McCord was a former FBI and CIA agent who was recently employed as a security aid by the republican committee and the committee to reelect President Richard Nixon. Some people were suspicious of James McCord’s connection to Nixon and the possibility that the burglary could have been planned by Nixon. The burglars insist that acted along and the incident had no connections to the white house. The White house denied involvement in Watergate and the public dismissed the break-in as a campaign antic. The secret white house tapes revealed President
The Watergate Scandal was the downfall of Richard Nixon. It made Americans put less trust in the government and built trust in the media. It all takes place at the Watergate Hotel. He led an extremely corrupt administration to get him re elected. He also was the first President to resign. The unethical organization that was formed was called the CRP (later creep). They helped Nixon get re elected in 1972. They used illegal tactics to get him re elected. They paid lawyers for the burglars who broke into the Watergate Hotel. These people were known as the Plumbers. That was directed by John Ehrlichman. They were the White House investigation unit. They prevented information leak and burglarize any of Nixon reveals. Watergate seven was Richard Nixon closest comrades. They were in charge of the Creep and the plumbers that carried out many illegal activities. Christ the Transformer of Business culture is a good trait to obtain. “These people are intimately involved with those in the business, but their distinctive Christian standards are not lost” (Ruddell, 2004, p. 40). The people that were involved in the Watergate scandal should have had this trait.
“I am not a crook” is one of the most famous quotes from President Richard M. Nixon. Citizens of the United States of America would hope that their president would never have to defend himself as a crook, but that is just what happened in the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. President Nixon had to defend himself for not being a crook because of the events famously known as the ‘Watergate Scandal’. In 1972, members of Nixon’s re-election committee broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate offices and stole top-secret documents as well as trying to get into their phone system. They eventually were caught and so was President Nixon which led him to his resignation. Even though it was an unfortunate event, there have been positive outcomes because of it. The lasting implications of the Watergate Scandal have been generally positive on society because of the passing of Ethics in Government Act, amending the Freedom of Information Act and 42 states passing election reform laws.
It was an inspiring speech that would remove the fear that he believed restrained the Americans and the Soviets from better relationships in the past. Meanwhile, in Washington, the President's election staff was overcome with a different fear. Despite Nixon's high standing position for being reelected, his CREEP staff (Committee to Reelect the President) was afraid that they might not have as much 'dirt' on Nixon's opponents as they had on Nixon. The President laid upon his staff the determination to do whatever possible to win the election . With this approval, Nixon's staff, headed by G. Gordon Liddy, began planning more ways of attaining information from the DNC.
Watergate is the popular name for the political scandal and constitutional crisis that began with the arrest of five burglars who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office in Washington D.C. on the night of June 17, 1972. It ended with the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon. The burglars and two co-potters-G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt were indicated on charges of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping. Four monthes later, they were convicted and sentenced to prison terms by District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who was convicted that pertinent details had not been unveiled during the trial and proffered leniency in exchange for further information. As it
As time progressed and the investigation began to uncover the truth about what transpired at the Watergate apartment complex several things became evident: most of the burglars were ex-CIA and ex-FBI personnel, the burglars were paid with money directly from the re-election campaign and President Nixon not only knew about and sanctioned the break-in but deliberately attempted to cover it up. When called before Congress to testify about his knowledge, White House staffer John Dean testified that Nixon and his aides attempted to “stonewall” the investigation. As Congress continued its inquiry, it became clear
Once broken, the seal of Watergate could never be replaced. The five men brought arrested for breaking into the Watergate Complex had to be served fair justice. The official hearings began on January 8th, 1973 (Files 1). However, fair trials would not prevail. Edward B. Hunt ordered the payout of twenty thousand dollars to each member of the break-in team, fifty thousand for his lawyer, and seventy thousand dollars for himself (Files 6). The “hush money” proved successful. All four Cuban men pled
investigation by Congress, Nixon was committing illegal acts other than that of burglary. It was
Among them would be Bob Bernstein, and Carl Woodward, reporters for The Washington Post. They used a background source “Deep Throat” to uncover the relationship between the scandal and the White House. “Deep Throat” later announced was W.Mark Felt. The Senate makes a special committee that nominated Archibald Cox to head the special investigations. James D St. Clair was appointed to be Nixon’s defense counsel. Startling information shocked the nation. There was a check of $25000 in one of the burglar’s bank account. Archibald then learns that Nixon taped all his conversations in the white house. Archibald demanded tapes but Nixon denied. Archibald was getting close to uncovering the case so Nixon demanded him to be fired. He demanded Attorney General Richardson but he protested and resigned. Next in line was Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus who also protested and resigned. Finally, Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out orders. John Sirica, a judge and he also realized not all the pieces of the puzzle were put together.