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Watergate Scandal Summary

Decent Essays

In the first article that I read, written by D Burch from the Harvard Crimson web site, it obvious that their stance on Nixon and Watergate were that of defense; defending Nixon’s actions. It is obvious to me that they were in support of his choices and condoned most of his actions. They did report that the editorial staff called for his impeachment but it was reluctant at best. Basically they said that his office of President was hard and that he had done many a great thing prior to this scandal including honorably ending US involvement in war, bringing home our warriors and POW’s from Southeast Asia, establishing a new candor in relations with the Soviet Union, among others (Burch, 1974). The second article on the other hand was more of …show more content…

First, many American citizens lost faith and confidence in their elected leaders. This was not the first scandal of mistrust but it was the biggest known to date. Watergate also paved the way for new laws to change campaign financing. Another byproduct of Watergate would be the negativity directed to those in the legal profession, as many of Nixon’s aides and Nixon himself were lawyers. Another thing that Watergate help cause was that Congress became far less passive in its tactics regarding cooperation with the Presidency. This also changed the way that the press as whole covered Presidents. There was more skepticism and conspiracy written into articles about the office after Watergate. For example, take the coverage on Bill Clinton’s infidelity, aptly known as “Zippergate” (Zippergate, N.D.), and the sheer volume of reports on the event in the media. Can you imagine if Watergate had happened in the modern era of the internet, social media, and smart phones? WOW! I would imagine that Watergate would have rocked the Nation, no the World at a much great pace during a time of instant news gratification through the internet. I would also think that all of the secrecy that happened during Watergate would not have existed as there really is no such thing as privacy anymore. I would have to think that it would be handled similarly to what is currently going on with Hillary Clinton

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