Two short months after being sworn into office for his second term, Richard Nixon’s legacy was falling to pieces. This was all due to a “prank” that occurred under Richard Nixon’s presidency. It all started the morning of June 17, 1972, inside the office of the Democratic National Committee. This office was located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. Several burglars were arrested when they were discovered breaking into the building. This was no ordinary robbery: the robbers were connected to President Richard Nixon. They were working for his reelection campaign. While attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents, the robbers/spies were caught. While historians are not sure whether Nixon knew about the Watergate operation …show more content…
This paper will explain what really occurred in the Watergate affair. This historical scandal has forever be a smudge on American President’s legacies and past. This paper will aim to try and analyze Watergate and the people involved. It will attempt to make sense of why it all happened, and how Nixon, personally, was affected by the outcome. Richard Nixon and the others behind the affair, had to live the rest of their lives knowing what they happened that night and after still affects us …show more content…
When you look at Watergate, in itself, it is proof of the constant flexibility of our liberal democracy in the United States. The Watergate investigations without a doubt were influenced by political favoritism and the quest of self-glorification by some of the Nixon’s enemies. Despite this and maybe because of it, depending on how you want to look at it, Watergate remains a prime example of the ability of American citizens as a whole to adjust and evolve. They can force demands for greater individual freedom and stricter standards of conduct for government officials and public
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
The FBI and the American public need to know just what had happened and that this may not have been just a typical break-in but a cover up to protect someone. And if so was it an abuse of presidential power and a deliberate obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, at the same time seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the Watergate building break-in. At the instruction of the President’s aides, five pleaded guilty to the charges and avoided trial; while White House counsel John Dean, testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes. The other two were convicted in January 1973 for the break-in. By this time, a number of people including Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and trial judge John J. Sirica and members of a Senate investigating committee had begun to think that something bigger was going to break soon.
The average person when they hear the word Watergate, they immediately think of the Break-in at the National Democratic headquarters in Washington. Keith W. Olson, the author of the book Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America, proves Watergate was indeed more than just a break-in and describes the major points of the Watergate scheme. The key points of Watergate were patterns from the beginning of Nixon’s presidency, the context of the break-in, the cover-up, the disclosures, the senate committee, the struggle for the tape, the resignation, and the ends and means.
On June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee located inside the Watergate Hotel in Washington. Frank Wills, a night security guard, discovered that the break-in was occurring. “Several office doorknob cylinders were covered with masking tape to hold the doors open”(McConnell 11). As soon as Wills made this discovery, he telephoned the police. The five burglars, carrying electronic gear and photographic equipment, were arrested on site at 2:30 A.M. They were suspected of illegal wire tapping. This series of arrests sparked the beginning of what came to be known as the Watergate Scandal. The Watergate Scandal caused several events to occur such as a huge investigation, Nixon winning the
In August, Nixon gave a speech and said that he was not involved in the Watergate. Most of the voters ended up believing him which ended up helping him. Since Nixon decided to speak out and confront the allegations about the Watergate he won the election in a landslide. Nixon made a plan to instruct the CIA to impede the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate crime so he could know what was going on at all times. By Nixon sending in the CIA he was committing a crime even worse than his first.
In 1972, there was a rise of the “Watergate Scandal” which over the next couple years would prove to tarnish the image of the President of the United States. The office of the president was behind the scandal in the fact that it was responsible for the break in at the office of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. President Nixon’s reelection committee and members of the White House had made efforts to destroy the Democrat’s chances for running for office. During the investigation, it was brought to light that President Nixon knew of the break in at the Democratic National Committee office and tried to cover it up. After much pressing by Congress, the judicial branch ordered President Nixon to give up all the evidence. Once the
United States President Richard Nixon was involved in a major political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from a break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The scandal was known as the Watergate scandal. The scandal was called Watergate because it occurred at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon and his administration attempted to cover up the scandal, but the scandal was discovered and investigated by Congress. The scandal comprised of illegal activities such as bugging of offices, ordering investigations of activist groups and political figures with the use of the FBI, CIA, and IRS. There were several abuses of power during the scandal and the results of the scandal and investigation were indictment of sixty nine individuals and Richard Nixon resigning his office as President of the United States.
Nixon holds a rich history directly connected to the Watergate scandal and that began even before Nixon’s two terms. The case argued between Nixon and the Supreme Court, and especially the plans of action that Nixon took during his second Presidential term, is a pure reflection of the executive powers and its limitations. Furthermore, beyond its shock to the nation during that time, the effects of the case have both positively and negatively marked the courts today and left cautionary presidents. The rightful actions of both are still argued among political scholars today, and it is certain to continue to impact the nation’s history indefinitely. The question is, whether the United States and its constituents have truly learned from the corrupt actions of Nixon and his administration, or if there will ever be another case that goes down in history just the
The late 1960s to the mid-1970s was characterized by political controversy and instability. The Watergate crisis is the most infamous scandal that occurred within those years, and arguably, in American political history. The event occurred in 1972 and it redefined American political culture. Nixon’s involvement in the incident (and other controversies leading up to Watergate) led to a loss of faith in government and a transition to the public’s reliance on the media. However, Watergate's long term positive effects negate its obviously negative reputation. The scandal transformed the ethical environment of politics by yielding a series of progressive changes to government administration. These alterations include the Freedom of Information
On an ordinary morning of June 17, 1972, five burglars were caught in the Watergate complex after signs of breaking in were found on the doors. No one at that time knew this subtle crime would lead to the greatest scandal in the US history and the resignation of the current President, Richard Nixon. Evidences later showed that the Watergate Incident was only a mere part of the ugly crimes the Nixon Administration had committed to achieve their ultimate goal of reelection, and Nixon had intentionally attempted a cover up to save his reputation. The Watergate incident had inflicted a deep suspicion inside the US citizens toward the government, especially the President, because during his terms, Nixon had obstructed justice and refused to
A scandal now known as Watergate occurred on June 17, 1972. This scandal occurred when five men were caught trying to wiretap the Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. At 1:55 A.M., Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate hotel, discovered evidence of a break-in and called the police. The five men, who broke into the hotel, tried to wiretap the sixth floor where the headquarters was but failed. Though it now makes sense, it was a surprise to many people when Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reported that the men involved in this break-in were directly or indirectly involved with Richard Nixon’s reelection committee known as CREEP. The five men involved in the break-in, as well as
“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. and President Richard Nixon’s administration’s attempted cover-up of its involvement (Google, 1). It was such a unexpecting event, due to how we thought the president actually was. We thought of Nixon as a smart, and loyal president. After this event it made several people second guess him as a person, not just as a president. The Watergate scandal happened forty years ago, but it is yet one of the biggest things that has happened in America (Zelizer, 1). In July 1974, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that the White House had to turn
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
Watergate was an immense political stun that happened in the United States in the 1970s, after a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) home office at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. moreover, President Richard Nixon affiliation 's attempted to camouflage of its joining. Precisely when the trap was found and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon affiliation 's solidness to its tests induced a developed emergency. The term Watergate has come to combine a combination of stealthy and a
The transgressions uncovered during the Watergate break-in investigation discouraged Americans by shattering their belief in Presidential infallibility. As Richard Nixon’s chief-of-staff, H.R. Haldeman, said, “…comes a very clear thing: you can’t trust the government; you can’t believe what they say; and you can’t rely on their judgment; and the – the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the President wants to do even though it’s wrong, and the President can be wrong.” These words expressed the sentiment of most Americans following Watergate and the publicity surrounding the investigation and President Nixon’s subsequent resignation.