Abuse of Power in Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley

Nixon had dirty tactic when dealing with foreigners about national hostility. He tried to use the IRS to harass political opponents as well as exposing public behaviors or life styles that he found repugnant. Nixon also tried bureaucratic harassment by tiring to cancel television stations such owned by the Washington post. Unlike the Germans, Nixon didn’t creating detention camps where they held and punished people who didn’t do anything illegal; Nixon and his team searched for extralegal methods for punishing opponents. If it wasn’t for the Watergate scandal, Nixon’s presidency may have gone to radical

Moreover, this paper hopes to justify that the Watergate break in was directly caused by the pressure on Nixon from his advisers in relation to the Pentagon papers and the papers' appearance to the citizens. In addition, this essay hopes to prove that Nixon unknowingly sabotaged his own presidency in response to New York Times's publication and court case, Daniel Ellsberg's trial, and Watergate. Also, this Extended Essay hopes to demonstrate how the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap between the citizens and the presidency. Furthermore, the credibility gap is a different perception of events between the government and its citizens. Thus meaning that when any national crisis arose it could significantly affect a president's approval ratings and destroy any relationship forming with in the public. Finally, the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap in the later years of Nixon's presidency specifically with the Watergate break in and his claims of innocence. This research question is worthy of investigation because the effects of the Pentagon Papers are still felt in the United States with the recent events of Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, and the revelation of the NSA spying on American citizens. That is concurrent to the feelings of the citizens in the 1970s with the government lying to its own

President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.

Richard Nixon, though created a large credibility gap within the US, he accomplished a lot for the country. He served five years in the presidential office as a republican (1969-1974), and he was the only president to resign from office in history. Although through his presidency he had accomplished many things, such as creating revenue sharing, ending the draft, and creating anticrime laws, he still had a rough time rebuilding his reputation after many assumptions of corruption in his office. Though he never admittedly pledged guilty to his crimes of taking government funds for his own personal gain, there was proof that he was. After the Watergate scandal, the American people set their mind to believe what the proof led to, so Nixon’s

Nixon was secondly charged with Abuse of Power (Article II), essentially because of his misuse of “executive personnel” (historyplace.com). He used the FBI to harass “enemies” that he saw as “political opponents” (presidentprofiles.com). Nixon requested investigations of these “enemies” in an attempt to find information about them that he could leak to the press. He used the Secret Service as well to gain a furtive intelligence of Senator Edward Kennedy’s personal

Most adults would do anything to protect a child. Sister Aloysius did everything she could to make sure Father Flynn would not hurt anymore child. In the play Doubt: a Parable by John Patrick Shanley, Father Flynn, a priest at St. Nicholas, a Catholic church and school in the Bronx, New York, 1964 is questioned whether or not he has been in an inappropriate relationship with an 8th grade colored kid named Donald Mueller. One of the nuns at the school, Sister James tells the principle of the school, Sister Aloysius, her suspicions of the relationship between Father Flynn and Donald and that she smelt wine in his breath. Sister Aloysius questions the priest of the relationship but he denies it and tells her Donald, who was also an altar boy who had access to wine, took some and the priest told no one because he wanted to keep Donald safe. Sister Aloysius meets with Donald’s mother to inform her of the situation but she overlooks it because she needs him to finish 8th grade at the school and Father Flynn is the only one who is friendly to Donald. Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius meet again and she threatens Father Flynn to confess because of information she got from a nun at his last parish. Father Flynn still denies the relationship but he then goes to a different school to be a priest. Based on the evidence in Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt: A Parable, I conclude Father Flynn is guilty based on his behavior and other evidence against him.

To begin, as one is reading the play they start to see that everything Father Flynn was accused of he has a reasonable explanation for. The primary accusation of Father Flynn molesting Donald Muller was supported by the fact that he was alone with him in the rectory. However, Father Flynn quickly denied this because the reason he was alone was for a meeting with Donald about a rule he had broken. Donald had drank church wine on a Tuesday morning while he was serving as an altar boy and Mr. McGinn had caught him, which is why Father Flynn had to have a private meeting with Donald. As Father Flynn is explaining why he was alone with Donald he states, “Donald Muller served as an altar boy last Tuesday morning. After Mass, Mr. McGinn caught him in the sacristy drinking altar wine. When I found out, I sent for him” (Shanley 33). As one reads this quote it is clear that Father Flynn has nothing to hide because he tells the boy’s secret that could possibly get him in trouble and kicked off the altar boys. If Father Flynn was trying to hide something he would most likely not throw the boy under the bus for a crime. Also, the tone of the statement is relaxed and

At that time, President Nixon was a leader of Republican had been running to reelect; while, America was embroiled in Vietnam War (1955 -1975) and deeply separate internally of government. That were main reasons led to Nixon scandal was knowns as illegal espionage. In May 1972, the members of Nixon’s Committee who participate in reelection President who broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters to steal the secret documents and eavesdropped the office’s phone. After the scandal, Nixon had opened a meeting and given a speech to explain that White House staff had not done in the break in. And in November 1972, Nixon won in the landslide because the most people believe his speech about the illegal eavesdropped. In the short time, the FBI investigate, Nixon had not admitted any wrongdoing about himself in the Watergate. On the other side, the Vietnam War is one of the debacles of America military. President Nixon argued that American had won the Vietnam War but lost in politically war. The Vietnam War was an extravagant investigation base on a weak groundwork to against the spread of communism in Asia of American government. Nixon’s action for the Vietnam War and Watergate had abuse his power led a negative effect on political life of American; moreover, that created a skepticism and unreliable space in America government and life. Furthermore, the Watergate left an aghast

Father Flynn then proceded to tell her he does not take Donalds well being into consideration; “His well being is not an issue” (Shanley 32). Flynn did not care about Donalds well being to begin with so he could have not cared what would happen to him throughout the beginning of the story. Not to mention, Flynn gets absolutly defensive when explaining to Aloysius he is innocint. He freaks out about the situation immediately after he is questioned and this can make him seem guilty: “You know what I haven't understood through all this? Why you suspect me? What have I done?” (Shanley 51). Flynn has left 3 churchs in his time of being a preist. This is a slightly suspicious and in a way seems as if he is trying to run away from some sort of shame.

What is so bad about trying to protect a person and being there for a person? One reason to prove his innocence is because he was sticking out for Donald Muller. As well, he stood out for the other children and taught them proper etiquette and how to play basketball. One way that Fr. Flynn helped was Donald was when he went to lengths to protect his secret when he drank alcohol. Fr. Flynn said, “After mass Mr. McGinn caught him in the sacristy drinking altar wine. When I found out, I sent for him. There were tears. He begged not to be removed from the altar boys” (Shanley 33-34). Fr. Flynn may not have done the right thing by trying to cover up but he was trying to help out a boy who really didn’t have much going for him in school. He helped him recover and more than likely changed the way Donald will act in the future. Fr. Flynn also protected Donald as well as the other boys.

The final straw that caused the full downfall of the Nixon administration, and with it the hope in the U.S. government, was the “Watergate scandal”. This showed deceit of illegal activity. Where a president went to the maximum extent to cover up and hide his wrongdoings. Many in his administration were tried and arrested. This showed a face of American government never seen before. Nixon resigned after that. In his speech of farewell he attempts to restore some of America's hope; he states when speaking about the white house, “this is the best house”, “this house has a great heart”(President Nixon’s farewell, Reader pg. 240). The discontent, fear, anger and disillusion that the American people had experienced for their government culminated

Nixon had been already dealing with the foreign relations and Vietnam when the presidential election came around. The country was in a heat of tension over mixed opinions on the war in Vietnam, rising inflation and unemployment. Just a year before, the country was in a roar over the seemingly empty promises from Nixon to end the war and would have booted him out without a thought. However his opponent, George McGovern, took the anti-war political stance and hoped to gain popularity by wanting to withdraw troops from Vietnam and cut military spending. In a time of war this may have seemed semi-appealing towards the American public but it wasn’t a strong enough stance to portray him as a strong leader. Nixon, having been President for the last four years, knew that the country needed a strong leader and emphasized his stance in every campaign commercial.

However, some critics may argue that Father Flynn is actually guilty, and there are numerous reasons that lead to this indication. For example, Father Flynn does express traits of denial and defensiveness throughout the play. While Sister Aloysius is questioning Father Flynn about the incident with Donald, Father Flynn does try to change the subject to other ideas. He changes the subject from the accusation about him and Donald to the Christmas pageant and Sister James’s brother. Additionally, Father Flynn also walks out on some of the meetings with Sister Aloysius because he might be scared to accidentally make a mistake and slip up, which would than rile Sister Aloysius to claim that he molested Donald.

Foremost was the President’s implementation of a “conservative…New Deal” (373) 1 in which he challenged the new deal and formed it to a more conservative liking, focused primarily on feeding the American people decentralized solutions of state and local governments, rather then federal handouts. Out of this, a sort of paradox emerged; “to reduce federal power, it was necessary to increase presidential power” (373). 1 Out of which came a centralization of management in the White House, or a more consolidated power within the White House itself in terms of domestic policy decisions. Branded ‘New Federalism’, Nixon started off by issuing executive orders further emphasizing ‘affirmative action’ or “granting employment, contracting or education on the basis of race or gender” (372) 1 by having the secretary of labor to authorize a compliance of hiring reports, effectively forcing the hiring of minorities. Next, Nixon would further expand the power of the presidency through impoundments, or not spending money that has been appropriated thought congress. Unlike Nixon’s predecessors, he did not use the impounded funds to funnel back into the economy; instead, he actively tried to sabotage governmental agencies such as the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) as it did not fit his administrations agenda due to its liberal agenda and “war on poverty” (377). 1 In this sense,

Power and corruption are concepts that are difficult to fully understand. Several controversies occur within these topics. There are both conventional and unconventional ways of viewing power. In an attempt to make a claim contrary to common belief, David Brin stated, “It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible.” This statement is not accurate because power is the corrupting device responsible for a plethora of downfalls leaders have experienced.