Analysis of Watergate Essay

During Nixon’s 1972 campaign for his second term, his administration was alleged to be a part of the infamous “Watergate scandal” (Richard M. Nixon, 2011). On the night of June 17, 1972, five men entered the Democratic National Committee offices inside the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. A night guard found the men in the offices and had them arrested at 2:30 am. After investigators began their interrogations of the men, they saw these men belonged to the Committee to Re-Elect President Nixon (The History Place, 2000). When investigators found this information about these men, red flags went up and the investigation turned to President Nixon. The reason for why these men were sent to Watergate is because in 1970, The New York Times revealed a secret bombing campaign against Cambodia was being directed as part of the American war effort in Vietnam. When Nixon heard of this, he ordered wiretaps of reporters and government employees to discover source of the news leaks (Ibid.). This decision made by Nixon cost his presidency.

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.

Seven men involved in the Watergate break-in, a break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters located in the Watergate complex, were indicted by a federal grand jury. President Richard Nixon was named by the grand jury as an unindicted co-conspirator. Archibald Cox, who had been appointed as special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate affair, obtained a subpoena that required President Nixon to deliver to the district court tape recordings of his meetings with various assistants. The president released certain edited versions of the tapes to the public, but refused to yield the full transcripts to the district cou

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

In the 1970’s There was a series of events that shook the political structure beyond repair. The watergate scandal is a series of illegal actions on the political front that destroyed President Richard Nixon 's presidential Occupation. The main topics that will be covered in this essay are that of the burglary, about President Richard Nixon’s committee to re-elect the President (CREEP), and The evidence that contributed to the demise of President Richard Nixon.

The year was 1972. From events such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, the United States was faced with extreme political and social turmoil. Despite Nixon’s promise to end war and unite the country, no one could have predicted that his election would accompany one of the largest political scandals to date. It all began with tape on door latches, finally ending with the resignation of a president and a scandal that echoes in American culture four decades later. Like most scandals, Watergate started simply enough with the intention of keeping Nixon’s political enemies at bay. However, before long it went from tape on door latches to bugging offices to breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. By the year 1974, 43 people were facing legal consequences for their role in Watergate, and President Nixon was nearing the frightening reality of trial and possible impeachment. As small as it may have seemed at its beginning, the Watergate Scandal ending up affecting all aspects of American culture, specifically American politics.

If not for Bernsteins and Woodward's informant, “Deep Throat” it is very possible that the Watergate Scandal would have never fully been revealed and eventually discovered by the public. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward who were assigned to the Watergate Scandal story, meet up with an anonymous source nicknamed “Deep Throat” who would eventually reveal and confirm new information regarding the cover up and scandal. Now officially known as Mark Felt, working for the FBI he had unlimited knowledge and information about the Watergate Scandal which involved notable government officials as well as former President Nixon. Deep Throat was the most informant source for the Washington Post, providing insider government

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.

In their conversation, which is written in Dennis Lythgoe’s article “Tapes Show Nixon Weighed Pros and Cons of Hush Money”, Dean said “it would take one million dollars” to pay off the five men, “an amount that would be hard to raise.” Nixon replied, “you could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done.” The president’s own words proved that he was involved with the break-in and that he used “hush money” to keep witnesses silent. Another tape recording, called the “smoking gun”, uncovered Nixon’s exploitation of the CSI. In the tape, Nixon plans to have Richard Helms, the Director of the CIA, and Vernon A. Walters, the Deputy Director of the CIA, call the Director of the CIA, Patrick Gray, and demand that he stop the Watergate investigation. This crime was more severe than the “hush money” crime, and it was the prime reason Nixon was charged with obstruction of justice.

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

The Watergate Scandal Essay written by Unknown The Watergate Scandal was a series of crimes committed by the President and his staff, who were found to spied on and harassed political opponents, accepted illegal campaign contributions, and covered up their own misdeeds. On June 17, 1972, The Washington Post published a small story. In this story the reporters stated that five men had been arrested breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The headquarters was located in a Washington, D.C., building complex called Watergate. These burglars were carrying enough equipment to wiretap telephones and take pictures of papers. The Washington Post had two reporters who researched deep into the story. There names were Carl

Amid increasing disclosures of White House involved in the Watergate break-in and its aftermath, Nixon announced the resignations of John Ehrlichman and H. R. Haldman, two of his closest advisers, in the dismissal of his counsel John W. Dean III. Growing suspicion of presidential involvement in the scandel resulted in an intensification of the investigation. Leaders in this inquiry included Judge Sirica, reporters for the Washington Post, the Ervin committee, and Archibald Cox, who was sworn in as special prosecutor in May 1973. Dean told the Ervin committee in June that Nixon had cover-up. A month later, former White House staff Alexander Butterfield revealed that Nixon had secretly tape-recorded conversations in his offices. Both Cox and the Ervin committee began efforts to obtain selected tapes. Nixon, citing EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, refused to relinquish them and

President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal is one of the most controversial court cases to this date. He was the first president to ever resign from office and caused the American trust in the government to suffer. Did Richard Nixon really have something to hide? Did the Supreme court make the right decision? Was the case handled in the most sufficient way? Whether one agrees with the outcome of Nixon vs. United States or not, this case left a mark on American history and shouldn't lessen trust in the American Government. The case was treated just as equally as any other case and went through the long Judicial practice as stated in the Constitution.

Watergate Scandal has been considered as one of the darkest chapters in American history. The event not only refers to unethical use of power by the public representatives but also levied great deal of attention on the mechanism of surveillance over the activities of public servants. Watergate scandal provides ethical directions not only to public servants but also provides ethical guidelines to the lawyers and media representatives as well. This incident reveals how ethical lines were crossed time and again by the politicians, legal attorneys and media for their own purposes. Ignoring the righteousness of the outcomes, events like these cause severe damage to the public's trust vested in these authorities which takes a long time to restore.

Watergate, the greatest scandal of the 20th century, remains a shrouded mystery. Early on the morning of June 17, 1972, there was a break-in and several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate Office complex building located in Washington, D.C. Thus began a series of events that would shake the public’s confidence in its most visible symbol of American authority and prestige: the presidency of Richard Nixon. A seemingly random robbery at a Washington, D.C. building leads to the first presidential resignation in American history. We will discuss the following events surrounding the Watergate break-in: when did the break-in occur, how was Nixon connected to the break-in. We will also discuss the events surrounding the discovery of the tapes, the issues involved in trying to get the tapes from President Nixon and what is the "18 1/2 minutes of silence". Finally, throughout this paper we will also include Archibald Cox the first Watergate special prosecutor.