Five burglars, discovered to be connected with the campaign to re-elect Nixon, were caught breaking into the Democratic National Head Quarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. The Democratic National Headquarters were responsible for raising money and for coordinating campaigns for democratic candidates. During the hearing of these burglars, it came to the attention of the court, that Nixon installed tape recorders in the oval office and refused to give them up. After the court forced him to hand over the evidence, he released edited transcripts that didn’t meet the courts orders. Nixon’s lawyers argued that through ‘executive privilege’, “the ability of the president to keep certain communications private if disclosing those communications
This testimony led to the fight for the tape recordings from the House Judiciary Committee, the House believed that these could help uncover his role in the Watergate Scandal. The public was having an increase in suspicion of Nixon because of his vigorous effort to defend the tapes. After the Supreme Court’s rejection of Nixon's executive privilege, there were over 700 white house files, 19 presidential conversations, and over 42 additional tapes taken, but the biggest suspicion was the eighteen and a half minute silent gap in a conversation with Mr.Haldeman in 1972. Nixon later in court lies about the $25,000 check given to Bernard Barker, saying that he is probably a “bum” and definitely did not receive the money from CREEP, even though the check was directly traceable to the committee. On May 10, 1989 the House of Representatives adopted 3 Articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, with the first two articles charging Nixon with giving false testimony before the grand jury and the third article with bringing disrepute on the Federal judiciary. These charges placed on the highest position in American society is disastrous and leads to a distrust in government within the American people.The fact that Nixon was granted a full pardon and was acquitted of all of the charges makes Americans lose hope in the American Judicial System and makes people question the “role of the
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 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
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
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
That same year, Congress would tap into its oversight powers once again as it launched a full-fledged investigation against Nixon and top White House officials who used their political positions for political advantage in the Watergate scandal. Citing “executive privilege,” Nixon asserted that he, as president, was immune from legislative oversight and that "the inherent power of the President to safeguard the security of the nation" authorized him to order wiretaps without warrants.
It’s 1969, Richard Nixon is the United States President. Winning presidency with not only the popular but also the Electoral vote. It's a very brutal time for Presidency, with the nation torn from the involvement in Vietnam. Richard Nixon seeming a promising Chief of Foreign Affairs has focused most of his campaigning with these issues. But all this faith is soon blinded by a terrible presidential scandal. Early morning of June 17. 1972 a on duty Security guard realizes the locks to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have been tampered with. The security Guard in distraught calls the Police, finding several burglars wire tapping phone lines and stealing secret Government documents. Thousands dollars were on the burglars along with Phone
On April 29 1974 Richard Nixon announced in a national broadcast he will hand over 1,200 pages of White House Transcripts that will ‘‘prove his innocence’’. This all began on June 17, 1972, when several burglars in the DNC (Democratic National Committee). It seems that the burglars were connected to Nixon’s reelection, they were caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Apparently, Nixon tried to vigorously cover up the crime.
In the summer of 1972, 5 burglars broke into the Watergate hotel where the democratic convention was being held. The burglars were eventually captured and arrested, but one of the burglars implicated then President of the United States of America, Richard Nixon, in the planning of the break-in. After weeks of subpoenas from congress, demanding tapes that were used to record the activities in the White House. It was then that Richard Nixon would irrevocably change America’s future by doing something that every president had done before him, he would use executive privilege to block the investigation into the White House’s role into the Watergate break-in. By invoking executive privilege, Richard Nixon proved his guilt and permanently changed how Americans viewed the president’s use of executive privilege.
The judges stated that “ neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the generalized need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege”(United States v. Nixon/Oyez). The courts agreed that there is limited executive privilege that a president can pursue in either military or diplomatic instances. Nixon abused his executive privilege and has the right to obey the court with providing the tapes and documents that the burglars stole in the break-in and must now face the consequences of his actions. Nixon resigned not much longer after releasing the tapes to the
When Nixon won his second term burglars broke into the Democratic Campaign Headquarters in Washington’s Watergate Complex. Tracks were found leading to government officials. The Nixon administration denied having the opponent building be broken into, but it was soon found that he did. Nixon was recording conversations in the Oval Office. Nixon was told to give up the tapes but he did not. He thought that he was the president and he was above the constitution. American democracy was made to not have a king, but Nixon thought he was the king, he thought he was above the law. The decision was taken to court and it was ruled 8-0 against Nixon and he had to give up the tapes.
In 1968 Richard M. Nixon a 55 year old former vice president who lost the presidency for the Republicans in 1960 reclaimed himself by defeating Hubert Humphrey in one of the closest elections in United States history. On July 23, 1970 Nixon approves for a plan for greatly expanding domestic intelligence gathering by the FBI, CIA, and other agencies. He later has second thoughts though. A few days later he resends his approval. On September 9th 1971 the Whitehouse plumber unit named for the orders to plug leeks in the administration steals files on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defense analyst who leaked the pentagon papers from a local physiology office. On the evening of August 8th 1974 President Richard Nixon gave his last speech ever as the face of the United States. His resignation changed the ideas of political trust in the country. The Watergate scandal destroyed the reputations and revised the rule of law and politics.
An example of this power is the Watergate scandal. President Nixon and his cabinet members were caught covering up the case of five burglars caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic Party's National Committee. Although the word “watergate” is one used describe the overly complicated issues and associated the the break-in at the luxurious Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. President Nixon used executive privilege as reason for not releasing the tapes concerning his involvement.
The break-in was initially labelled as a “third-rate burglary” by the White House Press, and the 1972 election passed seamlessly, results uninfluenced by the event. In fact, Nixon was re-elected with the largest popular vote landslide in history. However, as the trial of the Watergate burglary progressed, it soon became evident that the event originated within the White House. One of the men, James McCord was a retired CIA agent, and another, E. Howard Hunt, was a former CIA operative and consultant to the Nixon White House. Another man identified as G. Gordon Liddy, the general counsel to Nixon’s “Committee to Re-elect the President.” Several months after the incident, Nixon was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to hand over the tapes which continuously recorded conversations inside the Oval Office. Knowing
At the hearings, all the illegal activities done on the behalf of the president became known: wiretapping, harassment, bribery, and obstruction of justice. This prompted Nixon to defend himself with a 4000 word report that didn’t just deny the accusations, but claimed the security operations, “stemmed from national security needs.”10 But there was still no hard evidence until Alexander Butterfield, Nixon’s aide, revealed that there was a secret recording system in the oval office, leading the Senate and special prosecutor Archibald Cox requested the tapes from the president. Nixon refused to hand them over citing “executive privilege.” The struggle for the tapes proved to be the beginning of the end of his presidency. By August, the public would overwhelmingly turn against his duplicity with 73 percent believing he was involved in Watergate.11 Despite this pressure to relent, Nixon continued his tactics of blanketly dismissing the charges and blaming the media. In September, the Supreme Court called on Nixon to release the tapes which he would again refuse. This began the chain of events that would come to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre. That night, Nixon ordered his attorney deputy attorney general to fire special prosecutor Cox, which both would refuse to do and resigned instead. Solicitor General Robert Bork, however, did comply and abolished the special prosecutor’s investigation. Several days later the House of Representatives called for impeachment hearing. In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could not use executive privilege to withhold the tapes. From the tapes, it was apparent that Richard Nixon took part in the Watergate cover up and the subsequent obstruction of justice. With the impeachment proceedings in place, Richard Nixon was forced to announce his resignation as the president of United