Trace Haven
Mrs. Molzahn
American Literature
May 17, 2017
Nixon vs. People President Richard M. Nixon once said, “ I can see clearly now… that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate” ("Watergate Quotes"). The Watergate scandal began when five men attempted to break into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Complex. The government had to create an act in order to have the right to view all surveillance footage from the headquarters. This break-in sparked more than enough attention in the United States and brought two big reporters onto the case. It is stated that these two reporters “were bigger than the stories they covered” ("National Constitution
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It was later found that these men were there to plant and bug the telephones and computer systems. After the men were in custody there was only one thing left to do. Find out who the men were, and why they did it. James W. McCord was a former CIA, FBI agent security supervisor for Republican National Committee. McCord was the security advisor for the Committee of Re-Election of the President, (CREEP). Immediately after the break in and detainment McCord was ousted from the two committees where he was the head of security. Virgilio R. Gonzales was born in Cuba and the man who picked the lock at the Watergate Complex. Gonzales was a refugee from Cuba after Castro 's Takeover of Cuba. Frank A. Sturgis, a member of many branches of the military, had many connections to the CIA. Sturgis was a part of the anti-Castro takeover organization in 1959 when Fidel Castro took control of Cuba. Eugenio R. Martinez was another member of the anti-Castro takeover organization with many connections to the CIA. Martinez was an employee of Barker Real Estate who was owned by the fifth burglar, Bernard L. Barker. Barker was a realtor out of Miami, FL, along with being a former CIA operative. All five burglars had CIA or FBI connections in one way or another. With that being a point of interest in the investigation, it shined a light on the Commander in
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
On June 17, 1972, Woodward was asked to cover a story for his job at the "Washington Post." There had been a burglary at the Watergate hotel. When he arrived at the newsroom, he discovered that this wasn 't an ordinary burglary, and he wasn 't the only one reporting on it. The burglars had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic national committee in the Watergate office-apartment-hotel-complex. Bernstein had the same assignment. The two men had no appreciation for each other.
Not to be confused with Nixon v. United States, U.S. v. Nixon was a crucial case of the
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
The Watergate Scandal and crisis that rocked the United States began on the early morning of June 17, 1972 with a small-scale burglary and it ended August 9, 1974 with the resignation of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon. At approximately 2:30 in the morning of June 17, 1972, five burglars were discovered inside the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington DC. The burglars, who had been attempting to tap the headquarters’ phone were linked to Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Over the next few months, what had began as a minor break-in quickly escalated into a full-blown political scandal. It was
Richard Nixon was the United States 37th President during 1969 to 1974 where he ultimately resigned from office due to the Watergate Scandal. During his presidency, June of 1972, five males broke into the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Complex and attempted to steal top secret files about the running Democratic parties for the upcoming election. The fourth attempt to break-in (one previous break-in succeeding but not accomplishing the goal) had been planned by Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy at the hand of the Committee to Reelect the President, Nixon's campaign committee. Mitchell was the key approver for the break-in to take place. They were unsuccessful due to the security guard working that night discovering many of the
The 1960 presidential campaign showed to be historic in the invention of television for advertisements, news interviews and policy debates, something that would occupy Kennedy's youthful hands. Four debates were created between Nixon and Kennedy, and Nixon had his tactics helping him from the beginning of it. During them, he was slowly getting better from the flu and looked exhausted, and then when he came to the TV studio, Nixon decided to not wear much TV makeup, scared that the press would accuse him of trying to copy Kennedy's fresh looks of his tan skin. Even though he shaved, Nixon's "five o'clock shadow" showed on the cameras, and his gray suit blended into the gray background which was a difference from Kennedy's well-fitted dark suit. Nixon was still trying to
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
27). Bernstein and Woodward soon realized that this case was going to be a big deal when they uncovered secret funds of around $800,000 controlled by John Mitchell, Nixon’s law partner and attorney general, that paid for the bugging of watergate and other illegal surveillance. While uncovering more details of this scandal, Bernstein realized that the “picture of the White House was in sharp contrast to the smooth, well-oiled machine [he] was accustomed to reading about in the newspapers” (chapter 2, p.28). The reporters were the main reason why the scandal was tracked all the way back to the White House. They had someone who made their job a little easier that they refer to as “Deep Throat”. This anonymous man told the reporters that the money should be what they focus their attention on. The reporters then attempted to communicate with employees of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). When they kept getting shut out they suspected that there was an organized cover up. It turns out that there was an organized cover up. Nixon kept insisting that the White House had nothing to do with the burglary. It was later found out that he had arranged “hush money” to provide the burglars. Not only that, but it became known that he had plans to
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 1972 Washington police arrest five burglars with political at the highest levels. The president is under fire. Washington DC, May 28th 1972, a presidential election is less than six months away. Five burglars meet in front of the Watergate complex with a simple plan; break into the Democratic National Committee headquarters on the sixth floor.1 This is a crew compromised of Cuban Americans, ex CIA agents
When Richard Nixon was elected as president of the United States in 1968, he entered office with high hopes for his term. America was in the midst of a war in Vietnam, and Nixon believed that because of his extensive knowledge of worldwide affairs, he could be the president to bring about positive change and peace in this area. Although Nixon desired to obtain “peace with honor,” his approach to the war in Vietnam and the actions that he took ultimately led to a defeat for the United States and left many devastating legacies.
history. Former President Richard Nixon and his administration attempted to cover-up a break-in at the DNC Headquarters. Consequently, his involvement in the cover-up attempt was discovered by two reporters at the Washington Post. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were given information from an anonymous source. Their persistence in reporting the espionage behind Watergate led to the writing of a hard-hitting exposé which sparked a widespread investigation by the FBI. In other words, the act of the media holding the government accountable was a massive check on the Nixon
“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 a synonymous with Richard Nixon. For many young American’s little is know about Richard Nixon outside of the fact that he resigned from the office of President in disgrace over the events surrounding the Watergate scandal. The scandal overshadowed Nixon’s triumphs in foreign policy and his landslide re-election victory in 1972. Less than two years after President Nixon carried all but one state in securing his election his presidency would end as a result of the investigations that began after the break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. The series of incidents that occurred between 1971 through 1974 are commonly referred to as the Watergate scandal (Charles River Editors). On June 17,1972 five men were arrested after a security guard called