Richard Nixon Watergate Case Study

Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal left no doubt to his involvement of being impeached. During the Nixon Administration, he was able to prevent colleges from being gender biased and allowing both male and female to have equal opportunity and receiving financial aid as well as competing in sports. He was able to establish the Environmental Protection Agency. He also worked to create a relationship between the U.S and the Middle East. Unfortunately, even with all of the accomplishments, he was able to have, everyone will remember Richard Nixon as the president who was involved in the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal left an asterisk by his legacy while being in the office, the results left him with having to resign and with him facing criminal charges as well, the Scandal became well known to the public in the summer of 1974. Through my essay, I will discuss why I am intrigued by the Watergate scandal, and discuss what if Richard Nixon never got caught on the audio tape?

What kind of person commits three major violations of the national law and gets away with it? Well that person is Nixon. President Richard Nixon was one of the most famous presidents in the United States. He was mainly renowned for his huge role in the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal was important because Nixon and his cabinet arranged to get people to spy on the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate building. After it became clear Nixon was responsible, he manages to resign before he was going to be impeached. President Nixon was involved with the Watergate scandal and should be sentenced to jail because he organized it, which then got leaked out and finally led to his resignation.

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.

After the break-in, Nixon needed to protect his image so that American’s could still trust him. To accomplish this, he let a number of employees take the blame for him. The Watergate Seven were a group of men involved in the scandal, who were also advisors and aides to President Nixon. On January 8, 1973, these men were put to trial. With urges from Nixon, five of the seven pleaded guilty. Then on January 30, 1973, six of Nixon’s aides and the lawyer for his re-election committee were charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to cover-up the break in. This included John Mitchell, Harry Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Charles W. Colson, Gordon Strachan, and Kenneth Wells Parkinson. However, after the trial, CIA operative, James W. McCord, wrote a letter to Judge John Sirica. In which he claimed that the defendants had pleaded guilty under duress. He also said that they committed perjury and that others were involved in the Watergate break-in. Leading to further pressure being put on Nixon and his alleged involvement in the break-in. Eventually, Nixon’s deceitful involvement would be revealed to the American public.

Watergate Political scandals are not strangers to the United States. They date back as far as 1830, with the presidential sex scandal and Thomas Jefferson, and in 1875 with the Whiskey Ring and President Ulysses S. Grant (Time and Again 1). Today we have the Iran-Contra affair with Ronald Reagan and Whitewater with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Even with these, it can be argued that Watergate could possibly be the worst scandal in the history of the United States.

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.

As president, Nixon's achievements included forging diplomatic ties with China, the first president to do this, and the Soviet Union. He was responsible for withdrawing US troops from an unpopular war in Vietnam. However, Nixon's involvement in Watergate tarnished his legacy and deepened American cynicism about government. Richard Milhous Nixon's born on January 9 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. He was the second of five sons of Francis Anthony Nixon (1878-1956). FRANCIS NIXON STURGGLED TO EARN A LIVING RUNNING A GROCERY STORE AND GAS STATion with his wife, Hannah Milhous Nixon (1885-1967). His mother was a Quaker, who had a strong influence on her sons. Richard Nixon's early life as hard. The family experienced tragedy twice early

On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned from his post as President of the United States of America in ignominy. His resignation was prompted by mounting accusations of his involvement in the Watergate scandal, perhaps the biggest scandal the country has ever seen.  The Watergate scandal was a series of events started by the break-in to the Democratic Party headquarters by members connected to the Nixon campaign with the orders to steal confidential plans. President Gerald Ford later issued a presidential pardon, but many Americans could not forgive Nixon for his involvement. The Watergate Scandal distracted the history books from one of the most productive presidencies in history.

To further maintain his innocence, President Nixon started creating distance between himself and those of senior authority within his administration who could be directly linked to the Watergate scandal. At this time, many of President Nixon’s aides were either being prosecuted for obstruction of justice, burglary, wiretapping, etc, or they were resigning their positions within the administration due to the overwhelming evidence that was appearing against them in relation to their criminal activities. Many of President Nixon’s aides were either cutting a deal in court or preparing to testify against the him in relation to their personal knowledge about the details of the scandal and their personal knowledge about President Nixon’s involvement. The characters that will be examined were both senior politicians within the Nixon Administration as well as law enforcement agents and high ranking attorneys. They will be investigated to determine their connection to the Nixon Administration and their role in the Watergate scandal.

During his time being a prosecutor, one of Nixon’s resigned aides, John Dean, testified from June 15 through the 29. Dean informed the jury that Nixon and many people at the White House knew about the Watergate break-in and cover-up before that burglary happened (Watergate Fast Facts). He advised the jury that when Nixon heard about the burglary and arrest at the DNC headquarters, he and his aides - one of those being John Dean - made a plan to try and cover it up. His plan was designed to stop the government from linking the break-in to the White House. Therefore, two days after the burglary, Nixon ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to terminate the FBI from investigating any further. However, the information had already been collected, leaked and tied back to President Nixon’s aides before the CIA could halt the FBI investigation (Watergate Scandal). Another former aide, Alexander Butterfield, who testified on July 16, notified the jury about Nixon’s secret tapes. Butterfield revealed that Nixon was secretly recording all his conversations at the White House since 1971(Watergate Fast Facts). The jury was shocked that this new evidence had just come up now. If the jury could posses these tapes, they could tell if Nixon was really involved in the Watergate

President Nixon not only abused his powers as president of the United States, but he also completely disregarded the Constitution and the oath of office of the President of the United States. President Nixon is most famous for his involvement in the infamous Watergate scandal, which took place on June 17th, 1972 (Timeline). Nixon hired six burglars to break into the Democratic National Committee’s offices, which were located inside the Watergate office, complex in Washington. The burglars’ mission was to plant audio transmitters, but they were arrested after being discovered by an on duty watchman (Bodenner). President Nixon vehemently denied any involvement by White House staff or Nixon administration members. Nixon also implemented

For many to forgive is one of the toughest thing to do, while it comes easy for others; a decision to pardon someone is beneficial whether individual or to a country as we see in President Gerald Ford decision to pardon Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal. President Nixon the only United States President to ever resign as a consequence of the Watergate scandal. (Whitehouse.gov) One has to understand that forgiveness is the beginning of a healing process and at the time the United States of America as a nation need to heal as the country recovery from the ordeal of the Vietnam War. In my opinion, President Nixon only logical choice was to resign because he would almost definitely would be charged with criminal charges and would have been impeached. On the other hand I believe that President Ford humbly put himself aside and put his country interest first, in life not many are willing to do that.

Patriotism means to stand by the country not by the president. Though everyone agrees that Colson will be sent to jail if he caught they disagree whether he should have worked for Nixon in the Watergate scandal. Colson was offered a position to help Nixon with special interactions such as getting rid of the men who released “Pentagon Papers” and help Nixon win the 2nd election. Charles Colson should not have agreed to work for Nixon with the Watergate scandal for three reasons. He has a family he would lose, there would be punishment, and he would jeopardize national security.

In July of 1974 the Supreme Court demanded that Nixon turn over the tapes which revealed his involvement in the coverup and led to his resignation.1 This scandal committed by the leader of the great American nation caused changes politically and to the public’s trust of their government.

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.