Essay Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal

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

The two reporters named Carl Bernstien and Bob Woodward realized that this break in was some how involved in the up coming election but they did not know how. Their first move was to follow where the money for the break in came from. The Money led them to find a safe full of money that was to go to the Re-election of President Nixon. This Money came From the Committee to re-elect the president or CRP for sort.

The reporters also revealed that John Mitchell had controlled a secret fund for financing political spying and dirty tricks to weed out the presidential candidates of the Democratic Party. Due to those dirty tactics, Nixon was reelected on November 7, 1972. “However, on February 7, 1973, with questions still remaining regarding the president’s knowledge of the Watergate affair, the Senate voted to establish the Senate Watergate Committee, which was charged with investigating the extent of campaign abuses in the 1972 presidential election”(McConnell 12). McCord, under oath before the Senate Watergate Committee, testified that Jeb Magruder, former Nixon aide, and White House counsel John Dean both were aware of the plans to bug the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. He also stated Mitchell had approved the plans. FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after he confessed, on April 20, 1973, that he destroyed Watergate evidence because he was pressured by Nixon’s aides. On June 25, Presidential counsel John Dean testified that Nixon had been paying the five burglars and two operatives whom were involved in planning the Watergate break-in hush money. A Nixon aide testified on July 13 that Nixon taped all of his conversations and telephone calls on hidden microphones installed in the Oval Office. The Committee subpoenaed the tapes. Nixon refused to hand them over. The tapes became the primary focus of a year-long

Well how did this get to the courts? With more than 5 people involved in the scandal, they broke into the Democratic National Committee in Washington D.C. and wiretapped the phones in the building and also stole important documents. The burglars discovered that the microphones weren’t working so they broke in again to try to get them and put new ones in, but got caught by a security guard who noticed that the door locks were taped over. They didn’t know for sure if President Nixon was involved until they found copies of the White House’s reelection

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

In June of 1972 a break-in at the Watergate Hotel would begin the unraveling of Nixon’s presidency. Burglars were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters and attempting to wiretap the phones. While it has never been proven that Nixon had prior knowledge of the break-in, his efforts at trying to cover it up, attempted bribes and efforts to impede an FBI investigation sealed his fate with the Judiciary Committee and, eventually, in the court of public opinion. Prior to the Watergate scandal, most of the country’s political dissention was directed at the Vietnam War. And even if people were divided on the issue of the war, at least they felt they weren’t being lied to about it. That all changed with Watergate. At the beginning of the Watergate trials, official polls would show that many people viewed the breach of trust as “business as usual” in Washington. But, by the end of the summer of 1973, the numbers would swing away from Nixon’s favor and the American people would be left with a fractured confidence in him and his cohorts. The hearings lasted from

The FBI and the American public need to know just what had happened and that this may not have been just a typical break-in but a cover up to protect someone. And if so was it an abuse of presidential power and a deliberate obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, at the same time seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the Watergate building break-in. At the instruction of the President’s aides, five pleaded guilty to the charges and avoided trial; while White House counsel John Dean, testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes. The other two were convicted in January 1973 for the break-in. By this time, a number of people including Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and trial judge John J. Sirica and members of a Senate investigating committee had begun to think that something bigger was going to break soon.

There are many facts about the Watergate affair that readers should know. The first of many is that in 1972 there were five burglars who were found in the Democratic National Committee headquarters. These burglars were later indicted on wiretapping and sentenced to prison. Following the break-in two of Nixon's closest advisors resigned because of their ties to the

Watergate scandal remains one of the historical revelation of excessive use of power during the reign of President Richard Nixon. After the break-in at the Democratic National Committee at the Westgate offices, there was a remarkable series of rotten underbelly in the Nixon’s administration. Specifically, this scandal led to the discovery of the multiple abuses of the power under the articles of impeachment. Because of the unlawful approach used by this administration to thwart those who were critical of Nixon’s administration, human rights groups and political activities embarked on demanding for explanation and resignation of the president. Rightful, there was reasonable grounds to demand the president’s resignation because it became overt that he had used FBI, CIA and Internal Revenue Service to silence critics. Subsequently, this

November 5th, 1968: Richard Nixon was elected the 37th president. In 1971, in the response to the leak of the “Pentagon papers” which were about the Vietnam War that went into detail that nobody in the public knew. President Nixon authorized a creation of special investigators known as the “White House Plumbers”. The investigators included, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, Frank Sturgis, and James W. McCord Jr. Nixon told John Ehrlichman who was the White House chief domestic adviser “If we can 't get anyone in this damn government to do something about leaks, then by God we 'll do it ourselves. I want you to set up a little group right here in the White House. Have them get off their tails and find out what’s going on and figure out how to stop it.” .” On May 28th, 1972,

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

In 1972, there was a rise of the “Watergate Scandal” which over the next couple years would prove to tarnish the image of the President of the United States. The office of the president was behind the scandal in the fact that it was responsible for the break in at the office of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. President Nixon’s reelection committee and members of the White House had made efforts to destroy the Democrat’s chances for running for office. During the investigation, it was brought to light that President Nixon knew of the break in at the Democratic National Committee office and tried to cover it up. After much pressing by Congress, the judicial branch ordered President Nixon to give up all the evidence. Once the

The Watergate Scandal caused many changes. One major change that scholars believe is the increase of Congress attention on the activities of the President and an increase in its efforts in combating policy suggested by the President that they do not agree with.2 Another change caused by the Scandal is the decrease of trust in politicians by Americans at large. The reason for this is obvious, imagine you are voting and supporting a politician to get something done that will aid you in supporting yourself and your family. Now imagine that same politician that had such a vibrant personality who seemed to be helping, was found to have been taking all the money you and others had donated to aid his campaign, in order to put himself in a better socio economic situation. This is how the American public felt in response to this betrayal by their president. Polls taken in 1958 and 1964 showed the almost all of American citizens trusted their voted officials to perform their job in a way that was benefiting of someone representing in a democratic system however after the Vietnam war and the government’s inability to maintain control a seen with race riots and many protests, a poll taken in 1966

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

On June 17 1972 five men were arrested at the watergate complex by a security guard who noticed a door was taped. the five men that were arrested were james w. mccord jr, frank sturgis, bernard barker, virgilio gonzalez, eugenio martinez. mccord was a former cia agent the other were veterans of anti-castro operations and had been recruited ex cia agent and team member E. Howard hunt. hunt,who was watching the break in from nearby was also soon arrested, along with g.gordon liddy. keys to their hotel room in the burglars possessions quickly led to the evidence that tied them to hunt and liddy and beyond. hundred dollar