The Government Lie: A Case Study

In June 1972, Nixon campaign people broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate Central Station, stole duplicates of top-mystery archives and destroyed the workplace’s telephones. But after that they were captured inside the workplace of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), situated in the Watergate working in Washington D.C. Nixon tried to cover the activities of his people before the operation was done by the Watergate secret activities. He tried to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) from investing the activities, vanishing the proofs and changing and terminating the staff members. This act was an abuse of presidential power which was later found, and the president had to surrender.

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

On August 9, 1974, President Richard Nixon was the first, and so far the only president of the United States to resign from office. Out of what looked like to be an inevitable impeachment, Nixon became a part of one of the biggest scandals ever known. President Nixon believed he was taking the necessary measures to reunite a divided country that was undergoing the Vietnam War. About 2 years prior, a group of burglars were arrested at the Watergate complex after breaking into the office of the Democratic National Committee. A security guard noticed there was taping over some of the locks of the building and responded by immediately calling the police. The thefts were involved in the reelection campaign for Richard Nixon’s second term by stealing

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

James McCord later admitted in his testimony that they had not acted alone in the Watergate burglary and he implicated the white house. Then it was revealed by a former White House Aide, Alexander Butterfield, that there were listening devices in the white house that recorded conversations the president had on tapes. The tapes could be used to prove or disprove James McCord’s testimony so the Watergate committee subpoenas the tapes. Nixon refused to comply and handover the tapes. The prosecutor on the case, Archibald Cox requested and demanded the tapes, but Nixon refuses to comply. Nixon then orders the attorney general, Elliot Richardson, to fire Cox and he refuses. Nixon fires Cox and Richardson resigns because of the president’s actions. Then Nixon fires Richardson’s Deputy William Ruckelshaus for refusing to fire Cox when he ordered him to. As ordered by the President, a half hour after FBI sealed off the offices of the individuals that were fired. Nixon’s actions stirred up controversy and caused the public to want to impeach him. At his impeachment trial Nixon awas once again subpoenaed to

His resignation occurred August 9, 1974 about a year after his re-election. Resources say that he resigned so he would not face definite impeachment and removal from the oval office. This was due to one of the largest scandals in American history called, Watergate. On the morning of June 16, 1972, several gentlemen were apprehended by local authority for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, also known as DNC – which was located in the Watergate building. A guard on duty discovered several doors that looked to have tape over the locks and contacted the police. When arrested, the gentlemen were caught with money in their possession which was directly related to Nixon’s re-election.

The sex scandal involving president Clinton showed that a president would go to great lengths to cover up a scandal, even if it meant lying under oath. For a short time period the office of the presidency became a joke among many Americans, this event

Nixon later released transcripts of his conversation. Although there were parts removed and it was clearly edited by someone. Released tapes revealed that Nixon knew of the cover-ups from the very beginning. These events brought to light the corruption of the most respected position in the country. President Nixon was recommended to be impeached on many illegal activities. Those activities included obstruction of justice, abuse of powers, and more. Nixon was the first U.S President to resign.

President Richard Nixon did several things while in office that eventually led to his resignation in 1974. The most significant is that he plotted to wiretap and steal from different offices and other spaces to gather information to help lead to re-election and he also tried to cover up and lie about the scandal when it all unfolded. 1) “Nixon created a special investigative unit known as the “plumbers” to gather information…” (Foner, GML, 1031). These “plumbers” were all former employees for the CIA, which later led the FBI to believe that the break-ins where operated by the CIA. When the scandal broke, the uncovered White House tapes also led to his resignation. 2) He was heard saying on the Smoking Gun tape, “Yeah, when I saw that news summary

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,

Richard Nixon, the 37th president, had been discovered to have a hand in the burglary at the Watergate Complex in which the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters was set up. After the break-in the Republican president Nixon denied any involvement in this robbery and initially refused to provide the tapes recorded in the President’s office

United States President Richard Nixon was involved in a major political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from a break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The scandal was known as the Watergate scandal. The scandal was called Watergate because it occurred at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon and his administration attempted to cover up the scandal, but the scandal was discovered and investigated by Congress. The scandal comprised of illegal activities such as bugging of offices, ordering investigations of activist groups and political figures with the use of the FBI, CIA, and IRS. There were several abuses of power during the scandal and the results of the scandal and investigation were indictment of sixty nine individuals and Richard Nixon resigning his office as President of the United States.

Archibald Cox was appointed special prosecutor for Watergate in May of 1973 (Feinstein 39). Nixon had previously taped White House conversations and had Cox fired when asked to turn in these tapes (Feinstein 39). Clearly, Nixon had something to hide. According to “Watergate,” from July 10 through July 12 of 1973, former Attorney General Mitchell testified in court. He confessed that he helped cover up the scandal to save Nixon 's reelection. Mitchell also revealed the "plumbers,” which were a secret White House group created to stop information leakage involving President Nixon (Watergate (1973)). The information that surfaced during the trial always led back to Nixon.

The infamous Watergate Scandal was the first of its kind; occurring in June of the year 1972, several robbers were taken into police custody inside the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), established in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. This break in was out of the ordinary, however, because the burglars were tied to former U.S. President, Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, and they had been caught during their attempt to wiretap phone lines and steal classified documents (History.com Staff). Even though it is unknown whether or not Nixon was aware of the Watergate infiltration before it occurred, many people believe he was involved due to steps he took to cover it up afterward. Nixon raised "hush money" for the robbers, in an effort to end the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from investigating the crime that had occurred (History.com Staff.). Nixon is also accused of destroying evidence and firing staff members that he thought to be uncooperative. In August 1974, after his role in Watergate Scandal had been brought to the public's attention, President Nixon resigned from office. His successor, former U.S. President Gerald Ford, immediately pardoned Nixon for the crimes he "committed or may have committed" while he was still in office (History.com Staff.). "Although Nixon was never

This scandal was another event that showed again that Americans were being lied to by their president. It is not clear whether Nixon himself knew about or planned the actual break-in at the Watergate Hotel. What is clear is that Nixon tried his hardest to rid himself of any connection to the scandal and its cover up. Nixon pretended he did not know about the involvement of those who were part of the scandal, lying to the nation about his level of knowledge, and attempted to cover up concrete proof that he did know by refusing to hand over recordings of conversations in the Oval Office to investigators and erasing eighteen crucial minutes of a tape, which obstructed justice. The president of the United States was involved in criminal activity and lied so much about everything relating to it that when found out he had to resign his presidency to avoid impeachment.