The FBI connected cash found on the burglars to a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the official organization of Nixon's campaign.[4][5] In July 1973, as evidence mounted against the President's staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations.[6][7] After a protracted series of bitter court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes to government investigators, and he eventually complied. These audio recordings implicated the president, revealing he had attempted to cover up the questionable goings-on that took place after the break-in.[5][8] Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974.[9][10] On September 8, 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned
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
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.
Republican President Richard M. Nixon was up for reelection, in a time that the country was extremely divided when the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. The Watergate scandal uncovered an intricate trail of wrongdoing on June 17, 1972, when members of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President were arrested for burglary. The burglars had broken into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters and stole copies of top-secret documents and wiretapped the telephones. The burglars at first were not clear that they were associated with the president, but it became disbelieving when detectives found copies of the reelection committee’s White House phone number in the burglars’ possessions. Richard M. Nixon later gave a
Nixon's extreme secrecy led him to be withdrawn from the rest of the country. He
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
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
Beginning the night of June 16, 1972, and continuing on into the wee hours of the morning on June 17, Nixon and his seven associate-burglars—G. Gordan Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, James McCord, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis—attempted to break in to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, with the intent to use phone bugs and photos to provide Nixon, a Republican, with information that would hopefully secure him the victory in the 1972 presidential election (Anderson 8-10). To begin, the burglars placed tape on stairway doors, preventing them from locking, allowing them to make an easy exit, the first of many mistakes (Cruden 16). Armed with walkie-talkies and
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 happened almost 43 years ago; the event will never be forgotten. The Watergate scandal defined, perhaps for the first time, that a president of the United States could be portrayed as untrustworthy. Richard Nixon ran for a second term in 1972, in which he won by a huge margin. The Democratic Party had their headquarters at the high-end Watergate hotel. The break-in happened on June 17th, 1972, in which a security guard noticed the tape on the door lock. Five men were found in the office and were arrested for burglary. It seemed like a mission to spy on the Democratic Party since some of Nixon’s assistants were involved in the case.
The history of the United States is one of mixed virtue. We have a republican form of government in which congressmen are directly elected by the people and the president is indirectly elected by the people. We also have a higher standard of living than many nations. But this does not make our history a cleanly pristine one considering the institution of slavery, a lack of civil rights for minorities, and the denial of women’s suffrage, that were once a part of this nation’s existence.
The Watergate scandal shocked millions of Americans when it was revealed in 1972. The president at that time was Richard M. Nixon, who himself was involved within the scandal. The Watergate scandal took place in 1972 when a group of five men broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex in Washington. The five men involved in this burglary were eventually identified as Virgilio Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez, Bernard Barker and James W. McCord Jr. were arrested and plead guilty to charges. Later, it was revealed the burglary was arranged plot to plant bugs in the offices of the
On June 17th, 1972 a political scandal occurred in the United states. Four cuban americans and one american broke into the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate office complex. Five burglars were caught and it was discovered that the President Nixon administration was involved. There were also other things discovered such as the bugging of political offices and FBI investigations on Mr. Nixon's Political Opponents. The scandal was then investigated by the U.S. congress, and they soon found out that Nixon recorded all of his meetings and asked for the tapes. After some refusal Nixon finally handed the tapes over, but one thing was missing. There was an 18.5 minute gap in one tape.
It was a result of a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) located at Watergate complex. It was said that members of Nixon’s campaign team were the ones who broke in to destroy important documents and install wiretaps on the telephones. When the burglars were arrested, President Nixon was allegedly involved in the cover-up by blocking the FBI efforts to investigate the source of funding for the burglary. However, a check found in the bank accounts of one of the burglars made the investigation spiral in a negative way for Nixon. A grand jury indicted the burglars and named President Nixon an unindicted co-conspirator on the basis that presidents can only be indicted after leaving
How much do we really know about how our federal government works? Most of us have our own ideas and perspective look of how our government works. In today’s society there are a lot of questions being asked about our government’s agenda and whether or not they have our best interest at heart. The political aspect of the U.S. government is difficult to understand, so most of the American people don’t really understand it.