Hand Out Sheet with lyrics, song title, name of artist, and any other information
Play Song
Introduction:
Class, interpret what the historical event is in the song.
(Class Answers)
This song was released in 1974 as part of the album Winter America. Gil Scott-Heron, the writer, is from Chicago, Illinois and Brian Jackson, the one who features on the song, is from Brooklyn New York.
The title of the song, “Watergate Blues,” can help you infer that the song will discuss the Watergate Scandal. Watergate is the notorious scandal caused by the United States 37th president, Richard Milhous Nixon. The Watergate scandal occurred in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C.
The highlighted lyrics on page 1, lines 12-13 which read “Lemme see if I can dial this number…. Click! Whirr ... Click!” have to do with the burglars in the watergate break in. The criminals in the attempted robbery were affiliated with a group known as Committee for Re-election of the President, that president being Mr. Richard Nixon. They had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. For those of you who do not know, wiretapping is the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party who tapped the phone in the first place. The lyric can be seen as a joke portraying what the burglars were trying to do, since they were wiretapping phones. The clicking
The Watergate Scandal Essay written by Unknown The Watergate Scandal was a series of crimes committed by the President and his staff, who were found to spied on and harassed political opponents, accepted illegal campaign contributions, and covered up their own misdeeds. On June 17, 1972, The Washington Post published a small story. In this story the reporters stated that five men had been arrested breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The headquarters was located in a Washington, D.C., building complex called Watergate. These burglars were carrying enough equipment to wiretap telephones and take pictures of papers. The Washington Post had two reporters who researched deep into the story. There names were Carl
Watergate is the popular name for the political scandal and constitutional crisis that began with the arrest of five burglars who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office in Washington D.C. on the night of June 17, 1972. It ended with the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon. The burglars and two co-potters-G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt were indicated on charges of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping. Four monthes later, they were convicted and sentenced to prison terms by District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who was convicted that pertinent details had not been unveiled during the trial and proffered leniency in exchange for further information. As it
The Watergate Scandal stands as one of the most heinous out brakes in United States History. As described in this article “The scandal had revealed to voters not only the abuse of power of the Nixon administration, but a political culture of corruption , viciousness and double-dealing that shocked the public” (Government). Not only did this scandal impact the trust of many Americans but it inspired a renowned artisan, Stevie Wonder! Due to Richard Nixon’s scandalous actions, Stevie came up with an inspired song called “You Haven’t Done Nothin’.”This song speaks strongly about Richard Nixon in a harmonious tune that can catch any ones attention. This event in history played a magnificent role in politics and in the trust we have for our executive power.
In the 1970’s There was a series of events that shook the political structure beyond repair. The watergate scandal is a series of illegal actions on the political front that destroyed President Richard Nixon 's presidential Occupation. The main topics that will be covered in this essay are that of the burglary, about President Richard Nixon’s committee to re-elect the President (CREEP), and The evidence that contributed to the demise of President Richard Nixon.
Richard Milhous Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States of America from 1969 until 1974. Nixon completed his first term as President in 1973 and was re-elected to the position for the next four years. However, Nixon would have his time in the White House cut short by the series of events that occurred in the twenty-six months that followed the Watergate burglary. On June 17, 1972 five men, one White House employee and four Cubans, broke into the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC in an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office. The break in and the events that took place afterwards led to the resignation of Richard Milhous Nixon on August 8, 1974.
Watergate was a scandal that involved a break-in into the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the Nixon administration. Watergate was one of the most famous political scandals in American history. Decades after Watergate historians and others continue to argue about its causes and significance (Brinkley, 2007). It marked a period that both weakened our relationships with other countries as well as weakened the public’s belief in the President.
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward became famously known as the reporters that broke the Watergate Scandal and changed American politics forever. When five people were arrested in 1972 for breaking into the office of the Democratic National Committee, Bernstein and Woodward investigated. They compiled facts and relied on sources. These findings eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon when the scandal was discovered to be an operation to give Nixon an advantage in the presidential campaign. Although regulations have changed since the 1970’s, Bernstein and Woodward followed the SPJ Code of Ethics. The code declares four principles; seek the truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable and transparent.
On July 12th, 1972, 5 men were arrested at the Watergate Hotel, supposedly trying to bug the Democratic National Committees meetings. It was soon discovered that someone from the White House was a part of this scandal. It was discovered that some of the people trying to bug the meetings were members of President Nixon's re-election party. This gave investigators a reason to suspect Nixon as a part of the scandal and that he has probably done more to make him at the top. Nixon had straight up denied any evidence that was geared toward him being a part of the scandal. An investigation was instituted to try to find evidence of burglary in the White House and at the Hotel. It was discovered that some of the top people in Nixon’s political campaigns
The 1970 's: a decade of corruption, lies, and shadiness. It seemed impossible any good could come out of such a disaster. However, only one thing was certain: United States Government would never be the same. Republican President Richard Nixon ran for reelection in 1972, amidst the Vietnam War and a divided nation (History.com Staff). It was crucial that Nixon and his reelection team put forth an aggressive campaign (History.com Staff). The Watergate Scandal increased public distrust of United States Government, therefore creating new acts to disclose government information and closer scrutiny of government by the media.
In order to accurately depict the Watergate scandal we will need to look into the history if the elements that made this event possible. In November of 1968 President Nixon was elected as president, he server from January 1969 to August 1974. President Nixon was a former Vice President to President Eisenhower from January 1953 to January 1961. In June of 1971 the New York Time began publishing documents that would be known as the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers documented the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. This published the questionable tactics and methods used by the U.S. along with many U.S. secrets to the general public. This was a great blow to the U.S. strategically and was considered to be detrimental to national security, however courts ruled that it would be unconstitutional to stop the publication of the documents. President Nixon needed to find a way to stop such leaks and a special investigative unit was created. This unit was nicknamed the Plumbers after David Young’s (a member of the special investigative unit) grandmother asked what he did in the Whitehouse. Young replied that he was, “…helping the president stop some leaks.” and his grandmother replied, “Oh, you’re a plumber!” The name stuck and henceforth the special investigative unit was known as the Plumbers.
“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
The Watergate Scandal was an event that changed the face of the nation. It was the first time in the History of the United States that a president had been forced to resign from office due to a scandal. It was the story of the decade, and changed the forefront of American politics. Richard Nixon allegedly hired several
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
Richard Milhous Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States of America from 1969 until 1974. Nixon completed his first term as President in 1973 and was re-elected for the position for the next four years. However, Nixon would have his time in the White House cut short by the series of events that occurred in the twenty-six months that followed the Watergate burglary. On June 17, 1972 five men, one White House employee and four Cubans, broke into the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC in an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office. The break in and the events that took place afterwards led to the resignation of Richard Milhous Nixon on August 8, 1974.
First, many American citizens lost faith and confidence in their elected leaders. This was not the first scandal of mistrust but it was the biggest known to date. Watergate also paved the way for new laws to change campaign financing. Another byproduct of Watergate would be the negativity directed to those in the legal profession, as many of Nixon’s aides and Nixon himself were lawyers. Another thing that Watergate help cause was that Congress became far less passive in its tactics regarding cooperation with the Presidency. This also changed the way that the press as whole covered Presidents. There was more skepticism and conspiracy written into articles about the office after Watergate. For example, take the coverage on Bill Clinton’s infidelity, aptly known as “Zippergate” (Zippergate, N.D.), and the sheer volume of reports on the event in the media.