The Stains of Watergate

In the 1970’s, America not only witnessed the worst political scandal of the twentieth century, but also one of the most successful acts of investigative journalism to ever be done in America. The Watergate Scandal included a series of illegal activities initiated by members of President Nixon’s administration, the most significant crime being the break in and wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972. CREEP (Committee to Reelect the President) funded these illegal projects by hiring people like the White House Plumbers to carry on missions to stop the leaking of classified information. The Watergate Scandal’s origins lay in the Fielding and DNC Headquarter’s break in, then the illegal activities were uncovered

Many people, myself included look up to individuals in an authoritative role such as; senators, governors, and presidents. We view them as being honest and sincere. They have to be right? They do want to run the country after all. Often our thoughts are “they would never lie to us or hide things from us”, but unfortunately that’s not always the case. One of the biggest political scandals to hit the United States of America was the Watergate scandal involving our very own President Richard Nixon. This scandal caused a lot of American’s to lose trust and hope in the presidency. The scandal received its name from the Watergate apartment and office complex that was located in Washington D.C., where a burglary took place on June 17, 1972 and five men were arrested. It then came to surface that the men’s intentions were to sabotage the opposite political party, when president Nixon was notified of this he order the Central Intelligence Agency to call the FBI to stop with any further investigation, that national security was at stake. President Nixon knew that it would come back to the White House and didn’t want to risk anything, even though he was never involved with the

Watergate Scandal has been considered as one of the darkest chapters in American history. The event not only refers to unethical use of power by the public representatives but also levied great deal of attention on the mechanism of surveillance over the activities of public servants. Watergate scandal provides ethical directions not only to public servants but also provides ethical guidelines to the lawyers and media representatives as well. This incident reveals how ethical lines were crossed time and again by the politicians, legal attorneys and media for their own purposes. Ignoring the righteousness of the outcomes, events like these cause severe damage to the public's trust vested in these authorities which takes a long time to restore.

1972 – 1974: Watergate Scandal: In June, 1972, Police arrested five men who broke into the the Democratic National Committee Office in the Watergate District of Washington, D.C. When further investigated, two more men were arrested. Following a background check, it was revealed that the men belonged to a committee to re-elect the president. It was also revealed that men were paid by the committee and the committee was controlled by the people who work in the White House. This information was gathered by the Washington Post, which had an FBI informant, nicknamed “Deep Throat.” The investigation revealed that some of Nixon’s closest advisors may be involved in the scandal. Nixon was also thought to be involved as the investigation proceeded. During Senate hearings, Nixon denied an affiliation with the scandal, but it was revealed that Nixon recorded every conversation in this office. After refusing to hand-over the tapes, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to do so. He did turnover the tapes, however there were minutes missing from the recordings. Congress drew up the Articles of Impeachment to impeach Nixon, but he decided to resign before he was

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.

The Watergate Scandal and crisis that rocked the United States began on the early morning of June 17, 1972 with a small-scale burglary and it ended August 9, 1974 with the resignation of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon. At approximately 2:30 in the morning of June 17, 1972, five burglars were discovered inside the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington DC. The burglars, who had been attempting to tap the headquarters’ phone were linked to Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Over the next few months, what had began as a minor break-in quickly escalated into a full-blown political scandal. It was

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.

On June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee located inside the Watergate Hotel in Washington. Frank Wills, a night security guard, discovered that the break-in was occurring. “Several office doorknob cylinders were covered with masking tape to hold the doors open”(McConnell 11). As soon as Wills made this discovery, he telephoned the police. The five burglars, carrying electronic gear and photographic equipment, were arrested on site at 2:30 A.M. They were suspected of illegal wire tapping. This series of arrests sparked the beginning of what came to be known as the Watergate Scandal. The Watergate Scandal caused several events to occur such as a huge investigation, Nixon winning the

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

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

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

Richard M. Nixon was a former vice president who barely won the election in 1968 against Hubert Humphrey for the Republican party. Once in his presidency, President Nixon pleased and displeased citizens in the United States. He was not necessarily the most liked president, but he was not the most disliked either. By 1972, it was time for the

Richard Nixon's presidency is one of the most examined, analyzed and discussed, yet least understood, of all the American administrations in history. While many factors still remain to be discovered, and many mysteries are left to be resolved, we need to do the best that we can to make sense of this secretive president of our past and his era. He is the one American figure about whom very few people don't have strong feelings for. Nixon is loved and hated, honored and mocked . The term 'Watergate', labeled by Congress in 1974, stands for not only the burglary, but also for the numerous instances of officially sanctioned criminal activity and abuses of power as well as the obstruction of justice that preceded the actual break-in.

Once broken, the seal of Watergate could never be replaced. The five men brought arrested for breaking into the Watergate Complex had to be served fair justice. The official hearings began on January 8th, 1973 (Files 1). However, fair trials would not prevail. Edward B. Hunt ordered the payout of twenty thousand dollars to each member of the break-in team, fifty thousand for his lawyer, and seventy thousand dollars for himself (Files 6). The “hush money” proved successful. All four Cuban men pled

The term “Watergate” has become a common household name in correlation with people's thoughts about corruption in government. President Nixon was in office at the time of this scandal and is often thought to be the most famous face in America's conspiracy of wickedness in the government. The Watergate scandal had rocked everything our country thought we knew about the American Presidency because it had forfeited the common vision of the leader of the nation. Watergate had replaced the image of elegance and worldliness of the U.S. President with a scattered vision of corruption and extreme competitive measures that the country had never been a part of. Richard Nixon and his men had taken