The Watergate Scandal

For almost 200 years the American public viewed their government and its chief executive with virtual reverence. Presidents like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were the embodiment of every principle and value set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The events that occurred in Vietnam coupled with the Watergate scandal shocked the nation and irreparably damaged the publics’ view of politics and government activities. The release of the Pentagon papers

Moreover, this paper hopes to justify that the Watergate break in was directly caused by the pressure on Nixon from his advisers in relation to the Pentagon papers and the papers' appearance to the citizens. In addition, this essay hopes to prove that Nixon unknowingly sabotaged his own presidency in response to New York Times's publication and court case, Daniel Ellsberg's trial, and Watergate. Also, this Extended Essay hopes to demonstrate how the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap between the citizens and the presidency. Furthermore, the credibility gap is a different perception of events between the government and its citizens. Thus meaning that when any national crisis arose it could significantly affect a president's approval ratings and destroy any relationship forming with in the public. Finally, the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap in the later years of Nixon's presidency specifically with the Watergate break in and his claims of innocence. This research question is worthy of investigation because the effects of the Pentagon Papers are still felt in the United States with the recent events of Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, and the revelation of the NSA spying on American citizens. That is concurrent to the feelings of the citizens in the 1970s with the government lying to its own

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.

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.

President Nixon’s impeachment and subsequent resignation due to his involvement into the activities of a group of “characters” known as the plumbers who broke into the Democratic National Headquarters offices left most Americans with a sense that all government was corrupt. Watergate had a massive influence on the Presidency and American politics as a whole. Ford decided to run for President in 1976 only after Nixon’s resignation because once he found himself in the White House by chance, he wanted to be elected in his own right.

On November 5, 1968 Richard M. Nixon was elected the 37th president of the United States. While in office Nixon dealt with an unstable economy and oversaw reforms in welfare, civil rights and more. In foreign affairs Nixon helped end the Vietnam War, reestablish contact with china and improve relations with the Soviet Union. In 1972 Nixon was reelected in a landslide victory. However, His undoing was already in the works. A few months prior to Nixon’s reelection a group of men linked to the Nixon administration were arrested in the Democratic party headquarters in Washington’s Watergate complex and what followed was one of the biggest scandals in presidential history. The Watergate scandal was revealed as a cover-up by the Nixon

After the events that took place and Nixon’s resignation, a massive trend of distrust in the government began. Even today a wide majority of people still do not trust the American government, this is one of the greatest effects the scandal had on the United States. One law that was created due to impact of Watergate was the Sunshine Act, the Sunshine Act is a law that requires government agencies to be open and public to Americans. Another law that was passed was the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, what this law stated was that public officials had to make financial disclosures and former employment public, and led to the creation of Office of Government Ethics “an executive agency responsible for issuing rules and regulations about ethical conduct and financial disclosure, providing training in ethics, monitoring the ethics of practices in departments and agencies, and giving guidance on matters of ethics.” (USLegal). At the end of the whole scandal many government officials had been jailed, but there were three major figures involved in the scandal known as the “Big Three”. John N. Mitchell, John D. Ehrlichman, and H.R. Haldeman, convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice and bribing the burglars to keep quiet were sentenced to two and a half years in prison for their involvement in the scandal. Finally the last change that came of watergate was President Gerald Ford becoming president

As the nation prepares for the largest defamation in American history, one man is brought to the forefront of his convictions. He has been the nation’s leader for two terms, spanning five and a half years; unfortunately one decision causes him to lose the most important seat in the world. He is referred to as ‘The President of the United States’ but to the people of the free world, he was known as President Richard M. Nixon, the only president to ever step down from presidency.

The President of the United States is one of the most coveted, but difficult positions to obtain in the world. Every four years a new leader is elected to uphold the supreme laws of the land that make up our constitution. The president is sworn into office on their inaugural day in January where they are sworn to faithfully execute and support all laws in the constitution, delegate international matters, and be an advocate for the people. As the new leader of the United States of America and, the free world as a whole, the President of the United States has many roles and functions, including: Commander-in-Chief, Chief Diplomat, Chief Legislator, Chief Magistrate, Chief Executive, Party Leader, Chief of State, Foreign Policy Director, and Popular Leader.

When placed in the overall context of President Nixon’s administration, the Watergate Scandal is perhaps less surprising due to the attitudes and actions that were present throughout his time as president. Throughout his presidency, Nixon the press as an enemy of his administration and he sought to keep many of his actions a secret from the American people. He strongly detested leaks from his administration as he felt that an exposure of his actions to the general public would hurt him. In order to preserve the secrecy of his administration, Nixon greatly elevated surveillance and other information gathering programs within his administration, often ignoring the legal boundaries that they may have been crossing. Nixon’s obsession with the press led him to extensively use the agencies at his control (i.e. the CIA, FBI, IRS, NSA, and the DIA), to monitor journalists and other people that he thought could harm his administration. Although previous presidents had used surveillance and information gathering programs, he greatly exceeded his predecessors in both the scope and volume of the programs he used. Nixon eventually became dissatisfied with the intelligence agencies (the CIA and FBI) as he viewed their unwillingness to break the law at his orders and to do so quickly as an issue that prevented him from effectively leading his presidency. Because of Helms’s and Hoover’s refusal to fully cooperate, Nixon looked to people such as his aide ,John Ehrlichman, and people

The final straw that caused the full downfall of the Nixon administration, and with it the hope in the U.S. government, was the “Watergate scandal”. This showed deceit of illegal activity. Where a president went to the maximum extent to cover up and hide his wrongdoings. Many in his administration were tried and arrested. This showed a face of American government never seen before. Nixon resigned after that. In his speech of farewell he attempts to restore some of America's hope; he states when speaking about the white house, “this is the best house”, “this house has a great heart”(President Nixon’s farewell, Reader pg. 240). The discontent, fear, anger and disillusion that the American people had experienced for their government culminated

Patriotism means to stand by the country not by the president. Though everyone agrees that Colson will be sent to jail if he caught they disagree whether he should have worked for Nixon in the Watergate scandal. Colson was offered a position to help Nixon with special interactions such as getting rid of the men who released “Pentagon Papers” and help Nixon win the 2nd election. Charles Colson should not have agreed to work for Nixon with the Watergate scandal for three reasons. He has a family he would lose, there would be punishment, and he would jeopardize national security.

Everyday citizens often live unaware of their government’s inner workings. The knowing of political espionage is often too heavy of a subject to be inducted in conversation. True, prima facie, modest twists and turns of information may not be considered substantial, but this inconsideration leaves much to be uncontrolled. It is easy for political leaders to become power crazed, to not realize the massive implications that come of their actions. Only after all is said and done do the people actually realize their government is an opaque mask of deception. The Watergate Scandal substantially impacted Americans’ trust in their government.