June 17, 1972 forever changed both journalism and politics. A simple botched break-in marked the downfall of President Richard Nixon, and the rise to glory of two obscure young Washington Post journalists: Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. While their investigative journalism revealed the truth, their questionable methods and ethics have led to these questions; Do the ends justify the means? Was their behavior ethical and legal? The Watergate Scandal was a major political scandal during the Presidency of Nixon. Nixon, paranoid and afraid of losing his reelection, employed men to do an assortment of illegal activities intended to place the republicans ahead of the democrats in the election. The activities were not detected until a …show more content…
During different incidents spaced throughout the investigation of Watergate , all four were violated by Woodward and Bernstein. The first infringement occurred early during Watergate. Bernstein was investigating Miami ties to the Watergate burglars and agreed to trade information (arrests, mental illnesses, history of homosexuality) on a name, for the Dade County, Fl district attorney's knowledge about the connections (Bernstein & Woodward, 1974). It turns out the man investigated was the DA's opponent in the next election. Bernstein never actually gave the DA the research; the DA told him he did not need the information anymore. His crime? Plotting with a prosecutor to investigate a political target (Cook, 2012). Another ethically objectionable choice was Bernstein illicitly pulling phone and credit card records on Watergate targets (Cook, 2012). He persuaded a source at a telephone company to give him Bernard Baker's (the burglar) records. While not illegal at the time, it is presently a federal offense punishable by up to ten years in prison. Currently, Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper holdings are being destroyed over similar behavior, and the News of the Earth is gone for illegally accessing voicemails; Bernstein's infringements were vastly more obtrusive (Cook, 2012). Violating privacy of personal financial records is completely unethical and a complete infraction of minimizing harm (Society of Professional
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
Among them would be Bob Bernstein, and Carl Woodward, reporters for The Washington Post. They used a background source “Deep Throat” to uncover the relationship between the scandal and the White House. “Deep Throat” later announced was W.Mark Felt. The Senate makes a special committee that nominated Archibald Cox to head the special investigations. James D St. Clair was appointed to be Nixon’s defense counsel. Startling information shocked the nation. There was a check of $25000 in one of the burglar’s bank account. Archibald then learns that Nixon taped all his conversations in the white house. Archibald demanded tapes but Nixon denied. Archibald was getting close to uncovering the case so Nixon demanded him to be fired. He demanded Attorney General Richardson but he protested and resigned. Next in line was Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus who also protested and resigned. Finally, Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out orders. John Sirica, a judge and he also realized not all the pieces of the puzzle were put together.
A defining moment in American history, the Watergate scandal, dramatically transformed the way Americans view politicians and government. In the eyes of most Americans, trust, honor and integrity, vanished from the political landscape.
Woodward has had many achievements in his career including this one which basically has started it all. On June 17, 1972, the Post’s editor called Woodward and told him that five men with electronic surveillance equipment and cameras were arrested breaking into the headquarters of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. Woodward along with a younger and more experienced reporter Carl Bernstein were assigned to cover this breaking news of the
On June 17, 1972, Woodward was asked to cover a story for his job at the "Washington Post." There had been a burglary at the Watergate hotel. When he arrived at the newsroom, he discovered that this wasn 't an ordinary burglary, and he wasn 't the only one reporting on it. The burglars had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic national committee in the Watergate office-apartment-hotel-complex. Bernstein had the same assignment. The two men had no appreciation for each other.
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
Richard Nixon's first term as president will always be connected with the Watergate scandal, the biggest political scandal in United States history. Various illegal activities were conducted including burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, sabotage, and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents to help Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. There were about 40 people charged with crimes related to the scandal. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty. Watergate involved more high-level government officials than any previous scandal. It has been etched in the minds of millions and is still being recalled today when faced with the present day scandal of
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
“I am not a crook” is one of the most famous quotes from President Richard M. Nixon. Citizens of the United States of America would hope that their president would never have to defend himself as a crook, but that is just what happened in the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. President Nixon had to defend himself for not being a crook because of the events famously known as the ‘Watergate Scandal’. In 1972, members of Nixon’s re-election committee broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate offices and stole top-secret documents as well as trying to get into their phone system. They eventually were caught and so was President Nixon which led him to his resignation. Even though it was an unfortunate event, there have been positive outcomes because of it. The lasting implications of the Watergate Scandal have been generally positive on society because of the passing of Ethics in Government Act, amending the Freedom of Information Act and 42 states passing election reform laws.
The Presidential election of 1972 gave birth to an event known as watergate. Watergate is a hotel the Democrats established as their headquarters for the election. Five guys were busted breaking into the democratic headquarters. An investigation was brought forth and it comes out that one burglar was a former FBI agent. Another burglar had a black book and it was ceased. They found the initials WH with a number to the White House. It was speculated that the president sent these mean to steal information to help with his campaign. Congress got involved and opened their own investigation. In the investigation it became known that Nixon had a separate recording device that records people unknowingly. President Nixon declared executive privilege
The Watergate Affair, is the worst political scandal in U.S. history. It led to the resignation of the president, Richard M. Nixon, after he became implicated in an attempt to cover up the scandal. "The Watergate Affair" refers to the break-in and electronic bugging
Watergate was the name of the biggest political scandal in United States history. It included various illegal activities constructed to help President Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. Watergate included burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, and sabotage and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents. It also involved a cover-up of conduct. There were about 40 people charged with crimes in the scandal and related crimes. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty.
President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal is one of the most controversial court cases to this date. He was the first president to ever resign from office and caused the American trust in the government to suffer. Did Richard Nixon really have something to hide? Did the Supreme court make the right decision? Was the case handled in the most sufficient way? Whether one agrees with the outcome of Nixon vs. United States or not, this case left a mark on American history and shouldn't lessen trust in the American Government. The case was treated just as equally as any other case and went through the long Judicial practice as stated in the Constitution.
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.
Namely, the time and energy necessary to uncover the minutiae that Woodward and Bernstein found would not be available to reporters of today. The seemingly endless amount of stories the media covers today restrict the amount of time a news outlet has to devote to one story. Woodward and Bernstein spent a better part of eighteen months investigating Watergate. I imagine you would be hard-pressed to find an editor willing to let a journalist devote that much time to one story today. The money needed to fuel such an investigation would be just as hard to come up with as well. Many newspapers are bleeding from profit losses and such a lengthy investigation would no doubt cost an extreme amount of money.