Watergate : A Decade Of Corruption, Lies, And Shadiness

At first light of June 17, 1972, a considerable amount of burglars were aprehended inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. This was no everyday robbery, the crooks were linked to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. Upon getting caught in the Watergate building, the robbers were in there attempting to wiretap phones and abduct secret records. Nixon poorly persued to cover up any relation to his administration and to avoid indictment he relinquished himself from office on August 8, 1974. Although Nixon was never araigned for his potential role in this scandal, it forever altered American politics, driving many Americans to have inquiry about the leadership of their

As time progressed and the investigation began to uncover the truth about what transpired at the Watergate apartment complex several things became evident: most of the burglars were ex-CIA and ex-FBI personnel, the burglars were paid with money directly from the re-election campaign and President Nixon not only knew about and sanctioned the break-in but deliberately attempted to cover it up. When called before Congress to testify about his knowledge, White House staffer John Dean testified that Nixon and his aides attempted to “stonewall” the investigation. As Congress continued its inquiry, it became clear

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 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

The reporters also revealed that John Mitchell had controlled a secret fund for financing political spying and dirty tricks to weed out the presidential candidates of the Democratic Party. Due to those dirty tactics, Nixon was reelected on November 7, 1972. “However, on February 7, 1973, with questions still remaining regarding the president’s knowledge of the Watergate affair, the Senate voted to establish the Senate Watergate Committee, which was charged with investigating the extent of campaign abuses in the 1972 presidential election”(McConnell 12). McCord, under oath before the Senate Watergate Committee, testified that Jeb Magruder, former Nixon aide, and White House counsel John Dean both were aware of the plans to bug the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. He also stated Mitchell had approved the plans. FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after he confessed, on April 20, 1973, that he destroyed Watergate evidence because he was pressured by Nixon’s aides. On June 25, Presidential counsel John Dean testified that Nixon had been paying the five burglars and two operatives whom were involved in planning the Watergate break-in hush money. A Nixon aide testified on July 13 that Nixon taped all of his conversations and telephone calls on hidden microphones installed in the Oval Office. The Committee subpoenaed the tapes. Nixon refused to hand them over. The tapes became the primary focus of a year-long

Amid increasing disclosures of White House involved in the Watergate break-in and its aftermath, Nixon announced the resignations of John Ehrlichman and H. R. Haldman, two of his closest advisers, in the dismissal of his counsel John W. Dean III. Growing suspicion of presidential involvement in the scandel resulted in an intensification of the investigation. Leaders in this inquiry included Judge Sirica, reporters for the Washington Post, the Ervin committee, and Archibald Cox, who was sworn in as special prosecutor in May 1973. Dean told the Ervin committee in June that Nixon had cover-up. A month later, former White House staff Alexander Butterfield revealed that Nixon had secretly tape-recorded conversations in his offices. Both Cox and the Ervin committee began efforts to obtain selected tapes. Nixon, citing EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, refused to relinquish them and

With rumors of impeachment beginning to circulate, Nixon finally agreed to turn over the subpoenaed White House tapes. The committee listened to the recordings and discovered an 18-minute gap on one of the tapes. It was surmised that someone had erased part of the tape, but investigators were unable to determine exactly what had happened. In March 1974, seven former presidential aides were indicted on charges of conspiracy to hinder the Watergate investigation, and Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. On July 24, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to order Nixon to release the rest of the White House recordings, considering them evidence in the case that came to be known as the United States v. Nixon.

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

On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned from his post as President of the United States of America in ignominy. His resignation was prompted by mounting accusations of his involvement in the Watergate scandal, perhaps the biggest scandal the country has ever seen.  The Watergate scandal was a series of events started by the break-in to the Democratic Party headquarters by members connected to the Nixon campaign with the orders to steal confidential plans. President Gerald Ford later issued a presidential pardon, but many Americans could not forgive Nixon for his involvement. The Watergate Scandal distracted the history books from one of the most productive presidencies in history.

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

in 1972, of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate apartment, and office building complex in Washington D.C. The term was applied to several related scandals. More than thirty administration officials, campaign officials, and financial contributors pleaded guilty or were found guilty of breaking the law. Nixon faced possible indictment after his resignation, received from his successor, Gerald Ford, a full pardon for

The tape recordings that officials listened to, showed recordings of Nixon listening in on certain conversations and meetings. After that evidence was uncovered, it became clear to the public that Nixon was indeed guilty. Although Nixon had ample evidence mounted against him to prove he was guilty, he did not get impeached because he officially resigned before the impeachment process could be done.

The Watergate scandal during Richard Nixon's presidency was arguably the high point of journalism's role in American politics. What had been considered a rather inept burglary attempt upon Democratic party offices in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. and was therefore ignored by most journalists when it happened was investigated by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, until it was proven to be a criminal conspiracy whose organization and subsequent cover-up reached as high as the Oval Office. In terms of media coverage of the scandal, however, it is worth noting that while Woodward and Bernstein had access to a privileged source of information, whom they named only as "Deep Throat" (but much later revealed to be high-ranking FBI official W. Mark Felt), they were not the only reporters covering the scandal as it unfolded. By looking at other journalistic sources, it may be possible to get a larger view of how President Nixon dealt with the scandal, how public opinion and responded, and ultimately how Nixon was led to resign.

“The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of political adolescents to bypass the regular party organization and dictate the terms of a national election.” The events leading up to the election of 1976 and the actual election was one of the mosted talked about election in US history. The Watergate Scandal turned America upside down and affected the election drastically. The candidates were very similar which split America in half and every vote counted. The Vietnam War was just ending and the Americans wanted a President that could stop the war and could make everyone come together. With the new movement happening in the 70’s the election of 1976 big topic was the New Right. It was

Then someone found out that the president had tapes of him talking to someone about the plan to break into watergate and he had Documents as well, “secret tapes of White House conversations later revealed that the president had participated in efforts to cover up the criminal activity.”( History.com), but they could not release them because Nixon claimed Executive Privilege which was something the court had never faced before. Executive Privilege is when someone has the right to withhold information from other branches of government. After claiming executive privilege the court had to decide on whether his claim completely protected him from judicial