The story of Watergate is both historically and politically interesting. It began to occur from the Pentagon Papers, in which Daniel Ellsberg handed over to the press. The Pentagon Papers contained secret documents outlining the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (p.848).These secret documents would bring to light the deception of the the morning of June 17, 1972, at 2:30 a.m. 5 burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located inside of the Watergate building in Washington, D.C.. Being connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. It was not immediately clear that the burglars were connected to the …show more content…
In May 1972, as evidence would later show, members of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (known derisively as CREEP) broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters, stole copies of top-secret documents and bugged the office’s phones.
It later came to light that Nixon was not being truthful. A few days after the break-in, for instance, he arranged to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in “hush money” to the burglars. Then, he and his aides hatched a plan to instruct the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to impede the FBI’s investigation of the crime. This was a more serious crime than the break-in: It was an abuse of presidential power and a deliberate obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the Watergate affair. At the urging of Nixon’s aides, five pleaded guilty and avoided trial; the other two were convicted in January 1973.
Early in 1974, the cover-up began to fall apart. On March 1, a grand jury appointed by a new special prosecutor indicted seven of Nixon’s former aides on various charges related to the Watergate affair. The jury, unsure if they could indict a sitting president, called Nixon an “unindicted co-conspirator.”
In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. While the president dragged his feet, the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up
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
In June 1972, Nixon campaign people broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate Central Station, stole duplicates of top-mystery archives and destroyed the workplace’s telephones. But after that they were captured inside the workplace of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), situated in the Watergate working in Washington D.C. Nixon tried to cover the activities of his people before the operation was done by the Watergate secret activities. He tried to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) from investing the activities, vanishing the proofs and changing and terminating the staff members. This act was an abuse of presidential power which was later found, and the president had to surrender.
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
On June 17, 1972, 2:30am, five men were caught trying to bug the phones and offices of Watergate Hotel and Office in Washington, D.C.. There were wire taps discovered in all of the Democrats’ offices, as well as Democrat supporters. Each man had thousands of dollars in their pockets; and ties to the re-election of President Nixon. Additionally, top secret documents were found in their possession, belonging to the government and state of Virginia.
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
The FBI and the American public need to know just what had happened and that this may not have been just a typical break-in but a cover up to protect someone. And if so was it an abuse of presidential power and a deliberate obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, at the same time seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the Watergate building break-in. At the instruction of the President’s aides, five pleaded guilty to the charges and avoided trial; while White House counsel John Dean, testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes. The other two were convicted in January 1973 for the break-in. By this time, a number of people including Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and trial judge John J. Sirica and members of a Senate investigating committee had begun to think that something bigger was going to break soon.
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
In 1972, there was a rise of the “Watergate Scandal” which over the next couple years would prove to tarnish the image of the President of the United States. The office of the president was behind the scandal in the fact that it was responsible for the break in at the office of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. President Nixon’s reelection committee and members of the White House had made efforts to destroy the Democrat’s chances for running for office. During the investigation, it was brought to light that President Nixon knew of the break in at the Democratic National Committee office and tried to cover it up. After much pressing by Congress, the judicial branch ordered President Nixon to give up all the evidence. Once the
United States President Richard Nixon was involved in a major political scandal during the 1970s that resulted from a break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The scandal was known as the Watergate scandal. The scandal was called Watergate because it occurred at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon and his administration attempted to cover up the scandal, but the scandal was discovered and investigated by Congress. The scandal comprised of illegal activities such as bugging of offices, ordering investigations of activist groups and political figures with the use of the FBI, CIA, and IRS. There were several abuses of power during the scandal and the results of the scandal and investigation were indictment of sixty nine individuals and Richard Nixon resigning his office as President of the United States.
Archibald Cox was appointed special prosecutor for Watergate in May of 1973 (Feinstein 39). Nixon had previously taped White House conversations and had Cox fired when asked to turn in these tapes (Feinstein 39). Clearly, Nixon had something to hide. According to “Watergate,” from July 10 through July 12 of 1973, former Attorney General Mitchell testified in court. He confessed that he helped cover up the scandal to save Nixon 's reelection. Mitchell also revealed the "plumbers,” which were a secret White House group created to stop information leakage involving President Nixon (Watergate (1973)). The information that surfaced during the trial always led back to Nixon.
Watergate was an immense political stun that happened in the United States in the 1970s, after a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) home office at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. moreover, President Richard Nixon affiliation 's attempted to camouflage of its joining. Precisely when the trap was found and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon affiliation 's solidness to its tests induced a developed emergency. The term Watergate has come to combine a combination of stealthy and a
A main reason that Nixon was found guilty is evidence uncovered by Frank Willis, at midnight on June 17, 1972. He was a security guard at the Watergate Complex and discovered adhesive tape over the latches of doors. He initially just took off the tape, and didn’t really think much of it. However, he came back, and noticed that someone again had put tape over the doors. He grew suspicious and decided he would call the police. After the police arrived at the complex in D.C., there was an arrest made of five men. They were charged with attempted burglary and also other things dealing with the interception of telephone and other communications. They ended up being convicted, and were put in jail, although they were just working for the president and his administration.
One major event that triggered the infamous scandal was in 1971 when the Pentagon Papers were released by the New York Times; A few months later, the “Plumbers” unit broke into an office in attempt to discover files on who released them, Daniel Ellsberg. These “Plumbers” broke into the Democratic National Committee in attempt to find information about Nixon’s opponent. Many public officials were involved in the cover-up and break-in itself which led to widespread corruption in the government. Some of those involved in these events were James McCord, a former CIA agent; Richard Nixon, the president; Sam Ervin, the man who first began to investigate the crimes; John Dean; John Ehrlichman and Gordon Liddy. Many events led up to the Watergate scandal, but it left a major mark on American history and holds a crucial significance to the