Watergate
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The Watergate Scandal was considered one of the most of disturbing political scandals in the history of America. This Scandal brought down a President and his administration, also made the American public distrust the government which still goes on today. In 1972 there were two break-ins at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate office and apartment complex located in Washington D.C. The first was 27, 1972 and was performed by G. Gordon Liddy the leader of the group called “ The Plumbers”, E. Howard Hunt, and James W. McCord along with six members of a group known as “the Plumbers”. The break- in was used to
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James McCord and G Gordon Liddy stood trial and were convicted of conspiracy. The Watergate Scandal was broke to the public by Reporters for the Washington Post Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, from information passed to them by a Member of the White House code name as Deep Throat (Mark Felt). With the information that was given to the reporters it showed that many of the President’s staff was involved to include the President. It was revealed that President Nixon had a voice activated taping system installed in the Oval office for all his conversations and phone calls. Confirmed to the Senate in July 1973 by White House aide Alexander Butterfield, after it was revealed it was dismantled and put in Alexander Haig’s custody. Earlier that year Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and the Senate Committee issued subpoenas for the tapes. Which President Nixon refused claiming executive privilege, when the President finally turned ove r the tapes it was found that to have a 181/2 minute gap in the tapes. Rose Mary Woods, President Nixon secretary admitted that while reviewing and transcribing the tapes that for the Senate committee she accidentally hit the record button while answering a phone call and erased about 5 minutes, she claims that she had nothing to do with the other 13 minutes. The contents of the missing 18 ½ minutes may never be known, although it is believed to contain a conversation between President Nixon and Chief of
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.
On June 17, 1972, five burglars under the orders of CREEP broke into the Democratic National Headquarters. At about 2:30 a.m., security guard Frank Willis noticed tape over locks of the doors and called the police. The five burglars were arrested,
still unresolved. But what began as a third-rate burglary on June 17, 1972 escalated into a full-
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.
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
June 17, 1972 a group of criminals started tapping into the white house at the nearby watergate apartment complex where the scandal got it’s name. The secret service quickly caught on and soon the criminals were caught and convicted. There was no problem with this until a few weeks later Nixon ordered the FBI to stop investigation on this because they were already caught and convicted President Nixon ended up with the tapes that the criminals had recorded and he ended up giving over a few tapes but not all the tapes he had. President Nixon resigned soon after because the media was making it too much for him to handle and everyone hated him making him the first president to resign from office. His successor Eisenhower soon pardoned him of all his crimes and was never convicted for the watergate
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
Watergate was a scandal that involved a break-in into the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the Nixon administration. Watergate was one of the most famous political scandals in American history. Decades after Watergate historians and others continue to argue about its causes and significance (Brinkley, 2007). It marked a period that both weakened our relationships with other countries as well as weakened the public’s belief in the President.
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 break-in was initially labelled as a “third-rate burglary” by the White House Press, and the 1972 election passed seamlessly, results uninfluenced by the event. In fact, Nixon was re-elected with the largest popular vote landslide in history. However, as the trial of the Watergate burglary progressed, it soon became evident that the event originated within the White House. One of the men, James McCord was a retired CIA agent, and another, E. Howard Hunt, was a former CIA operative and consultant to the Nixon White House. Another man identified as G. Gordon Liddy, the general counsel to Nixon’s “Committee to Re-elect the President.” Several months after the incident, Nixon was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to hand over the tapes which continuously recorded conversations inside the Oval Office. Knowing
The Supreme Court commanded Nixon to turn over the tapes in July of 1974 (Feinstein 39). It was proven on the tapes that Nixon lied about covering up Watergate, thus putting Nixon in the position for impeachment (Feinstein 39). According to Watergate Scandal, more information was unveiled as the trial went on, ironically followed by President Nixon’s resignation in August 1974. Gerald Ford was Nixon’s successor, and he pardoned Nixon for any accused crimes. However, many of Nixon’s aides were not pardoned. They were convicted and sent to federal prison, while Nixon faced no punishment. "Although Nixon was never prosecuted, the Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leadership and think more critically about
The Watergate Scandal was political problem that occurred in the United States during the 1970s. On June 17, 1972 a break in occurred at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon's administration attempted cover up of its involvement. In the morning of June 17 1972, a couple of burglars were caught and arrested inside the of the Democratic National Committee, located at the Watergate building in Washington D.C. this was no ordinary robbery. The robbers were connected to the United States president Richard Nixon re election campaign, and they were caught trying to wiretap the phones. The robbers who tried to wiretap the phones were not successful. more robbers broke into the
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 purpose of this break in was to “bug” the Democratic Offices in effort to aid Nixon's attempt to win a second term6. The police on the scene had taken into custody: 40 rolls of undeveloped film, two cameras, a radio device, listening devices that had phone listening capabilities long with being able to pick up conversations in the room, and “pen-size tear gas guns”7