Watergate Essay

In the 1970’s, America not only witnessed the worst political scandal of the twentieth century, but also one of the most successful acts of investigative journalism to ever be done in America. The Watergate Scandal included a series of illegal activities initiated by members of President Nixon’s administration, the most significant crime being the break in and wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972. CREEP (Committee to Reelect the President) funded these illegal projects by hiring people like the White House Plumbers to carry on missions to stop the leaking of classified information. The Watergate Scandal’s origins lay in the Fielding and DNC Headquarter’s break in, then the illegal activities were uncovered

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.

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

After the break-in, Nixon needed to protect his image so that American’s could still trust him. To accomplish this, he let a number of employees take the blame for him. The Watergate Seven were a group of men involved in the scandal, who were also advisors and aides to President Nixon. On January 8, 1973, these men were put to trial. With urges from Nixon, five of the seven pleaded guilty. Then on January 30, 1973, six of Nixon’s aides and the lawyer for his re-election committee were charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to cover-up the break in. This included John Mitchell, Harry Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Charles W. Colson, Gordon Strachan, and Kenneth Wells Parkinson. However, after the trial, CIA operative, James W. McCord, wrote a letter to Judge John Sirica. In which he claimed that the defendants had pleaded guilty under duress. He also said that they committed perjury and that others were involved in the Watergate break-in. Leading to further pressure being put on Nixon and his alleged involvement in the break-in. Eventually, Nixon’s deceitful involvement would be revealed to the American public.

Watergate Political scandals are not strangers to the United States. They date back as far as 1830, with the presidential sex scandal and Thomas Jefferson, and in 1875 with the Whiskey Ring and President Ulysses S. Grant (Time and Again 1). Today we have the Iran-Contra affair with Ronald Reagan and Whitewater with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Even with these, it can be argued that Watergate could possibly be the worst scandal in the history of the United States.

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

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

Richard M. Nixon was a former vice president who barely won the election in 1968 against Hubert Humphrey for the Republican party. Once in his presidency, President Nixon pleased and displeased citizens in the United States. He was not necessarily the most liked president, but he was not the most disliked either. By 1972, it was time for the

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.

Richard Nixon's presidency is one of the most examined, analyzed and discussed, yet least understood, of all the American administrations in history. While many factors still remain to be discovered, and many mysteries are left to be resolved, we need to do the best that we can to make sense of this secretive president of our past and his era. He is the one American figure about whom very few people don't have strong feelings for. Nixon is loved and hated, honored and mocked . The term 'Watergate', labeled by Congress in 1974, stands for not only the burglary, but also for the numerous instances of officially sanctioned criminal activity and abuses of power as well as the obstruction of justice that preceded the actual break-in.

The Watergate scandal became known as one of the most controversial political issues of modern time. This controversy began when five burglars broke into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate office, which was located in Washington, D.C on June 17, 1972. This scandal still affects our country and how we have handled political situations since. This issue made the United States Senate take notice and start a council on Presidential Campaign Activities, which was known as the Ervin Committee this council, was formed in late 1972. The main point for this committee was to investigate the Watergate scandal surrounding the break-in and the cover-up and other issues that surrounded the 1972 presidential campaign. They were supposed to report all their findings about this situation to the Senate before February 28th, 1974.

On June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Wills became a national hero. At twenty four years old, he was working the midnight shift at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. He discovered tape over a basement door lock and thinking none of it, he removed the tape. On another inspection round, he found the lock taped over again and called the police. They locked the doors, turned off the elevators, and started checking darkened offices. At 2:30 a.m. on the 6th floor of the Watergate complex, the police discovered five men who were identified as the Plumbers Unit on orders by The Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) to burglarize the DNC. The men, one who was an ex-CIA agent, were convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping. However, what started as a third-rate burglary unravelled into a broad network of political corruption and espionage within the Nixon administration that became known as Watergate. Before the summer of 1972, the term “Watergate” meant nothing more than a luxurious complex in Washington, D.C., but because five highly cunning men were somehow caught by an average, $80-per-week security guard, it became associated with the greatest political scandal of the century and many more after that. The Watergate scandal proliferated public skepticism of and mistrust in the federal government, and an angry American public called for immediate response. The widespread public mistrust and

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