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Watergate

Decent Essays

Watergate

Lucia San Nicolas

HIS/145

October 19, 2011
Marciano Flores

Watergate

The Watergate scandal shocked millions of Americans when it was revealed in 1972. The president at that time was Richard M. Nixon, who himself was involved within the scandal. The Watergate scandal took place in 1972 when a group of five men broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex in Washington. The five men involved in this burglary were eventually identified as Virgilio Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez, Bernard Barker and James W. McCord Jr. were arrested and plead guilty to charges. Later, it was revealed the burglary was arranged plot to plant bugs in the offices of the …show more content…

When the Watergate scandal was first revealed no one would have thought it would be connected to the President of the United States. People in Nixon’s hometown Yorba Linda, California, could not and would not believe the man who they knew and trusted in office had anything to do with this scandal. The city’s media did not cover the story nor would the people in that town discuss the Watergate scandal. The opinion of the people in Yorba Linda was that the media was taking the story out of proportion and blaming the President for a crime he did not commit. Republicans did not want to believe that Nixon was capable of such a scandalous story. President Nixon portrayed his character as an honest person, and the people believed and stood behind him. Nixon stood behind his story and stated he was not a criminal, but the revelation of the audio tapes and the threats of impeachment ultimately led up to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. The House of Representatives had already begun to consider impeachment for the actions the President contributed in the Watergate scandal. Nixon had confessed to making mistakes, but stated he did not break any laws. Mr. Nixon said he did not know of the Watergate cover-up until early 1973. Nixon announced he was making the audio tapes of himself and his aides public and turned over the tapes to the House impeachment investigators. On August 8, 1974 President Richard M. Nixon announced his resignation during a

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