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
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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
On June 17, 1972, numerous intruders were caught red-handed inside the building of Democratic National Committee, also known as the Watergate Building in Washington, D.C. Consequently, the leader behind it all was President Richard Nixon. This inaction of justice that took place that day set about Nixon from the rest of the presidents. As a president, he abused his power for his own morals. Before he could be impeached, he resigned and showed the United States that he could not take full responsibility for his actions. Even after he was pardoned for his crimes, and further persuaded American citizens on the injustice he did. Not only did Nixon set apart from the rest he changed the political standard of the United States. He made people become
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
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.
The year was 1972. From events such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, the United States was faced with extreme political and social turmoil. Despite Nixon’s promise to end war and unite the country, no one could have predicted that his election would accompany one of the largest political scandals to date. It all began with tape on door latches, finally ending with the resignation of a president and a scandal that echoes in American culture four decades later. Like most scandals, Watergate started simply enough with the intention of keeping Nixon’s political enemies at bay. However, before long it went from tape on door latches to bugging offices to breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. By the year 1974, 43 people were facing legal consequences for their role in Watergate, and President Nixon was nearing the frightening reality of trial and possible impeachment. As small as it may have seemed at its beginning, the Watergate Scandal ending up affecting all aspects of American culture, specifically American politics.
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 Milhous Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States of America from 1969 until 1974. Nixon completed his first term as President in 1973 and was re-elected to the position for the next four years. However, Nixon would have his time in the White House cut short by the series of events that occurred in the twenty-six months that followed the Watergate burglary. On June 17, 1972 five men, one White House employee and four Cubans, broke into the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC in an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office. The break in and the events that took place afterwards led to the resignation of Richard Milhous Nixon on August 8, 1974.
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
In the early 1970’s, President Richard Milhous Nixon was a popular president among many people in the United States. However, he managed to change the view of the American government for the worse. Stealing documents from his rival party, covering up his actions over and over again. And finally getting caught of his actions, a distrust of their government by their citizens was created. But how had it occurred? Why did Nixon do this? Why did he cover it up over and over again? What steps and actions had led to Nixon’s resignation? Because of the Watergate Scandal, the American citizens understood that the American Government can be deceiving to its citizens.
“I am not a crook” is one of the most famous quotes from President Richard M. Nixon. Citizens of the United States of America would hope that their president would never have to defend himself as a crook, but that is just what happened in the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. President Nixon had to defend himself for not being a crook because of the events famously known as the ‘Watergate Scandal’. In 1972, members of Nixon’s re-election committee broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate offices and stole top-secret documents as well as trying to get into their phone system. They eventually were caught and so was President Nixon which led him to his resignation. Even though it was an unfortunate event, there have been positive outcomes because of it. The lasting implications of the Watergate Scandal have been generally positive on society because of the passing of Ethics in Government Act, amending the Freedom of Information Act and 42 states passing election reform laws.
On November 5, 1968 Richard M. Nixon was elected the 37th president of the United States. While in office Nixon dealt with an unstable economy and oversaw reforms in welfare, civil rights and more. In foreign affairs Nixon helped end the Vietnam War, reestablish contact with china and improve relations with the Soviet Union. In 1972 Nixon was reelected in a landslide victory. However, His undoing was already in the works. A few months prior to Nixon’s reelection a group of men linked to the Nixon administration were arrested in the Democratic party headquarters in Washington’s Watergate complex and what followed was one of the biggest scandals in presidential history. The Watergate scandal was revealed as a cover-up by the Nixon
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
The case behind the Watergate scandal is the supreme court case “United States vs. NIxon.” This is a famous case because president Nixon was the one being accused. It all started in June of 1972 when a handful of men came armed with bugging equipment and cameras into the Watergate hotel. They worked for president Nixon. Their mission was to bug a democratic committee office. Nixon was trying to eavesdrop on his competition in the election. The men were caught and arrested. It wasn’t until 1973 that Nixon was accused of being apart of the scandal. Investigators discovered that NIxon installed a recording device that automatically saved his conversations with the men involved with the scandal. Nixon refused to release any of the tapes. He claimed
After the whole Watergate incident other illegal events were also revealed. For example, ‘the plumbers’, a White House assembly, were doing everything in their power to prevent media from gathering information. Most of the media though did not understand the consequences of the Watergate scandal, so they focused on reporting on other things that were related to the 1972 election. After the exposure that one of the condemned intruders wrote to Judge, the media turned its focused. The popular magazine, Time Magazine, defined Nixon as experiencing "daily hell and very little trust".