Watergate : The Unfinished Business

Many people, myself included look up to individuals in an authoritative role such as; senators, governors, and presidents. We view them as being honest and sincere. They have to be right? They do want to run the country after all. Often our thoughts are “they would never lie to us or hide things from us”, but unfortunately that’s not always the case. One of the biggest political scandals to hit the United States of America was the Watergate scandal involving our very own President Richard Nixon. This scandal caused a lot of American’s to lose trust and hope in the presidency. The scandal received its name from the Watergate apartment and office complex that was located in Washington D.C., where a burglary took place on June 17, 1972 and five men were arrested. It then came to surface that the men’s intentions were to sabotage the opposite political party, when president Nixon was notified of this he order the Central Intelligence Agency to call the FBI to stop with any further investigation, that national security was at stake. President Nixon knew that it would come back to the White House and didn’t want to risk anything, even though he was never involved with the

On June 17, 1972, a reporter name Woodward who worked for the “Washington Post” was asked to cover a story. There had been a break in at the Watergate hotel. When Woodward got to the newsroom, he found that this was not an ordinary break in, and he would not be the only reporter reporting on this break in. The burglars had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic national committee in the Watergate office-apartment-hotel-building. Bernstein “the other reporter” had the same assignment as Woodward. The two reporters had no pleasure for each other’s company.

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

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

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

Nixon. It was clearly a ‘painful decision’ for the Tribune's editors, most of whom know the president personally” (1974, May 14). This statement is based on the fact that the Chicago Tribune’s Editorial was calling for the president to leave the office due to the Watergate affair. What was also mentioned was the fact that most if not all of the editors knew the president personally, and it appears that they were all on board to quickly to impeach the president. Dean Burch goes on to report, mostly in Nixon’s defense, that the president faces many decisions every day that affect all the lives in America, and he made the correct decision to open a full investigation into the Watergate scandal. One key question is also brought up: “Did Richard Nixon do wrong?” (1974, May 14). From reading this article it appears that the writer was looking at what the president was thinking and doing as a whole, not just speculate and ridicule him on just one topic. The article also references that “Like all good presidents, he is not perfect” (1974, May 14), by that statement if is clear that there were many other aspects of the situation that was not being recognized by the Chicago Tribune.

“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.

The book I chose to do my book review on was All The President 's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward and throughout the report I will discuss the power that the press has. On June 17, 1972, the United States had changed for both journalism and politics. A common break in was failed as the downfall of President Richard Nixon was eminent, while two young journalists from the Washington Post Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward had risen to their glory of the biggest reporting story of their careers. The Watergate Scandal was sought out as one of the biggest political scandals during the Presidency of Nixon. Nixon at the time was going up for reelection was paranoid and afraid of losing the race to Senator George McGovern, at the time Nixon had employed a group of men to commit an arrangement of illegal activities that would put the republican party ahead of the democrats in order to gain a second term as president. Everything was all fine and dandy until the botched attempt to break into the Watergate building which housed the Democratic National Committee. Throughout these allegations and corruptness of the republican party Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had exposed the truth of forty three people that were tied to the actions of the Watergate scandal, which later had let to their arrest. While Woodward and Bernstein had uncovered the truth of this scandal some question the methods that they had to go through to come to a conclusion. Was what they have done ethical and

Nonetheless, due to the exposure of the Nixon administration’s corrupt activities in addition to the President’s graceless resignation, the public and the news media scrutinized the backgrounds of people who sought power more carefully. A positive outcome of Watergate was the successful national movement for government transparency: to make meetings and records more accessible to the public. In 1974, Congress overrode a presidential veto and revised the Freedom of Information act, providing the public and media with new tools to access information held by the executive branch. This act reduced secrecy in government and gave the public a way to check the governmental and political operations happening in Washington, D.C. In case of tampering, the Presidential Records Act of 1978 required preservation of all presidential records and documents. Following Congress’s lead, state legislatures also adopted their own resolutions regarding government transparency, improving the public’s relationship with state and federal governments. While all these acts made information public, the most prototypical piece of Watergate legislation that strengthened legislative oversight powers and gave more leverage to the public was the Government in Sunshine Act of 1976, which ordered government agencies to conduct all meetings open to the public with some exceptions. Thus, agencies are bound by law to make the time, place, subject matter, and minutes of a meeting available to the public. This

On June 17th, 1972 a political scandal occurred in the United states. Four cuban americans and one american broke into the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate office complex. Five burglars were caught and it was discovered that the President Nixon administration was involved. There were also other things discovered such as the bugging of political offices and FBI investigations on Mr. Nixon's Political Opponents. The scandal was then investigated by the U.S. congress, and they soon found out that Nixon recorded all of his meetings and asked for the tapes. After some refusal Nixon finally handed the tapes over, but one thing was missing. There was an 18.5 minute gap in one tape.

Presidential scandals have occurred is this country dating all the way back to George Washington. However, not all scandals receive the utmost attention or are even remembered by the public. Watergate shined a bright light on the corruption and paranoia of Nixon, yet I do not believe it was the worst presidential scandal it just received the most attention from the media. There are countless numbers of scandals that measure up to the wrath of Watergate streaming from sex scandals, illegitimate children, and even election scandals. No matter the circumstance they make an impact on the presidency and the country for better or for worse and no scandal is worse than another.

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

The men arrested included a former member of the CIA and a GOP security aide, later it was discovered they were attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Through the work of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and the FBI more information is uncovered and links between the crime and the White House are unveiled. A check intended for campaign efforts, in the amount of $25,000, was deposited into one of the burglar’s bank accounts and a secret fund controlled by Attorney General John Mitchell intended for use in spying on the democrats is exposed. Recordings by Nixon of conversations related to the incident are then discovered and Nixon is ordered to surrender them. He refuses initially but in the end hands over the tapes and the first acts of Impeachment begin. Nixon had proclaimed innocence but in the end resigns and is pardoned of any charges by his successor and former Vice President Gerald R. Ford, (Watergate.Info, 2007). This was the first resignation of a president. It was broadcast in the media for the world to see, influencing the current attitude of getting information on anyone no matter the cost and airing it

Large trucks that dramatically dumped newspapers in the street in Seth Meyers’ Newspaper Movie spoof may seem how the world discovered news, but the process to uncover the story of Watergate was slow and dangerous. The media’s involvement in the scandal prompted an investigation against President Nixon, which eventually lead to the exposure of corruption, impeachment trials, and the President’s resignation. The prerogative of the press’s investigation, however, has been frequently debated. While some believed that the media’s position in society existed to report unfiltered facts and information to the public, many people were put in harm’s way through their investigation of Watergate. In this way, the media’s role in the case was quite controversial

Concepts of corporate mistrust highlights social commentary of the time, the United States political scandal of Watergate, during President Nixon’s term of the 70’s. This was the big contribution from script revisions by producers Walter Hill (Director, The Warriors, 1979) and Gordon Carroll (Producer. Cool Hand Luke, 1967). Ash embodies the urgency of societies mistrust and understanding of political and capitalistic misdoings facing the 70’s. Ash (android), Mother (computer) and Wayland-Yutani (the immoral corporation) also formulating a new technological culture in its hierarchy, mirroring social classes. A culture also mirroring the visual aesthetics of the alien creature, where flesh and machine amalgamate, achieving higher objectives,