Richard Nixon And The Watergate Scandal

“I’m not a crook” (Schmoop). Nixon made this remark on November 17th, 1973, as he was telling America that he was not involved in the Watergate scandal. Nixon and several other members of the White House were involved in the Watergate scandal, a scandal created and planned to bring down the Democrat party. With the backdrop of the Vietnam War looming in the background, a scandal called Watergate changed the course of the presidency of Richard Nixon. When five men broke into the Watergate Hotel on June 17th, 1972,, little did Nixon know that his life would change forever. This date would forever be known as the day Nixon’s presidency plummeted. Three policemen responded, “On June 17, 1972, [...] to a call at 1:52 A.M. about a break-in

As the scandal broke way into the world, two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, were set to uncover the truth. In reality, they were investigating whether or not Nixon was involved in the Watergate scandal. Elish states, “Much of the credit for bringing these crimes out into the open belongs to two reporters from The Washington Post named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein” (Elish 21). Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were two reporters that focused on the Watergate scandal. They were first able to track James McCord to CREEP. Woodward and Bernstein kept digging and they found a $25,000 cashier’s check in John Mitchell’s bank account. This check was for Nixon’s re-election campaign. As Woodward and Bernstein uncovered secrets about Watergate, an investigation was opened by the Senate. Hillstrom once stated, “On February 7, 1973, the U.S. Senate voted 77-0 to establish a committee to conduct an investigation on the Watergate affair” (Hillstrom 28). As more and more was uncovered about the Watergate scandal, the Senate decided to start an investigation. One of the first major discoveries came from the testimony of Patrick Gray. He stated that he had numerous meetings with John Dean about Watergate and gave him permission to sit in on FBI interviews of White House aides (Hillstrom). As more and more information was uncovered things looked worse for Nixon, but what would come next would change his presidency