ipl-logo

Richard Nixon Watergate Scandal

1050 Words5 Pages

The Watergate scandal was one of the biggest scandals in America. Richard Nixon, our 37th president, was elected in 1969 and re-elected again in 1973. He didn’t finish his second term due to an incredibly big scandal that caused lots of trouble in the U.S. It took a little over two years after the break-in for Nixon to finally leave his presidency. The Watergate scandal caused distress because of the illegal activity, presidential involvement, and people losing their jobs. The Watergate scandal started on June 17, 1972, very early in the morning in Washington D.C. An employed security guard for the Watergate office named Frank Wills noticed tape on a door’s lock, removed it, and left to patrol the rest of the area to only find another …show more content…

The cops found five male burglars inside the DNC’s, Democratic National Committee, head office and Watergate hotel. “A security guard discovered the team and alerted the metro police, who arrested the burglars, who carried more than $3,500 in cash and high-end surveillance and electronic equipment” (1, “Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon”). The burglars were caught stealing important documents and were also wiretapping phones. The burglars were identified as Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis, additionally four out of five of them were former CIA …show more content…

Multiple people in the administration were constantly in trouble and getting caught, therefore having to leave. On April 30, 1973, Nixon forced Haldeman and Ehrlichman to resign and fired John Dean, another aide” (8, Waggoner). All three men were sentenced to jail time along with multiple other people that worked with Nixon. 48 people in the administration were convicted in the Watergate Scandal. Besides the committee, one of the people that sued Nixon to release the tapes was Archibald Cox. The committee, Cox, and multiple other people believed there would be evidence in those hidden tapes. “Cox refused the offer, saying that summaries would be unacceptable as evidence in court” (11, Waggoner). To try and salvage his presidency he told Cox he can tell them what happened on the tape instead of giving up the tapes. Due to Cox not agreeing to have the summaries he was fired by Nixon and Leon Jaworski was

Show More
Related
888 Words | 4 Pages

These men arrested, on of them a CIA agent, had planted wiretapping devices in the Watergate building (Fienberg 27). Immediately after the breakin, Nixon's white house staff quickly shredded incriminating documents, and payed off the burglars not to give names of people (Goldman 107). Nixon, however, did not become fully involved in Watergate until the “Saturday night massacre” (Fienberg 69). Previously, before this night Nixon had already been accused of being part of the coverup as to what had been done during the breakin; However, the “Saturday night massacre” proved to be catastrophic to Nixon.

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

Richard Nixon, our 37th president of the United States, is best remembered for his involvement in the Watergate scandal in the 1970’s. The Watergate scandal is mainly known for the break in at the Watergate building which is where the Democratic National Committee is located at in Washington, D.C. The break in consisted the undertaking of wiretapping of phones and the act of stealing confidential documents. After time had passed by, the FBI started growing suspicious about Nixon’s role in the scandal especially when he tried covering up the issue by providing hush money for the people who were involved in the break in. He also tried stopping the FBI from doing their job by not allowing to investigate the break in and as well as firing any disobedient

Read More
440 Words | 2 Pages

Nixon and his administration originally denied all involvement. It later came to light that Nixon had wired the group hundreds of thousands of dollars in, “hush money” and that Nixon had recorded all his phone conversations. Nixon drug his feet for as long as he could when it came to releasing the taps, but when the Supreme Court ordered him to, there was no denying Nixon’s role in the crimes. Nixon resigned before he could be

Read More
477 Words | 2 Pages

The Watergate scandal occurred on June 17, 1972. On that day, several “burglars” were arrested inside the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. These “burglars” were no ordinary thieves. They were caught attempting to wiretap phones and steal classified documents. After the burglary, Nixon took steps to cover up what happened at Watergate.

Read More
578 Words | 3 Pages

Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States; he resigned as president after his involvement in the Watergate Scandal. People broke into the Watergate building to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. Nixon knew about the break in before hand and tried to cover it up. When people found out about him trying to cover it up, he decided to resign as president. He gave his speech on August 8th 1974 and resigned on the 9th.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

The Scandal was setup by five guys and Nixon. Nixon had all the power and limits there so it was easy. This why it wasn't just no ordinary robbery it had connects with the most powerful person. An it was also connected to his reelection campaign, and some of the workers that were loyal to the program joined him. How did the burglars get caught breaking into the headquarters.

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

The Watergate scandal broke loose. It was said that people who were sent by the president were breaking into the Democratic committee building to place wiretaps and gain information. Nixon said he was not part of it, but then he tried to cover up making him a suspect. John Dean turned on him and said that the phones in the Oval office had evidence in them that would make Nixon guilty. Later, Nixon had to give up those tapes, which after they reviewed them they found out Dean was telling the truth.

Read More
1384 Words | 6 Pages

Their names were Virgil Gonzalez, Bernard Baker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis. “This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. (Watergate Scandal, 2009)When they were caught, they had thousands of dollars on them and had no obvious connection to the Nixon committee. A few days later after they were caught and released from jail, checks of thousands of dollars were deposited into their

Read More
805 Words | 4 Pages

This connected to Nixon, according to the article “when police found a White House phone number to the president’s re-election committee on one of the burglars” (Gale 2). When this connection was made public “Nixon denied any involvement by members of the White House staff, calling the break-in a “bizarre incident” (Gale 2). Apparently, he never ordered the break-in or knew anything about it, but additionally the article states that, “he did arrange for the burglars to be paid “hush money” and told his aides to make sure the CIA obstructed the FBI’s investigation” (Gale 2). Nixon wanted this to be like it never happened and that he had no part in this so he could be re-elected and easily win. The historical document below shows President Nixon’s impeachment and the steps to decide if he was involved.

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

Richard Nixon was a very paranoid man and thought that his enemies were everywhere so in the re-election in 1972, he would prove the his enemies and to the world that he was the greatest and he would stop at nothing to get to his goal. The results that came out from the re-election were amazing, he defeated George McGovern by the almost 20 million more votes which made him seem invincible at the time. During his 2 years as president, 2 reporters from the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did not believe that he could win by such a milestone so they dug and dug on Richard Nixon and they found everything out about him. They found out that there was a committee made called the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) that was a secret committee that would break laws in order for Nixon to win the re-election. The most well known incident of the Watergate Scandal was when 3 burglars from the CRP sneaked into the Watergate complex to put tiny microphones all over the place so they could listen on what the Democrat’s strategies were so they could always be one step ahead.

Read More
505 Words | 3 Pages

He then got the CIA to keep the FBI from investigating so he wouldn’t get caught as easily. Money later showed up in one of the burglars bank accounts. The five that broke in, all pleaded guilty and the others were convicted in January 1973. Nixon’s aides testified in front of the grand jury for his crimes. They also said Nixon had taped all the conversations from the Oval office.

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

Furthermore, Nixon also paid his "White House aids" to maintain their silence. In essence, the Watergate scandal was not just about the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, but also about the Nixon administration's efforts to cover up its involvement and silence those who could reveal the truth. The payments served as a means to ensure the burglars' silence, and Nixon's attempts to shift blame and pay off his aides demonstrated his desperation to conceal his administration's

Read More
347 Words | 2 Pages

Watergate scandal, which eventually brought down President Nixon, forcing him to resign on the face of his impeachment, is considered as the worst scandal of the American history. As investigation revealed, Nixon deliberately, illegally, and with ill intention abused the power of his position to give political favors to business group who contributed to campaign funds, misusing public funds, and authorizing spying against his opponents. He also was guilty of directing his subordinates to cover up his crimes. The people of America will remember the Watergate scandal for the damage it did to the prestige and reputation of the office of the president and also because of the loss of trust on government, it created.

Read More
927 Words | 4 Pages

Through the story of the investigation regarding the break in at the Democratic Party Headquarters

Read More
1699 Words | 7 Pages

Lastly, the Watergate Scandal forced the political system change its ethical code. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been investigating the Watergate burglary for less than a month, when Nixon ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to shut down the investigation. Despite this being an obstruction of justice and an impeachable crime, the Watergate investigation did not reach much publicity, which is why it was so radical for amateur Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to continue the investigation. With the help of former FBI agent Mark Felt— then known as “Deep Throat”—, Woodward and Bernstein discovered money given to Nixon’s re-election campaign that

Read More

More about Richard Nixon Watergate Scandal

Related Topics

Open Document