Richard Nixon Watergate Scandal

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

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

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