Richard Nixon Watergate Scandal Analysis

The definition of a Greek tragedy is a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character. Throughout history there have been many examples of tragedy, one of the biggest being the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal was a burglary inside the high security Watergate office building within the Democratic headquarters and was one of Richard Nixon's biggest faults in leading to the inevitable impeachment of his presidency. This incident could have been prevented by many ways, had very much to do with hubris, and caused Americans to learn many lessons, and had a major impact on history.
As reelection for Nixon or the election of a new president drew near Nixon had it

Nixon also refused to give up any of the tapes that they had stolen citing executive privilege on his behalf. But the fight for tapes was not over. Slowly some of the tapes became uncovered by a lawyer, Leon Jaworski ( Schudson pg. 18). Nixon agreed to release edited transcripts but not the tapes themselves. After months and months of Nixons denial and refusal to cooperate, the Supreme Court ordered the tapes to be released under the premise that even the president in not above the law (The legacy of Watergate 09 Jan 2016). Congress also decided to take a vote to begin an impeachment investigation. As seventy-nine percent of Congreve was in favor of impeaching him he decided to resign to avoid the title of being impeached. He would become and still is today the only president to ever resign from their position ( Schudson pg. 18). But in the end this all could have been prevented. If Nixon didn't have the recording devices planted in the first place and then subsequently sent burglars in to retrieve them, the whole scandal could have been avoided. Nixon probably would have won the election and become the president for another four years. He was favored to win as public view of his previous term was positive

The first lesson people learned was the role of money in presidential elections (Lessons 12 Jan. 2016). In that time period, money donated by corporations or individuals for a presidential candidate’s campaign was not highly regulated. While there were rules in place, such rules were not always followed. No one controlled what the money was used for or how much was used and there was no paper trail. A campaign could use it for whatever they wanted, and with no paper trail, the public or Congress has no idea of its various uses. For example, the money that was payed to silence the burglars was covered up. It was only because of Carl Berstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post that the money was discovered. They were investigative reporters who were “following the money” (Lessons 12 Jan. 2016). Shortly after Nixon’s resignation, Congress amended the Federal Election Campaign Act, which limited amounts individuals could contribute to candidates. They also formed the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which was created to enforce election laws (History of Campaign 13 Jan. 2016). Another lesson learned is the role of news reporting for important events happening in the U.S. and the World. “Second, the importance of good, old fashion journalism, including the working pavement, checking information, finding corroborating sources, and searching for new leads, was the major reason that the scandal was discovered, and