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Richard Nixon Watergate Scandal

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When the Watergate scandal happened, Richard Nixon was the president, and it was during the Vietnam War. Nixon had very bad judgement, and lost trust from a lot of America. Nixon tried to hide what he did, but everyone still found out. In May 1972, five of Richard Nixon’s committee members broke into the Watergate headquarters. They used wiretaps on the phones and stole secret documents. The wiretaps ended up not workings and they had to go back later and replace them. This time a security guard noticed tape on the locks and called the police. No one knew at the time that they had something to do with Nixon. He later made a speech and promised to everyone that he had nothing to do with it so he could be reelected. Nixon was later reelected …show more content…

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. In the summer of 1973 it became very hard for Nixon the keep all the tapes hidden. Nixon’s lawyers stated that he could keep the tapes for himself and that he committed no crime doing it. John Sirica, the chief judge of the United States district court, didn’t agree and was determined to get the tapes from Nixon. Richard Nixon stated that he should be fired and forced some of the Justice Department officials to resign in protest. The House of Representatives voted to call him into question for violations to the constitution, and criminal cover up. On August 5th, he gave up the tapes and they proved him to be guilty. The guy who listened to the tapes after he turned them in, Neal Smith, said, “ I really didn't believe it was as bad as was being reported, but I put on the earphones, and it was unbelievable what was being said by the president, the things he wanted to do." Nixon later resigned on August 9th, 1974 from impeachment from the

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Nixon was already being pressure to release tapes of his conversation in the White House but he refused to give them up (Fienberg 74). Nixon proposed an alternative on October 19, by giving the court a summary

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So the early morning of June, 1972 Nixon ordered his plumbers to break and bug/wiretap the Democratic National Committee Headquarters located in Watergate apartments(The scandal’s name was named after the location of where the crime occurred). Unfortunately for the president, the mission was a failure and the plumbers were arrested. The White House administration were quick to deny any wrongdoing in the Watergate scandal, stating “no one in the White House staff, no one in this administration presently employed was involved in this bizarre incident... ”(The

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He rose “hush money’ for the burglars, tried to stop the FBI from investigating the crime, destroyed evidence, and fired uncooperative staff members. In 1974, after the Watergate scandal had finally come to light, President Nixon resigned. Nixon abused

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Although it is debateable whether or not Nixon knew of the break-ins, he did behave very suspiciously. He became very secretive, resentful, and defensive towards his critics, even going so far as to make

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Eventually, when Nixon went to trial the judge asked him to hand over the tapes there were parts missing, which showed the country that he was covering up something. These tapes would show that Nixon had acknowledgement of the break-in a week before it even happened. The judge ended up convicting Nixon with three felonies, federal crime, abusing presidential powers, and keeping evidence. Furthermore, Nixon was forced to resign from the presidential seat and handing over the seat to Gerald Ford, who is the only president to not be elected as president

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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.

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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.

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Historians weren’t sure if Nixon was involved in the situation or knew about it. However, afterwards he tried to cover it up by raising “hush-money,” trying to get the FBI to stop investing, demolishing any known evidence, and firing any staff member who didn’t remain cooperative throughout the situation. This scandal allegedly forced

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When the public found out about the Watergate break ind, they didn’t call for his resignation or impeachment. As a matter of fact, he won his re-election by a landslide. Although, he won he was still under scrutiny but the FBI and because of this it was discovered that he secretly taped the majority of all conversations in the Whitehouse. In July 16, 1973, Alexander Butterfield, a deputy assistant for President Nixon reveals the existence of the Watergate Recordings and many other conversations that link Nixon and his committee members to the cover up of the scandal. This would later be revealed to be the doom of his presidential

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Two weeks later, all was revealed about Nixon’s involvement once he finally gave up the final tape. “With the release of the incriminating tape- the famous “smoking gun” - Nixon’s Republican support in Congress vanished. On Aug. 9, [1974], four days later, Nixon became the first president in history to resign.” (95, Miller).

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Which is why this film is extremely important to this matter because it was only released two years after Richard Nixon resigned as President of The United States. With that in mind, this film portrays the president to not be trusted due to the fact that a president, such as Nixon, may have the power to cover-up some things that are considered to be illegal. However, after watching this film several times I have noticed that it does not specifically talk about President Nixon and his wrong doings but rather, shows the audience what the people around him are doing and how it can be considered illegal. Even though, though out the majority of this film it does not show that President Nixon was involved in the conspiracy, the audience can deduce that he was, due to two facts. First, was that this film was only released shortly after the whole incident was made public by government officials and, second, the audience that watched this film when it was first released were the same people that witnessed this whole ordeal unravel in real time due to the fact that they were probably informed of the situation from different news outlets at the

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Nixon case developed because Nixon tried to use his executive power to deny turning over the tapes. The United States has a separation of powers to avoid giving one branch too much power, but Nixon was trying to overstep by not turning in the tapes, and when he finally did release them, they were tampered. Nixon also tried to argue that the tapes could not be heard in courts because it involved arguments between the executive branch. His lawyers also tried to say because he is the president he had immunity to deny releasing any tapes. Executive privilege is basically the president power to withhold information from the public eye.

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He had amassed a collection of government fills, tape records, and intelligence on the common people in the Watergate building. After it was broken into, files were stolen and released to the public. It was the first real time that the general public learned just how paranoid Nixon was, but also how much he wanted to keep the power he already had. As these precious documents surfaced, one could see in full light that Nixon exhibited all the symptoms of Paranoid Personality Disorder. He was always distrustful of people, he recorded every encounter he had, so that one could twist his words against him.

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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.

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The feeling of wariness for those in politics was not always existent; although only three presidents have faced impeachment charger, only one president has left office. Richard Nixon was the thirty seventh president of the United States, a man in the public eye for many years as both a U.S. representative and Senator (“Richard”), well educated and around sixty when he resigned from the position as president. On the evening of August 8, 1974, Nixon delivered his resignation speech over a public broadcast from his Oval Office to the people of the United States. The former president gave this speech to inform the nation of the upcoming changing president; he also voiced his hopes for the country in future affairs, especially the foreign policies

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