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The Watergate Scandal: Richard Nixon And His Political Career

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Introduction This paper discusses the Watergate Scandal that brought Richard Nixon and his political career down. June 17th, 1972 went down in history as the worst possible day in President Nixon’s career which already had many lows because of the various wars he had waged. This incident was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg and the journalists had a field day when they began uncovering details that were even more upsetting and dirty. From then on it was a downward journey for Nixon and on August 8th, 1974, at 9 AM the nation witnessed a televised resignation speech delivered by him. The Burglary Early in the morning on June 17th, five burglars had entered the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters and an alert security guard, …show more content…

This link clearly established the fact that Nixon was involved up to his ears in trying to do a cover up and this raised serious doubts in the minds of the public as to why the President was involved in a cover up if he was not guilty in the first place. The FBI, CIA and the IRS were all being used by Nixon and his aides for all their dirty work and the Watergate Scandal brought out multiple instances where power had been abused to further their cause and ensure that the President stayed re-elected. The US Political arena had taken a serious turn for the bad with such orchestrated misdeeds carried out to ensure the success of a single individual. The presidential appointments secretary Alexander Butterfield, gave a statement that made the situation worse. He openly acknowledged that all conversations that took place in President Nixon’s office as well as all his telephone conversations were taped and recorded. When the court subpoenaed for these records, Nixon claimed presidential privileges and flatly refused to comply and at the same time he ordered all such recording devices to be disconnected. A bad situation was turning worse as days went by and more muck was …show more content…

Nixon refused to hand over the tapes claiming presidential privileges. When Cox refused to drop the subpoena that had been served, Nixon went further and approached big wigs in the Judicial Department to fire Cox. No one complied with the request. Finally General Robert Bork accepted to Nixon’s bidding and immediately after that he resigned from his post. A Grand Jury began the arduous task of indicting Nixon’s aides. The “Smoking Gun” tape clearly revealed Nixon’s involvement in the scandal and his attempts at cover-up. This was the last stroke in the tumbling blocks and Nixon came forward to tender his nationally televised resignation on August 8th, 1974. Nixon’s saving grace was the unconditional pardon he received from President Ford which provided immunity from all crimes he had

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