Nixon and the Watergate scandal

Résumé du document

The Watergate scandal is a political scandal that occurred between 1972 and 1974 in the United States. It begins with the break-in of the democratic national committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington. It then became a scandal because Nixon and his administration tried to hide their involvement, and because we later discovered that it was just one part in a plan against the democratic party. After years of investigations, in which the press had a great role this scandal led to Nixon's resignation. It was the first and only one resignation of a president of the United States in all the history of the country.

The very first moment in this whole Watergate affair was the break-in; it was the event that triggered the huge political scandal that came after.
First, the Watergate is a very big hotel in Washington D.C.

On June 17, 1972, at precisely 2.30 in the morning, five men were arrested inside the offices of the Democratic Party National Committee located in the Watergate building (James McCord, Virgilio Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez and Bernard Baker.) They were caught attempting to bug the offices' phones and to steal top-secret documents. It was Frank Wills, the security guard working at the Watergate Hotel, who found evidence of the break-in and called the police. The men would be convicted of the break-in in January 1973.

Extraits

[...] He went quickly back to the CRP's headquarters to get rid of everything that may link the CRP to the break-in. Nixon and his advisors covered up the break- in and their strategies because they wanted to protect his political career and his image, he was just being reelected, he was the president and he was needed. Nixon's attempt to cover things up kind of worked because he was indeed reelected in a landslide in November 1972 against the democratic candidate McGovern. But it only worked a while, Nixon and his advisors were going to face a massive political scandal. [...]

[...] Nixon didn't think the tapes would be listened to by the people, and they gave a really damaging image to him. He is continually heard talking about what would be good for him and his place in history, and about his revenge. The tapes proved that President wasn't perfect, wasn't what he looked like on TV. This led to rethink many biographies of former presidents because people realized that no one is perfect. However, these events proved that no one is above the law, even the President, what is a good thing. [...]

[...] The cover up was done both by the CRP and Nixon. For example, in a speech he gave in August 1972, he insisted on the fact that the White House had nothing to do with the break-in. He also said that John Dean III (“Nixon's special detective”) conducted an investigation and could confirm that. However, this man helped covering up the story. It was proved that Nixon gave hush money (paid for their silence) to the burglars and tried to stop the FBI from investigating on the crime. [...]

[...] The Administration accused the media of making "wild accusations", of putting too much emphasis on this story, and of having a liberal bias against the Administration. The press took a lot of power during the Watergate, that is why sometimes we call the press «the fourth power» . B. The advancement of the investigation through justice and congress 1. The trial of the burglars in january 1973 and the role of Judge Sirica The judge John Sirica presided the trial of the 5 burglars of the Watergate and their 2 chiefs Hunt and Liddy. [...]

[...] In that tape, we learn they formulated a plan in order to block the investigations on the break-in. It was planned that the CIA would claim to the FBI that national security was involved. The goal was of course to obstruct the FBI in its investigation. In the conversation Nixon says to his councilor «Good deal. Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we are going to play it.» This tape damaged Nixon a lot. [...]