The Watergate Scandal
by Staff WriterOn August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first President in United States history to resign from office. Nixon’s downfall was largely due to the Watergate scandal, which began on June 17, 1972. The Watergate scandal is the famous term given to the illegal activity that took place at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel complex in Washington, D.C.
Five men were arrested at the Watergate complex in 1972 when they were caught breaking into the national headquarters of the democratic fund. These men were Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord Junior and Frank Sturgis. E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy were also accused of illegal activity. Hunt was a member of the White House “Plumbers,” a secret panel that was assembled to stop government leaks. Liddy, who had been general counsel to the committee to re-elect the President, helped plan the Watergate break-in, he was also a White House “Plumer.” Liddy refused to answer FBI questions about Watergate. And Nixon’s seven associates were indicted on charges of burglary, conspiracy and wire-tapping and were later sentenced to prison terms.
The Deputy Director of the committee to re-elect the President told several prosecutors that men in Nixon’s inner circle were involved. He said they destroyed incriminating evidence and gave false testimony.
In early 1973, the United States Senate established an investigative committee led by Senator Sam Erwin. Nixon’s Ex-Counsel, John Dean, told the committee that Nixon knew all about the cover-up even though this was denied to a great extent by Nixon. In July 1973, a former White House Official testified that Nixon had secretly tape-recorded his conversations. The tapes were subpoenaed but Nixon citing executive privilege and refused to provide the tapes, and ordering that the subpoena be dropped.
On March 1st, 1974, a federal grand jury indicted the seven men including H.R. Alderman, Nixon’s chief of staff and John Erlichman, Nixon’s assistant for domestic affairs; both were close advisors of Nixon, and John Michel the former Attorney General. They were charged on terms of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
On April 30th, Nixon released edited transcripts of the tapes but they contained suspicious gaps. Federal Judge John Sirica subpoenaed additional tapes and when Nixon refused, the case went to the Supreme Court. The court unanimously ruled against Nixon 8 to 0. The house judiciary committee recommended that the charges of the Richard Nixon impeachment be on; obstruction of justice, abuse of Presidential powers and trying to impede the impeachment process by defying committee.
Nixon finally released three tapes on August 5th 1974. One revealed clearly that a cover-up was established by Richard Nixon. Impeachment of Nixon became inevitable. Nixon finally resigned from the Presidency.
President Nixon spoke the following about his resignation:
“I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice-President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office. As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began their second term, I feel a great sadness...”
The worst political scandal in United States history was finally over. Though the public was deeply troubled by the reckless actions of Nixon, the White House and the Watergate scandal in general; most Americans took comfort in the fact that the federal system of the government did work. Nixon’s resignation was proof of that. Because the illegal activity at Watergate was so closely tied to Nixon; Watergate and Nixon will forever be associated with one another.
After the Watergate scandal new laws were created leading to widespread changes in campaign economics. Laws requiring new monetary disclosures by government officials were also created after the scandal. Media also changed a great deal after the events of Watergate. The media became much more aggressive and obtrusive in reporting detailed activities of presidential leaders and political events in general.
