Preview

Analysis of Watergate

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1872 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of Watergate
Watergate: Analysis of a Presidential Crisis The term “Watergate” has become a common household name in correlation with people's thoughts about corruption in government. President Nixon was in office at the time of this scandal and is often thought to be the most famous face in America's conspiracy of wickedness in the government. The Watergate scandal had rocked everything our country thought we knew about the American Presidency because it had forfeited the common vision of the leader of the nation. Watergate had replaced the image of elegance and worldliness of the U.S. President with a scattered vision of corruption and extreme competitive measures that the country had never been a part of. Richard Nixon and his men had taken unauthorized recordings of his reelection competition and other illegal activities such as accepting prohibited campaign contributions. Richard Nixon was born in 1913 and was placed into a life of academics and politics. He attended Whittier College and Duke University Law School. He was, elected to the senate in 1950. From there General Eisenhower selected Nixon to be his Presidential running mate as the Vice President. He served many duties and many responsibilities for President Eisenhower. Later, in 1960 he ran for office against John F. Kennedy and lost by a close defeat. Then two short years later he ran for Governor of California and again was unsuccessful. His luck seemed to have changed less than a decade later when he was nominated for presidency in 1968. He had convinced America that in return for their selection of himself to be their leader, he would make peace from the turmoil that was the United States during the Vietnam war. In a small defeat against Hubert H. Humphrey, he rose to the exclusive title of President1. In his first term, before the Watergate scandal, President Nixon had made some notable achievements. He visited Russia to negotiate a treaty for limiting of nuclear weapons, as well as easing cold war

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Watergate Scandal Essay

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Many people argue that the Watergate Scandal had an overall damaging and negative influence on American politics. They say that the scandal instilled in the citizens a feeling of distrust and doubt regarding politicians. On the other hand, I believe that even though the Watergate Scandal was an event of corruption in politics, its positive consequences outweighed the negative. The Watergate Scandal showed President Richard Nixon’s corruption in his attempt to cover up the break in of the office of the Democratic National Committee. Not only did he cover the crime up, he also raised money to keep the burglars quiet and abused his power to obstruct the FBI’s investigation, allowing illicit activities to take place. This event, at first glance,…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Nixon, the only president to ever resign from office, was considered a worse president than his predecessor, Lyndon B Johnson. President Richard Nixon was the 37th president, whose term lasted from January 9, 1969 to August 9, 1974. Nixon was doomed to almost certain impeachment in 1973. Nixon resigned in 1974 with the threat of impeachment looming over his head. President Nixon had a poor impression on his presidency title when compared to his predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson because of the Watergate scandal, violation of international law, and attempt at wage and price controls.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Watergate Dbq

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During Richard Nixon’s term of U.S Presidency, he was part of a series of scandals called The Watergate Scandals. The scandals began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. Investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and later by the Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary Committee and the press revealed that this burglary was one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon's staff. They also revealed the immense scope of crimes and abuses, which included campaign fraud, political espionage and sabotage, illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, illegal wiretapping on a massive scale, and a secret slush fund laundered in Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations. This secret fund was also used as hush money to buy silence of the seven men who were indicted for the June 17 break-in.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Richard Nixon

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Richard Milhous Nixon was born to Francis and Hannah Nixon on January 9, 1913 on a lemon ranch his father built in Yorba Linda, California. His early life was marked by financial hardship and by the deaths of his brothers. In 1922, after the failure of the ranch, Frank Nixon opened a grocery store in which the entire Nixon family worked in order to make ends meet. Nixon was always an active student, pursuing his interests in student government, drama, and football while living at home and helping to run the family’s store. After marrying Pat Ryan in 1940, Nixon moved on to join a law firm and enlist in the Navy. Further careers prior to his Presidency involved Congressman and Senator. As a two-term congressman, he served on the Education and Labor Committee and supported the enactment of the Taft-Hartley Act, which greatly restricted the powers of labor unions. Nixon moved on to take the role of the California Senate seat in 1950.…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Watergate scandal was the first of its kind in United Stated history. The scandal…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Presidents Ford and Carter had mostly different experiences before taking oath for the presidency, with the exception of some similar exposures. Ford climbed up the ladder to become a lieutenant commander of the Navy during World War II. After World War II, he proved his dedication to politics by serving in Congress for 25 years. He served as a House Minority Leader from 1965-1973. Ford became allies with President Nixon during Nixon’s administration. Ford was a huge fan of Nixon’s domestic policies and supported him all the way. Due to the exposure of the Watergate incident, Spiro Agnew resigned, leaving Nixon without a vice-president. Nixon appointed Ford to be his new vice-president. Nearly a year later, Nixon resigned, leaving all of the nation’s problems on Ford’s plate. Carter, like Ford, served in the Navy before entering politics. Carter served seven years as a naval officer. However, his entrance into politics was humbler than Ford’s. He started out locally, unlike Ford’s jump for national politics. In 1955, he sat in the Sumter County Board of Education and eventually became the chairman. He entered state politics in 1962 in the Georgia senate. Even though Carter first persevered to enter Congress, he decided to run for governor of Georgia to shine his liberal light on the state.…

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Watergate Scandal

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages

    June 17, 1972 there was a break in reported. The break in was at the Watergate office complex. There were 6 key players in this story. The first was G. Gordon Liddy; he was engineered and executed the Watergate break in. Many say that it was a rogue operation. It is implied that Nixon and Bob Haldeman and John D. Erlichmann did not know anything about the break in. These men got in trouble because they were part of the cover up. This was all supposed to be set up by what they called “The Plumbers”. They were named this in order to cover up or fix any leaks.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the contrary to Reagan, Richard Nixon grew up in a home where he had an abusive father and two of his brothers died growing up. Nixon pushed himself into politics through his whole life, starting in high school when he became Student Class President. In college, Nixon learned how to be a great liar when he decided to become a lawyer. When people say, “Only painters and lawyers can change white to black,” Nixon proved them correct. Finally when he couldn’t get a job as a lawyer he got into politics. Now let’s look at the leadership qualities that each previous president had which caused the differences in their political careers.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Watergate is another event which has weakened the position and image of the United States at the time of Cold war-era. It was political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. The scandal led to resignation of president Nixon and caused a trial, conviction and incarceration of 43 people, including dozens of top Nixon administration officials.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first action he took that gained the attention of much of the nation was pardoning Nixon for the Watergate incident. His own reasons for that were as simple as him wanting to heal the nation by forgiving and not holding a grudge against a man who held power only for four years, and yet most Americans never saw his true reasoning. The public saw it as a deal: office for a pardon. Ford would get the nation for Nixon to be pardoned of all transgressions. The effect this had on Ford’s chances at passing any laws was restricting as most of Congress didn’t want to work with him. His chances for the 1976 election were essentially kaput.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A 60% approval rating for President Nixon ended abruptly on the night of June 17th, 1972. As a matter of fact, by the time the scandal was fully exposed to the public, his ratings had plummeted to 66% disapprove. The spiral of control that President Nixon lost over time started with his need for re-election in his second term. His actions against our constitution that were intended to ensure his reelection were committed in the most immoral ways and subsequently exposed to the public eye due to the diligent reporting of our press. The pressure from the press on Nixon and his administration forced him to resign after his only ten supporters in congress voted for his impeachment.…

    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “The Watergate Scandal began early in the morning of June 12, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C” (History.com staff). Months after the break- in, some of the burglars pleaded guilty and were convicted of conspiracy, among other things (Karmi). The burglars were unknowingly working for the White House. But despite this, Richard Nixon was at the top of his game, doing better than he ever had before in political standard (Angley). He won a re-election that year, in a landslide victory, ofe of the highest margins ever for a…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Richard Nixon was known for opening the door to China, and bettering the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. Richard Nixon was very famous for what he did, but on June 17, 1972 all of his fame changed. The Watergate incident was one of the most tragic events in the United States because the scandal involved a president, participating in a cover up. Richard Nixon was positive, but also negative to the United States because of the Watergate break-in. President Nixon did demonstrate good leadership, but at the sametime he displayed a careless example of leadership.…

    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    jckgg

    • 1546 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Starting off as just a young lad, at the age of three his mother took him and his brother out on a horse-drawn buggy. They lost control, the horse turned a corner too fast and young Nixon was thrown out of the car. He was left with a scar. A scar that represented a constant pattern of falling and running in his life. Nixon was a symbol of the politics of anger for her was one of the most hated figures of his time. Despite his achievements of: withdrawing the U.S. from Vietnam, restored relations with China, reasoned the first major arms agreement with the Soviet Union; his lasting legacy that haunts him is that he was the chief perpetrator and chief victim of the Watergate scandal. Also the only President ever to resign in disgrace. By all means he was an intelligent man that received offers from Harvard and Yale, however, he contained a quality of self-destructiveness that would hurt his reputation and overall strategy. Richard Nixon suffered a very difficult background. It consisted of poverty, family illness, and endless work. His father Frank ran away from home in the Fourth grade. Forced to make a man if himself he had to pick a series of odd jobs. He moved out to California in 1907 and married a Quaker woman named Hannah. Nixon’s mother sent him to school every day in a starched white shirt and a black bow tie. He worked hard for his grades and was a clever man of debating. His father earned a job as an oil-field worker. He moved on to own a gas station, then turning that into a general store. One down side to this was that all throughout High School Nixon was forced to get up at 4 every morning to drive to Seventh Street market in…

    • 1546 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Watergate came to be known as the greatest political scandal in United States history to date. It was not only a huge disappointment to the American people and the individuals who placed their faith and trust in him…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays