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Watergate Scandal (This all led to an impeachment process against the…
Watergate Scandal
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Nixon and his close aides also ordered investigations of activist groups and political figures (The following organization) As politcal weapons
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Watergate (Definiton)
The term Watergate, by metonymy, has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration.
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The name "Watergate" and the suffix "-gate" have since become synonymous with political and non-political scandals in the United States, and some other parts of the world.
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After the 5 burglers were discovered, the conspiracy was unearthed.
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This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents.
His abuse of presidential power had a long-lasting effect on American political life, creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust.
While many Americans had been deeply dismayed by the outcome of the Vietnam War, and saddened by the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and other leaders,
Watergate added further disappointment to a national climate already soured by the difficulties and losses of the previous decade.
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THE WATERGATE BREAK-IN
The origins of the Watergate break-in lay in the hostile political climate of the time. By 1972, when Republican President Richard M. Nixon was running for reelection, the United States was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the country was deeply divided.
Aggressive moves were essential for the campaign. Their aggressive tactics included what turned out to be illegal espionage.
The CREEP broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters, stole copies of top-secret documents and bugged the office’s phones.
The wiretaps failed to work properly, however, so on June 17 a group of five men returned to the Watergate building. As the prowlers were preparing to break into the office with a new microphone, a security guard noticed someone had taped over several of the building’s door locks. The guard called the police, who arrived just in time to catch the spies red-handed.
It wasn't immediately clear that the 5 spies worked for the President, but suspicions were raised after the White House's phone number was found in the burglar's belongings.
After a series of court battles, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that the president was obliged to release the tapes to government investigators (United States v. Nixon).
The tapes revealed that Nixon had attempted to cover up activities that took place after the break-in, and to use federal officials to deflect the investigation.
DID YOU KNOW? "Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein deserve a great deal of the credit for uncovering the details of the Watergate scandal. Their reporting won them a Pulitzer Prize and was the basis for their best-selling book “All the President’s Men.” Much of their information came from an anonymous whistleblower they called Deep Throat, who in 2005 was revealed to be W. Mark Felt, a former associate director of the FBI."
Nixon and his Administration bugged the offices of political opponents of whom they were suspicious.
Facing virtually certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, preventing the House from impeaching him.
On September 8, 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him.
Nixon's administration resisted Congress's accusations, which led to a constitutional crisis.
In the process of investigating the Watergate Scandal, it led to the discovery of other abuses of power by the Nixon Administration.