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Watergate Scandal
The Watergate scandal was Richard Nixon's illegal attempt to gather information about the Democratic party in the 1972 presidential election. It resulted in his resignation in 1974.
423 Questions
John Sirica
What is the relevance today of the Watergate Scandal?
It is having very little effect now.
In the wake of Watergate came campaign fiance reforms that drastically reduced the power of big donors. However, money never sleeps and the investor class through their Congressional representatives and a conservative Court have repealed and/or overturned all of the Watergate reforms.
The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010) Supreme Court decision returned us to a system with no meaningful limits on money in politics and allows Political Action Committees to raise unlimited funds that get spent in the closing weeks to buy negative TV ads against candidates without equal resources. The result since the Supreme Court ruling is a congress unduly influenced by big money interests, mainly banks but other special interests as well.
Currently, there is a drastic difference in the way the two parties raise money. One side raises most of it's money through large numbers of small donations. The other raise most of it's money through a small number of very large donations.
We have returned to the system of unlimited, secret donations that were caused such a public outrage when uncovered by the Watergate investigations.
Now, the populace is not displaying any such outrage.
What did mark felt do to uncover Watergate?
Former FBI assistant director Mark Felt was "Deep Throat" a confidential informant who fed information to Woodward & Bernstein.
The Pacific Scandal was about bribes being accepted by members of the government for the national railroad contract. The scandal took place in Canada in 1873.
What arguments did President Nixon use to try to withhold the water gate tapes?
Nixon sought to invoke "executive privilege". Executive privilege isthe power claimed by thePresident of the United Statesand other members of theexecutive branchto resist certainsubpoenasand other interventions by thelegislativeandjudicial branchesof government. The concept of executive privilege is not mentioned explicitly in theUnited States Constitution, but theSupreme Court of the United Statesruled it to be an element of theseparation of powersdoctrine, and/or derived from the supremacy of executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity
TheSupreme Courtconfirmed the legitimacy of this doctrine inUnited States v. Nixon, but only to the extent of confirming that there is a qualified privilege. Once invoked, a presumption of privilege is established, requiring the Prosecutor to make a "sufficient showing" that the "Presidential material" is "essential to the justice of the case."(418 U.S. at 713-14).Chief JusticeBurgerfurther stated that executive privilege would most effectively apply when the oversight of the executive would impair that branch's national security concerns. In the case of Watergate, national security was NOT the issue at hand.
Why do people experience disillusionment when the Watergate incident happened?
It was irrefutable proof that America is a much darker place than politicians would have us believe. It showed us that there is more to America than the ideals of freedom and democracy that are instilled in all of us from birth.
Did the Watergate scandal increase political efficacy?
no it did not increase it. the scandal brought about mistrust of the government and made citizens think they had no say in the government. this can be related to the Vietnam war, the whitewater scandal or the Iran-contra
What happened to Ronald Reagan as a result of the Watergate Scandal?
Ronald Reagan was not directly involved in the Watergate scandal.
The big break in the Watergate scandal came when Alexander Butterfield revealed what?
Nixon had kept a series of secret tapes of his meetings
Was Richard Nixon convicted of authorizing the Watergate break in or just the cover up?
Richard Nixon was never convicted of anything involving the Watergate matter. After Nixon resigned, President Gerald Ford gave Nixon a presidential pardon for any and all acts he committed during his presidency in that matter. Thus, he was spared from even being accused of any criminal action, much less being convicted of such activity. Aside from criminal prosecution, Nixon also escaped impeachment by resigning the presidency before formal articles of impeachment could be voted on by the full House of Representatives even though a House committee had voted to recommend impeachment.
What has been the most lasting effect of Watergates?
In the years following Vietnam and Watergate, the American public and the media developed a general cynicism about public officials that still exists today.
The office at the Watergate that was burglarized belonged to the Democratic National Committee. The Republican Party was looking for information that they could use to to their advantage in the 1972 elections.
Who headed the campaign to sabotage Democrats on Watergate burglary?
Most scholars believe that President Nixon, himself, was the one who headed up and approved of this plan.
What did the Watergate Scandal illustrate?
The media during Watergate served as a powerful watchdog against lies, corruption, illegal acts, and abuse of power in government, especially the Executive Branch.
The media is attempting again in 2017 to be watchdogs with all 3 branches of government, but in particular, with the Executive Branch and President Trump.
What did the trial and sentencing of the Watergate burglars lead to?
The sentencing of the Watergate burglars led to Gerald Ford's pardon of President Nixon.
What are the impacts of the Water gate scandal and the Iran gate scandal?
iran contra= national security issue
What was the controversy at Water Gate with President Nixon?
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States in the 1970s. Named for the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, President of the United States, on August 9, 1974. It also resulted in the indictment and conviction of several Nixon administration officials.
The scandal began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The men were connected to the 1972 Committee to Re-elect the President by a slush fund[1] and investigations conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary Committee and the news media.
President Nixon's staff conspired to cover up the break-in.[2] As evidence mounted against the president's staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in a Senate investigation, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations.[3][4] Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in.[2][5] After a series of court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied.
Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and a strong possibility of a conviction in the Senate, Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974.[6][7] His successor, Gerald Ford, would issue a pardon unto President Nixon.
Did Nixon achievements in office compensate for his Watergate crimes?
Almost certainly yes.
His actual achievements were sadly heavily overshadowed by Watergate and ultimatelycaused most of his main accomplishments to be overlooked historically.
To list a few key examples -
Richard Nixon removed America from the gold standard as he became very acutely aware that America's gold reserves were no where near enough collateral for the basis of the value of the dollar.
Nixon opened up relations with China and Russia which were unthinkable before, incredible at the time and sadly deteriorated after his resignation.
Nixon managed to 'end' Vietnam, a war he did not declare or escalate to the high scaleas what happened under the Johnson administration, under a thin veil of negotiated 'peace with honor'. The peace was practically impossible to achieve, however through careful diplomatic work via Kissinger with Russia and China and huge bombing campaigns he managed to make the Vietnamese government recognise that America was not just going to withdraw unconditionally.
Richard Nixon recognised that desegregation was necessary, but did not agree with some children having to commute for over 50 miles to achieve this when they had a perfectly good school 100 yards down the street. He therefore attempted (without much success, but ultimately to his credit) to attempt to change the law to remove this ridiculously unflexable and impractical policy.
In brief, Nixon liked big, bold strategies to 'knock people off their feet'.
it can not be overlooked that Nixon was complicit in Watergate, but only by the means that he did not have any specific prior knowledge, was probably aware of 'questionably illegal activities', however his biggest mistake in Watergate was that he did NOT act boldly or decisively as he had done countless times in his political career and this ultimately led to the end of his presidency and tarnished all of his amazing achievements.
It could easily be argued that with the exception of FDR, Nixon was the most influential president of the 20th century, who, once again with the exception of FDR achieved the most in his presidency.
Why did a break in at the Watergate office building turn into a major political scandal?
The watergate affair became a scandal because the Nixon administration attempted to cover it up. when asked to give tapes of conversations about the break-in to the supreme court, nixon refused.
