One of the legacies of the Watergate Scandal is people do not trust the government as much as they did before. It has also led to more transparency on the part of the government.

The goal of the Watergate break in was to gain information that might be helpful in the presidential election campaign. After the burglars were caught, the goal was to cover up any connection between them and the re-election committee and then later to impede the investigation of the cover-up.

Watergate is the name of a Hotel in Wahington where the famous break in that caused a scandal for President Richard Nixon and resulted in his resignation.

Watergate has become a general term for a series of political scandals, which began with the arrest of five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington D.C. office/apartment complex and hotel called the Watergate on June 17, 1972. The attempted cover-up of the break-in ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Investigations conducted by the FBI, Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary Committee and the press revealed that this burglary was just 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, wiretapping on a massive scale, including the wiretapping of the press and regular citizens, and a secret slush fund laundered in Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations.[1] 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.[2] President Nixon and his staff conspired to cover up the break-in as early as six days after it occurred. [3] After enduring two years of mounting evidence against the President and his staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in a Senate investigation,[4] it was revealed that Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations.[5] Undeniable evidence, spoken by Nixon himself and recorded on tape, revealed that he had obstructed justice and attempted to cover up the break-in.[3][6] This recorded conversation later became known as the Smoking Gun. After a series of court battles, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the President must hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied. With certainty of an impeachment in the House of Representatives and of a conviction in the Senate,[7][8] Nixon resigned ten days later, becoming the only US President to have resigned from office.

Congress, actually the Senate, empaneled a committee titled The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina to investigate the activities of the participants in the incident that later became known as the Watergate Scandal. After those hearings, the House of Representatives created a committee chaired by Representative Peter Rodino of New Jersey to draft Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon.

deep throat

The Watergate scandal began on 17 June 1972. This was during the term of Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974).

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He avoided it at first by keeping it a secret that he had the tapes in the first place. A man named Alex Butterfield released information that president Nixon had tapes he was keeping secret, which is what made president Nixon have to turn them in.

Select Committee

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the person is dean

The Watergate scandal was and is still very notorious. The biggest person who was involved in the Watergate scandal was Richard Nixon.

'The connection between the break-in and the re-election campaign committee was highlighted by media coverage. In particular, investigative coverage byTime, The New York Times, and especially The Washington Post, fueled focus on the event. The coverage dramatically increased publicity and consequent political repercussions. Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deep into the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and even the White House.

Chief among the Post's anonymous sources was an individual they had nicknamed Deep Throat (who was later revealed in 2005 to be former Deputy Director of the FBI William Mark Felt, Sr.) It was the informant 'Deep Throat' who met secretly with Woodward, and told him of Howard Hunt's involvement with the Watergate break-in, and that the rest of the White House staff regarded the stake in Watergate extremely high.


'Deep Throat' also warned Woodward that the FBI wanted to know where he and the other reporters were getting the information which was uncovering even a wider web of crimes than first disclosed. In one of their last meetings, all of which took place at an underground parking garage somewhere in Washington DC at 2:00 AM, Deep Throat cautioned Woodward that he might be followed and not to trust their phone conversations.'

Conclusion: The media played a massive role in almost impeaching one of the most powerful men in the World and most certainly the roles played by 'Post' reporters Woodward and Bernstein were instrumental in forcing President Nixon to resign...

Information taken directly from Wikipedia, see link below.

Both events were secret attempts by the United States to undermine pro-Soviet governments.

In the summer of 1974 Richard Nixon faced mounting pressure because of the continuing discoveries of the Watergate scandal. His approval rating reached an all time low of 23%. Finally on August 9th, 1974 Richard Nixon resigned in order to avoid facing impeachment by the Congress.

When Nixon's White House tapes demonstrated that he had authorized the payment of "hush money" to those involved in the Watergate break-in, and it became clear that he was about to be impeached, Nixon resigned.

There was much talk of a criminal prosecution after he left office. Gerald Ford, the Vice President who had taken over as President at Nixon's resignation, was constantly asked about the subject. He decided that the country could not afford to go through such a trial, which would likely last years, so extended a full pardon to Nixon.

Nixon retired to New Jersey and stayed out of the limelight. But his reputation, particularly in the area of foreign affairs, was somewhat revived in the 1980s, chiefly by his writings on the subject.

Three articles of impeachment were voted on by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives against President Nixon at the end of July, 1974. The articles were:

• obstruction of justice

• abuse of power

• contempt of Congress

The reasons for each article is lengthy, but the entire text of each can be found online on many different sites. The genuine fear on the part of lawmakers, pundits, and the media was that the high crimes and misdemeanors laid out by the Judiciary Committee might go unpunished. President Nixon might continue to push back against his critics, and continue to subvert the Constitution, and might leave office in January 1977 having managed to hang on. That seems unlikely. White House staff members had resigned, been ordered to resign or had gone to prison. This did not go unnoticed by those covering the White House, who wondered how deep the story went. Those former employees only knew part of the story. The release of the unexpurgated tapes made it all clear.

After it was all over it was common to hear people say, "the system worked;" in other words, the Constitution worked. It provides for a means to lawfully remove a president from office, and the first of those measures had been enacted. President Nixon had not been able to prevent the House Judiciary committee from doing its job. Rather than see it take its articles to the floor of the House, Nixon resigned. Somewhat ironically, his last act as president was entirely in keeping with the Constitution. (Article 2, Section 1.)

the Committee to Re-elect the President used "dirty tricks" to ruin opposing candidates' careers. They organized the Watergate break-in

Watergate has entered the political lexicon as a term synonymous with corruption and scandal, yet the Watergate Hotel is one of Washington's plushest hotels. Even today, it is home to former Senator Bob Dole and was once the place where Monica Lewinsky laid low. It was here that the Watergate Burglars broke into the Democratic Party's National Committee offices on June 17, 1972. If it had not been for the alert actions of Frank Wills, a security guard, the scandal may never have erupted. MORE It turned out that the arrest of five men on 17 June 1972 who were trying to install electronic listening devices in the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC was just one of several surreptitious activities sponsored by the Nixon Administration. Nixon’s aides had also engineered the burglary of a Los Angeles psychiatrist’s office to try and obtain damaging information about Daniel Ellsberg, a Defense Department employee who leaked the Pentagon Papers, revealing the activities of the administration regarding Vietnam.

Local police investigated the burglary and the burglars. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who were reporters for the Washington Post, dug into the story and published it. Archibald Cox was appointed special counsel to look into matter. Eventually the Senate set up a Watergate investigation committee .

Us president Nixon was trying to get information about the democrat.

The Watergate Scandal was a threat to the Checks and Balances and Separation of Powers written into the Constitution. No branch, or elected official, or governmental worker is above the law. It turned out that the arrest of five men on 17 June 1972 who were trying to install electronic listening devices in the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC was just one of several surreptitious activities sponsored by the Nixon Administration. Nixon’s aides had also engineered the burglary of a Los Angeles psychiatrist’s office to try and obtain damaging information about Daniel Ellsberg, a Defense Department employee who leaked the Pentagon Papers, revealing the activities of the administration regarding Vietnam. The press and public began to view Nixon’s administration and activities as “the Imperial Presidency” because Nixon and his advisors became so arrogant in their possession of power. They seemed to believe they were above the law. Nixon even went so far as to claim that if something was done by the president, that means it was not illegal. The public began to distrust the power that had been amassed in the office of the Executive. The separation of powers did not seem to be working as designed by the Founding Fathers. Others saw the resignation of the president of confirmation that the Constitution was working, and even the President was not above the law. The Watergate Affair also served as a civics lesson to the public. Many began to pay close attention to their representatives and to begin to question the leaders in Washington and in local and state offices. An immediate effect was a closer examination of the activities of the executive office by the legislative and judicial branches.

Cannot trust the Political people working in the government