Period 1
3/18/18
Watergate Scandal
During President Nixon's time in office, he participated in one of the largest scandals any president was involved in. Although it was unknown that Nixon had any involvement in the scandal at first it became clear just how much he was involved. Nixon started off by ordering five men to break into the democratic party office and install bugs to monitor everything the Democrats were talking about. This is where Nixon's first violation of the law was, however it turned out that the recording devices weren't working properly which forced the five men to go back where they were caught this time. At first, it seemed just like any normal burglary but as investigations went on, more and more questions arose about who these men were and why they were there. As time went on, and investigations continue, Nixon was forced to take more money out of the governments funding and use it for his own personal reasons to cover up the burglary. Nixon's web of lies began to fall apart when members of his own administration testified against him in court, and Nixon was forced to release the tapes of his secret recording system within the oval office. When significant parts of the tapes had been deleted and there were massive gaps in recording, it was clear that Nixon was hiding something. On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned in order to avoid impeachment just one month later. Despite Nixon's foreign success his presidency would always be known to be corrupt because of his involvement in the Watergate scandal. 
While reading your post, I began to wonder how the American people felt after Nixon left office and had some time away from the direct public eye. I thought that maybe Nixon's accomplishments as president might have been remembered, or that he might have done something good to regain public support. However, Nixon's approval rating has remained between 25% and 40% since Watergate, with little action taking place apart from slight increases and decreases here and there. It seems like after the scandal that was Watergate, there was no forgiving of Nixon to be done by the American people.
ReplyDeletehttps://ropercenter.cornell.edu/the-american-publics-attitudes-about-nixon-post-watergate/
Good job on the post Gavin. The Watergate scandal is a very important event in American History, and I'm glad you decided to write about it. Like Kenneth, I thought that Nixon's accomplishments such as creating the EPA and fighting the debt would be remembered by the American people. However, Nixon's involvement in Watergate as well as the fact that he was immediately pardoned for his crimes after he resigned has left a taint on his reputation forever.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Gavin. Reading about the Watergate Scandal reminded me of the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal which occurred 20 years later. In both cases, Nixon and Clinton faced impeachment for obstruction of justice and lying to the public. However, Nixon resigned before being removed from office, whereas Clinton narrowly avoided impeachment when the Senate voted to acquit him of his charges.
ReplyDeleteSource:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/richard-nixon-bill-clinton-faced-impeachment-obstruction-justice/story?id=47460022