Falb11 Wk 07

What Watergate

Means To Journalists

Watergate changed the landscape of the relationship between journalists and presidential administration. Previous to the Watergate scandal involving President Richard Nixon’s involvement in the break-in of the Democratic headquarters, journalists did not have a strong purpose in political scandals. They reported on events and wrote op-ed pieces, but never before had they been so closely linked to the uncovering of a scandal.

The Watergate scandal was not the first time a President was involved in a scandal involving dishonest acts performed by those in his administration. It was actually not even the first time Richard Nixon was involved in such a scandal. It was however; the first time Nixon was the one in the hot seat. In 1958 Nixon had to fire someone close to President, Eisenhower. President Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, Sherman Adams was involved in the Overcoat scandal.

The Overcoat scandal is what people refer to as the incident in which Adams had accepted two very expensive items; a vicuna overcoat and an oriental rug. These items were given to him from Bernard Goldfine, who was a Boston textile manufacturer that was under a Federal Trade Commission investigation for violations. Mr. Goldfine would not name to the Senate his relationship with Sherman Adams. Because of the situation Mr. Goldfine was in, those items were though to be bribes. Obviously bribery is not only looked down upon in political office, but illegal. Because of the illegality of the incident Adams had to be forced out of the administration.

Richard Nixon, the Vice-President to Eisenhower at the time, was asked to be the one to “fire,” Adams. The reason President Eisenhower was not willing to do this task himself was that he had a strong friendship with Adams. This intimate friendship is most likely what kept President Eisenhower from noticing the wrongness in Adam’s actions.

Prior to complete proof being presented to Eisenhower that Sherman...