The Watergate Scandal Paper

The Watergate Scandal

Eric Womack

HIS/145

March 22, 2011

William Chun, III

The Watergate Scandal

In the 1970s there were many economic problems that the American people had to deal with from inflation, rising gas prices, and unemployment issues. The most stunning development that preoccupied the nation happened in 1974 with the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The Watergate scandal that started in 1972, brought about the demise of President Nixon because of his defensive stances with the media, secretive tape recordings, utter resentment of all critics, and paranoia helped to undermine most of his positive accomplishments that occurred during his administration (Brinkley, 2007, p. 880).

Media coverage of the scandal

On June 17, 1972, five men had been arrested for staging a break-in to the offices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) called the Watergate office building which is located in Washington, D.C. Shortly after, two other men who had supervised the break-in were arrested and charged. Reporters Bob Woodard and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post began an investigation into the backgrounds of the burglars, where they discovered that some of the men involved in the incident had once been employed at the Re-Election Committee for President Nixon. Upon further investigation, at least one of them had even worked in the White House and had been paid through the White House staff members secret fund account. As discoveries of this information was starting to surface, President Nixon ensured the American people that neither he or his staff had any involvement with “this very bizarre incident” (Nixon, 1972, p. 1). Majority of Americans believed in the president’s assurances and did not question his leadership in running the country.

In 1973, during the trial, one of the defendants, James W. McCord, agreed to cooperate with testimony to the grand jury and the Senate special investigating committee. His testimony exposed one...