Water Gate Scandal

The Watergate Scandal

John Doe

American History

March 12, 2010

The Watergate Scandal

Although frequently referred to as The Watergate Scandal, a better understanding of this historically infamous event makes it apparent that it was much more than a scandal. More accurately, it was an assault on the sanctity and honor of politics. It heralded an era where “win at all costs” had new meaning, but what was Watergate? How did it become one in the same with trickery, deceit, and scandal? This essay will discuss what occurred at Watergate, as well as the general public opinion about Watergate, President Richard Nixon, and his following resignation from the presidency of the United States.

June 17, 1972, was the day that former President Richard Nixon gave several federal agents the authorization to break into the Watergate Hotel. The agents were of different branches that worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Secret Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The illegal operation was an effort to extract political records of the Democratic Party which Nixon at the time, suspected to be incriminating records that he could use to in order for him to have leverage, thus having a better chance of re-election.

After the discovery and exploitation of the forceful entries into the Watergate Hotel, Nixon denied any affiliation to the operation through many speeches in which he addressed the illegal event. To make matters worse, he also terminated members of his administration and federal employees who were alleged in the Watergate Scandal.

The consequence of his actions in shifting the focus of the investigation toward the associates under him was a poor attempt that sprung a new set of suspicions. For a short time, these tactics deflected attention from him, but ultimately these efforts were the basis for the charges of obstruction of justice that were leveled against him. As the investigation unfolded, the evidence showed that Nixon held an...