An Analysis of the Watergate Scandal in President Nixon's Administration

Indeed, this President Richard Nixon who comes to mind when we hear “Watergate” However, it is important to look at Nixon’s history to understand his actions as President of the United States. Nixon first ran for office in 1960 against victorious President John F. Kennedy. Dismayed, Nixon 1962 ran for the position of governor of California. Defeated once again, Nixon eager for power decided to reinvent himself with a new image, and thus, became the leader of the Republican Party in 1964. After four years, he finally triumphed over Hubert Humphrey to be the U.

S.’s thy seventh president, Nixon’s presidency, and ultimately his resignation will be the perspective of this paper.

President Nixon came into office with a Pandora’s Box of problems to deal with. The Nation was painfully dived, with economic turbulence in the cities and war overseas. However, once in office, President Nixon tackled head-on the issues that had plagued the U.S. His accomplishments while office included revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, introduced affirmative action,usingd price control to keep a lid on inflation, and initiated a broad environmental program.

He also kept his campaign promise and appointed Justices of conservative philosophy to the Supreme Court. The most dramatic of the events of his first term was in 1969 when American astronauts made the
first moon landing (Whitehouse. gov).

Some of his most acclaimed achievements came in his second term’s quest for world stability. During his visits in 1972 to Beijing and Moscow, he reduced tensions with China and the U.

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S.S.R. His summit meetings with Russian Leader Brezhnev produced a treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons. 1 1effort973, he announced an accord with North Viet Nam to end American involvement in Indochina. Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, negotiated disengagement agreements between Israel and its opponents, Egypt and Syria. President Nixon appeared to have a strong first term and was on the way to an even better second term (Whitehouse gov). However, his presidency and image soon came to an immediate halt.

The first detrimental piece of information to trace hints of conspiracy was the release of the Pentagon Papers” by the N.Y. Times in 1971. The papers were released to the press by an official of the department of defense, Daniel Elsberg, and revealed, among other things, that the government had planned to go to Vietnam even when president Lyndon Johnson was promising not to and that there was no plan to end the war. The document increased belief in the credibility gap, hurting the war effort. In response, President Richard Nixon ordered some members of his staff, and afterward called the plumbers o stop such “leaks” of information. The “plumbers,” among other activities, broke into the fice of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, looking for damaging information on him. Trying to ruin his credibility was the star of many conspiracies that Nixon’s Presidency would entangle (answers.com).

On June 7, 1972, agents of the committee to re-elect President Nixon were caught in the act of burglarizing the Democratic Party Headquarters in Washington’s Watergate building, This event lead to the opening of a can of worms that revealed a Presidency filled with corruption, greed, and subversion. In an attempt to divert suspicion Nixon plotted with his chief aides to quash the Watergate inquiry, arranging for H.R. Haldeman to tell Deputy CIA Director Vernon Walters that the FBI investigation of Watergate would compromise sensitive CIA operations” (Chafe, 408). Nevertheless, Nixon’s attempt to liberate himself from incrimination would fai.

The arrested member of Nixon’s re-election committee James McCord presented a letter to the Judge “alleging that high-ranking government officials had committed perjury during the investigation, that political pressure had been applied from the places fo force the defendants 19 keep their silence, and that numerous participants in the Watergate crime had never been identified during the ta” (Chate, 409). Furthermore, it was established that President Nbon had tape
recordings of conversations that had taken in the Oval Office, Upon the Senate’s request for these tapes, President Nixon counter-offered a “summary” of the tapes Alte Archibald Cox, a special prosecutor assigned to the case of Watergate, deemed that the summaries were unacceptable and ha he would still demand the full tapes, Soon after President NixonFredd Cox, attracting more Suspicion to Nixon’s involvement with a conspiracy resident Nixon was so resistant in giving up his tapes that it took a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for him to turn them over. Once in the possession of Congres,s they made a Crucial discovery. Eighteen minutes of a critical tape had been erased. Congress hesitantly inquired about the missing portion and found that “subsequent expert testimony disclosed that the tapes had been deliberately tampered with by ‘manual erasures” (Chafe, 421). Nixon with the regret of
revealing the deepest secrets of his presidency finally turned over all of the tapes, The tapes were documented beyond any doubt that just six days after the Watergate burglary, the president himself had ordered the cover-up and engaged in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice.

It was clear that President Nixon had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He refused0 to cooperate with Congressional investigations and denied vigorously any accusations that were made against him and his staff What ultimately ruined his presidency was his offensive effort to cover up any incriminating evidence, President Nixon’s encroachments on his executive powers were revealed and it was the Legislative and Judicial branches duty to empower their checks and balances on the executive branch. President Nixon was asked to appear before the House Judicial Committee on matters of impeachment. Wanting to prevent any more disgrace and possibly protect any other information President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, before his debut in court A Short, History of impeachment.

President Nixon’s presidency is known to be filled with conspiracy and corruption with flashes of executive action in the pursuit of public interest. In the American Republic, the role of the Executive Branch is to act watin ts constitutional power with the best interest of the public at heart. President Nixon betrayed the powers given to him by the constitution to ensure his powerful reign. He was $0 distracted by the illusions of conspirators against him that he forgot his purpose in office.

President Nixon should have been impeached. It would have shown to the world not our weakness but our moral strength and our search for what is right and just. Others say that impeachment would have been crippling to the U.S. during the time of the Cold War. Conversely, would have shown that the U.S. has no tolerance for tyrannies, not even within its borders and Certainly not abroad. If President Nixon had been impeached thirty years ago, it would have proved that the American three-branch government would be a success. I would have shown that Congress
has the power to strike down on the Executive Branch when titis wrongdoing. President Bush’s actions and decisions might have been very different if this “historical event” were to taken place.