The Watergate Scandal
Key Players
Here are some of the people who were involved in the scandal.
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The Watergate Scandal |
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| Nixon's political career began in 1947 and ended when he became the first U.S. president to resign from office in 1974. He served as Eisenhower's vice-president for 8 years, then in 1960 he ran for president and lost to John F. Kennedy. He ran again in the 1969 election and won | |
| In order to win the 1972 election, Nixon's reelection committee planned a break in at the democratic national committee in the Watergate hotel. During the night on June 17, 1972, 5 burglars broke into the democratic national committee offices and were arrested. All five suspects gave false names to the police after being arrested. | |
| A special senate committee held televised hearings in which the former Whitehouse counsel, John dean, stated members of the Nixon administration had known of the Watergate burglary. They found that Nixon had taped conversations in the oval office. The special prosecutor requested those tapes to investigate the affair, Nixon fired him. The special prosecutor, Archebald Cox, had begun to uncover widespread evidence of political espionage by Nixon's reelection committee illegally wire tapping citizens by the administration. | |
| The investigation of Watergate unraveled a web of political spying and sabotage, it established that no president is above the law. It also exposed a trial of abuses that led to the highest levels of the Nixon administration. The Watergate affair was a national trauma, a crisis that tested and affirmed the rule of law. On August 9, 1974 Richard M. Nixon resigned from office under the threat of impeachment. Vice-president Gerald Ford took his place and became the first president to ascend to both positions (Vice-president and President) without being elected. | |
| Americans remain divided on the meaning of the Watergate scandal. Many people now say that the government is more honest and presidents more accountable. To this day no one has produced a satisfactory explanation of what the burglars hoped to actually find out. | |
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Key Players Here are some of the people who were involved in the scandal. |
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(John Mitchel)-He was Nixon's law partner. He was convicted of perjury and conspiracy and served 19 months in jail. |
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(H.R. Halderman)-He was Nixon's chief of staff, he accompanied Nixon in covering up the tapes. |
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(E. Howard Hunt)-He was part of the plumbers organization and organized the bugging at the Watergate hotel. He helped investigators and reporters link Nixon to the break in. Hunt served 33 months in prison. |
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(G. Gordon Liddy)-The former FBI agent who helped plan the Watergate break in. He served 4 1/2 years in prison. |
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(John Sirica)-Presided over the Watergate trial. He started asking questions and asked Nixon to turn over the tapes. |
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(John Dean)-The former Whitehouse counsel who was charged with obstruction of justice and spent 4 months in prison. |
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(John Erielchman)-He was the director of the plumbers organization. (Plumbers were people assigned to investigate the Pentagon papers.) |
| Cody Julian
8th grade American history Rossville J.r. high The Watergate scandal project May 2002 |