Watergate Scandal In The White House
The Watergate Scandal was a series of crimes committed by the President Nixon and his staff members who were found to of spied on and harassed political opponents, accepted illegal campaign contributions, and covered up their own misdeeds.
On June 17, 1972, The Washington Post published a small story. In which the reporters stated that five men had been arrested breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. These bumbling fools had made two attempts prior; the first time they were halted in their efforts due to what they thought was an alarm, their second attempt the next day led them to no better conclusion, when they were confronted by a locked door, which they were unable to open. Finally on the third day (Sunday) having sent the locksmith back to Miami on a day round trip, they got the door wrenched open and went in. (Emery, 05).
The democratic headquarters were located in a Washington, D.C. building complex called Watergate. These burglars were carrying equipment to wiretap telephones and take pictures of documents. The Washington Post had two reporters who researched deep into the story. Their names were Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, they discovered that one of the suspects had an address book with the name and phone number of a White House official who could have been involved in the crime (Woodward). The reporters suspected that other White House officials had ordered the break-in. During a press conference in August of 1972, president Nixon said that nobody on the White House staff was involved in the crime. Most of the public accepted Nixon's word and dropped the questioning. But when the burglars went to trial four months later. The story changed rapidly from a small disturbance to a national scandal, which ended only when Richard Nixon was forced from office. The Watergate investigation eventually exposed a long series of illegal activities in the Nixon...
View Full Essay