The Watergate Scandal

The Watergate Scandal

For many people, when they think about the Nixon administration, the first thing

that comes to mind is Watergate, the political scandal that tarnished the

White House during the 1970’s, leading ultimately to Richard Nixon’s presidential

downfall. While there are those who may believe otherwise, President Nixon's role in

the Watergate scandal was large enough to most definitely warrant his impeachment.

The Man

In November of 1968, Richard M. Nixon, in one of the closet elections in all of

American history, won the presidency and became the thirty-seventh president of the

United States. Nixon was a President who was obsessed with secrecy and could not

accept honest differences of opinion. He viewed every critic as a threat to national

security and developed an “enemies list” that included reporters, politicians, and

celebrities unfriendly to the administration.1 Nixon was terrified of becoming a singular

term president. It would become known that the foiled break-in attempt at the Watergate

was part of a larger campaign by Nixon supporters to tarnish the reputation of

Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party. Democratic candidates were

harassed, subject to negative campaign ads, and on two separate occasions the

National Democratic Headquarters were broken into.

What’s Going on Behind the Scenes

On Saturday, June 17, 1972, five men opened a doorway which had been taped to

prevent it from locking, and ascended the stairs to the sixth floor of the Watergate Hotel

in Washington D.C. They entered a room where the Democratic National Committee

kept documents where they broke into files, stole documents and video cameras,

and planted bugging devices in the ceiling. The security officer of the Watergate, Frank

Wills, found the taped door and contacted the police at 2:00 a.m. The police

Arrived, and they began searching the office building. When they saw lights on on the

eighth