How Did Watergate Scandal

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Watergate Scandal
There are several events in the American history that indicate the restriction of knowledge and information to the public and the reactions that are experienced due to their exposure. One of the historic events apart from the black American slavery is the Watergate scandal. Watergate scandal is a major event that occurred in the history of the United States that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon who was the then US president. Watergate is considered to be the greatest political scandal in the American history because no other US president has ever resigned apart from Richard Nixon. The scandal broke out of the release of information that had earlier been restricted from the general public.
It all began with the president recording all the conversations that took place in office and the discovery of these tape recordings that led to his downfall (Schudson 58). The scandal later revealed the activities that Nixon and his administration carried out behind closed doors. The activities included bugging down offices of their political opponents if they suspected their dirty activities to prevent them from leaking the information to the public (Waldron 7).
Five men hired by Nixon’s administration were caught for breaking in Watergate hotel complex in which the DNC headquarters was situated. The burglars were found with stolen money that was used to fund Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign so that he could be re-elected. This was the beginning of the president’s downfall as a case was opened against him and his administration. Testimonies against the presidents administration was mounted which led to more dirty tricks being revealed to the public. The presidents’ former staff revealed to the Senate Watergate committee the existence of Nixon’s tape recording system placed in his office which had enough information to reveal the president’s dirty work. Nixon, at first, refused to release the tapes and gave an order for Cox who was the special prosecutor to be fired because he had refused to drop the subpoena. The attorney general and his deputy refused to fire Cox and were demanded by the president to resign from office. Nixon looked for General Bork who worked in the justice department and asked him to fire the special prosecutor. Bork ended up dismissing Cox from the investigations and resigned from office thereafter. The dismissal of Cox from the Watergate investigation led to public criticism. The public claimed that Cox was wrongfully dismissed and ordered the appointment of a new prosecution for the investigations to be carried out (Waldron 36).
With the evidence presented to the Watergate committee, the court made a ruling that the president had no option but to release the tape recordings to the investigation team over his case.
Before releasing the tapes, Nixon and his administration edited them and removed some evidence that would have incriminated the president and his associates. Richard Nixon made a speech when releasing the transcripts openly to the public when he saw a positive reaction from the people. However, after going through the transcripts, the public, the media, and the government criticized him and his government for the activities he carried out. The content of the tape recordings implicated Richard Nixon because they further revealed that he had made attempts to cover up the break-in of Watergate complex hotel which he was involved in. The tapes revealed that the president had discussed with Haldeman who was the chief of staff in the White House on a plan to pressure the FBI to abandon the Watergate investigations through the CIA with the claims that the investigation would threaten the secrets of the national security (Schudson 90). The piece of information invited great criticisms from the public and political opponents who wanted Richard Nixon and his associates in the government to be impeached from office. This followed an interrogation of the president’s staff members who had information concerning his
associates.
The tape further revealed that the president had clearly lied to his lawyer, close associates, and to the nation at large for 2 years. Even after the release of the tapes, the president claimed that the instructions he made to the CIA did not have any political motivations or intentions but rather was for the good of the nation. He stated that the nation was his primary priority and that he was out to protect the nation’s security secrets from being released to the enemy which may have compromised the security system of the US.
Dean, who was interrogated by the Senate Watergate committee, revealed that Nixon had promised to silence the defendants and hunt with a million dollars.
This was more incriminating evidence for the president who later on admitted to be involved with the Watergate scandal but denied being involved with trying to cover-up the scandal. Richard Nixon was not the only person who was implicated in the scandal but his administrators as well. They were referred to the ‘Watergate seven’. These were the people who closely worked with the president to cover-up the Watergate scandal investigation. Nixon’s secretary was also implicated by the court because of presenting false information to the jury that headed the Watergate investigations. By the end of the investigations and the court prosecutions, 48 government administrations had been found guilty of taking part in dirty dealings alongside the president. A number of staff workers were also implicated for hiding the truth of Nixon’s activities from the public (Waldron,
87).
The evidence presented to the court of law was enough for the impeachment of the president and several other government officials. The impeachment of the president was also ordered by the public, the media and his political opponents who rejoiced in the scandal that led to his downfall in the political arena. The president resigned from office and marked a major historical event in the US politics (Schudson 156). He became the first and the only president of the United States who willingly resigned from office and took responsibility for his actions.
From the Watergate scandal, it is clear that the restriction of information may bring about various issues being carried out behind the public eye and its release may lead to serious consequences. People lose their values and respect in the society just as it happened to Richard Nixon. The reaction of the US government to information earlier on restricted was to form a committee that would unveil many more information that was still unearthed. The result of such an occurrence may lead to many more people being directly or indirectly affected just like what happened with Richard’s staff and administrators. History has it that the explosion of restricted knowledge or information to the public arena lead to severe consequences and major implications on a number of people.

Works cited
Schudson, Michael. Watergate in American memory: how we remember, forget, and reconstruct the past. New York: BasicBooks. 2005.
Waldron, Lamar. The Hidden History. Berkeley, California: Counterpoint publishers. 2012.