Why Did The Watergate Scandal

Watergate scandal , happened in June 17 , 1972 where robbers are arrested in the office of Democratic National Committee where the Watergate building is located. This act was not accepted and ordinary , because thieves were in relation with the President Nixon and his reelection campaign . They have been arrested while stealing secret documents and wiretap phones. But , Historians did not ensure that Nixon knew about this . After , Nixon tried to hide the truth by raising money for burglars and trying to stop the Federal Bureau of investigation from investigating the crime . He hide all the evidence and firing staff . Although , he was trying to close all the truths , two journalists disclose it and Nixon resigned .

Watergate scandal took place while America is busy in the Vietnam war and there was a severe division internally and the political situation was not
stable . The thieves entered the building of Watergate and steel whatever documents that are secret after they have been tapped the building lock and the security guard noticed this act and call the Police directly who catch them immediately .
All these events happened during the elections campaigns . As we said that , the burglars were not connected to Nixon , and people believed him after he gave a speech and swore that his White house staff were not involved in this break in . Then , he was reelected . Unfortunately , Nixon did not tell the truth , and during his presidency he gave “Hush money “ to the burglars , and decided to establish the Central Intelligence Agency that can limit the work of the FBI in investigating the crime . This act was more dangerous than the break in because it is considered a mistreat of the presidential power and blockage of justice. Later on , seven of Nixon’s aid men were seen as guilty in the Watergate affair but they avoided the trial , and the other two were condemned on January 1973 . By that time , a group of people including America Post Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl
Bernstein , and some members of Senate investigating committee conducted an investigation in this break in. One of Nixon’s aids John Dean who is the White House Counsel declare the truth I front of the jury of presidents crimes . They also disclose that Nixon has recorded all the phone calls in the Oval office. These recorded tapes are the key to the president’s guilty , that’s why he struggled to preserve these tapes for him . In july , the supreme court appeal Nixon to return the tapes and at this time the house of representatives voted to criticize Nixon and impeach him because he was guilty and mistreat his presidential authority and justice . Therefore , the president resigned on August 8 after he released all tapes . Thus , Watergate scandal has changed all the political aspects and created a negative political ambiance of distrust . The overall effect of Watergate is seen as having cleansing effect on the nation’s political process . Many consider that presidency should be open and the best is to have honest candidate and the right for people to know what is going on . After this scandal , they tried to make all meetings records accessible to public . So , Watergate transformed the American political culture into more ethical practices such as:
House and Senate open meetings rules which open all the recorded meetings to the public , the federal campaign act amendment which poses more laws on elections and limitations on campaigns , the Freedom of Information act amendment that let people have the right to access all governmental papers , and many others .

Watergate has profound consequences on the United States . It lead to the amendment of many acts and changes in administrative acts by giving people the right to know what is going on and have access on all the governmental practices and meetings , it imposed also high restrictions on the election campaign . Watergate gave a new subject into US agenda setting which is the political Values and Ethics .