The Case Of President Richard Nixon And The Watergate Scandal

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The Watergate Scandal occurred on June 17th 1972, during a time of political turmoil in which the United States of America was divided. The situation was that members of President Nixon’s committee to re-elect broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate Headquarters and stole secret documents and bugged the office. The people of America began to question the actions of their president as it seemed Richard Nixon was trying to cover up the scandal instead of owning up to the extent of his involvement in the situation. This scandal revealed the abuse of power involving the White House and the Nixon campaign committee. Richard Nixon was allegedly involved in the Watergate scandal because during this time period of political divisiveness …show more content…

The House Judiciary Committee began the process of impeaching the president on the grounds of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of congress. The Committee then sent these articles to the full house, but Richard Nixon resigned before a trial was held in the House. Richard Nixon is the only President in United States history to ever resign from office. He made the decision to resign because the Watergate Scandal overtook his presidency, and it seemed to be all America could talk about. Once evidence was released of Nixon’s involvement it was clear he could no longer be President of the United States anymore. Nixon believed as President all of the focus should be on peace with other nations and prosperity without inflation, and because he was so distracted with trying to clear his name he was unable to prioritize these issues, and for that reason he could no longer be …show more content…

Ford became the first President of the United States who was not elected. Gerald Ford was never elected into executive office because Nixon’s first Vice President resigned due to his involvement with activities like taking bribes and evading taxes. Nixon soon appointed Gerald Ford, who at the time was a congressman from Michigan, to be his new Vice President. Ford then assumed the role of President after Nixon resigned, and one of the first things he did was pardon the former President, Richard Nixon. Gerald Ford issued a full pardoning of Nixon for any offenses he has or may have committed. Gerald Ford is significant because he spent the three years of his presidency trying to restore the public’s faith in the government. His pardon was made in an effort to help the country move forward and to stop any further political disputes surrounding the topic. Pardoning Richard Nixon was a compromise made by the administration in order to unite America and end all disagreements surrounding the

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