Watergate Scandal Analysis

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On November 17, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon held a press conference where he declared, “I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. I’ve earned everything I got.” The scandal including a break-in and burglary at the Democratic National Committee meeting held in the Watergate Hotel by five men in suits with bugging devices was discovered to be undercover work of President Richard M. Nixon. This led to the resignation Nixon to avoid being impeached. Although this incident occurred over forty years ago, America has been changed. The Watergate Scandal has left lasting impacts on the United States. The actions of the Nixon Administration during the Watergate …show more content…

The news media did not go into much detail of this scandal. This was to avoid the fear of losing access to information from the White House. By the time the 1972 election rolled around, the public was not informed on who President Nixon really was. Information is the oxygen of democracy. The document, “The Public’s Right to Know,” by the Global Campaign For Free Expression states, “If people do not know what is happening in their society, if the actions of those who rule them are hidden, then they cannot take a meaningful part in the affairs of that society.” The people soon realized that they were not being given the whole truth. Even today, many people have been taught to never believe the whole story when reading the news. Because the press was not going into the full story to educate the nation on the happenings behind the gates of the White House, there were no legal changes made right away. Scholars point out that the press was most necessary for changing America. The press has been given a responsible role and has even been referred to as the fourth pillar, with the other three pillars being the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The Washington Post can be credited with most of the publication of the Watergate Scandal. However, the two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, had to risk …show more content…

In the constitution, the Rule of Law explains that even though the president is running the nation, that position does not allow him or her to be above the law. During the Watergate Scandal, President Nixon committed a crime. Throughout the investigation and decision, he was not favored just because he was the president. It is the president’s job to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Obviously, Nixon failed on his part, but the rest of the government remained true. The checks and balances system described in the Constitution proved to be beneficial for the nation. Besides Congress forming laws and making legal changes to avoid the possibility of this event reoccurring, the judiciary branch imposed the release of the videos from the executive branch. Under the Constitution, impeachment and prison was a possibility. Nixon ended up resigning before he could be impeached and was pardoned by the follow-up president, Gerald Ford, to avoid prison, but he did not just “get away with it. Throughout the incident, the rules of the Constitution reminded the people that when branches of government operate correctly, the nation will be run fair and how the founding fathers intended it for this

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