The Watergate Scandal

Watergate

For many people, the first word that comes to mind when they think about the Nixon administration is Watergate, the political scandal the scarred the sacredness of the White House during the 1970’s. Was Watergate necessary, and did he need to be so paranoid about others? Did Nixon have a choice in resigning? Watergate was an unnecessary event that led to Richard Nixon’s downfall.

“On June 17, 1972, five men, including CIA agent James McCord were arrested in the burglary of the Democratic party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C.” “The Post Investigates.” Later that year, the Federal Grand Jury indicted these five men for their involvement in the Watergate burglary. Less than two months later, Richard Nixon was reelected President in an unprecedented landslide over George McGovern, the Democratic candidate. At the end of January the following year, James McCord and Gordon Liddy were convicted of illegally wiretapping the Democrats Watergate apartments, (“The Watergate Decade”).

Prior to the indictments, the story of the burglary intrigued two Washington Post reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Bernstein and Woodward learned through a security aide, that James McCord, an employee on the payroll of Nixon’s reelection committee, was among those arrested.

Within a few weeks, Woodward and Bernstein reported that the Grand Jury investigating the burglary had sought testimony from two men who had worked in the Nixon White House, former CIA officer E. Howard Hunt and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy. Both men would ultimately be indicted for guiding the burglars, via walkie-talkies, from the hotel room opposite the Watergate building. (“The Post Investigates”)

Later on, Bernstein found out that former Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans deposited $25,000 of Nixon’s reelection campaign funds into a bank account for one of the burglars. This was the first time information actually linked Nixon to the crime. As Bernstein and Woodward pursued the story further, they deeply relied on Mark Felt, a high level FBI official who sought over the FBI files on the Break in as a confidential source. Felt’s access to these reports allowed him to confirm or deny what sources were telling Bernstein and Woodward, and he could also let them know what leads to pursue. This man came to be known as “Deep Throat,” the reliable source who has been personified as a hero for his help in making the Nixon scandal public.