Richard Nixon&the Watergate Scandal
By: Jordan Easter
Richard Nixon & His Involvement
- On June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. The burglars were connected to Nixon's reelection campaign.
- Nixon made three major speeches on the Watergate scandal during 1973-1974.
- The first speech was on April 30, 1973, in which he announced the departure of Dean, Haldeman and Ehrlichman.
- A more defiant speech was given on August 15, 1973, and his last and most difficult speech was given on April 29, 1974, in which he released partial transcripts of the White House tapes.
- Nixon took steps to cover up the operation by raising "hush money" for the burglars, trying to stop the FBI from investigating, destroying evidence, and firing uncooperative staff members.
Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein
- Woodward and Bernstein were a reporters for the Washington Post who investigated and reported on the Watergate Scandal.
- Their first story was "GOP Security Aide Among Those Arrested." It told that burglar James McCord was on the payroll of Nixon's reelection committee.
- Within a few weeks, they reported that the grand jury investigating the burglary sought testimonies from two men who had worked in the White House, former CIA officer E. Howard Hunt and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy.
- In Miami, Bernstein learned that a $25,000 check for Nixon's reelection campaign had been deposited in the bank account of one of the burglars. The resulting story that they wrote said that Maurice Stans was the one who received the check. It was the first time The Post linked the burglary to Nixon campaign funds.
Picture of the Watergate building
The Watergate Scandal
On the morning of June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. These burglars were connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, and had been caught attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents.
While historians do not know for sure whether Nixon knew about the robbery before it happened, he took steps to cover it up afterwards. He raised “hush money” for the burglars, tried to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from investigating the crime, destroyed evidence and fired uncooperative staff members. In August 1974, after the public and everyone knew about the President's involvement, Nixon resigned. His successor, Gerald Ford, immediately pardoned Nixon for all the crimes he “committed or may have committed” while in office.