Watergate
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The Watergate scandal was one of the most important political events in United States history, ruining the reputation not just of Richard M. Nixon, the President who resigned due to the coverup, but of the office of President itself.
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[edit] Brief outline
The affair began in June 1972, after five men were arrested in the early hours of the morning breaking into the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate hotel (which gave its name to the scandal) in Washington, D.C.. They had photographic equipment and bugging devices on them.
In the following months, connections between several of the suspects and one part or another of the Republican party hierarchy were revealed.
In January 1973, seven men were convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and bugging the Democratic Party's headquarters, two months after Nixon was re-elected President of the United States.
Howard Hunt (an ex-CIA employee and one of the five men originally arrested for the break-in) blackmailed the Administration to remain silent and John Dean (counsel for the President) paid him off with laundered Committee to RE-Elect the President (CREEP) funds, but this money trail was uncovered by the Washington Post (WaPo). Alerted by the WaPo stories, an FBI investigation started, but it was called off when the President directed the CIA to lie to the FBI and tell them it was a Bay of Pigs thing, hush hush. The President was captured on his own tape recording system telling Haldeman and Erlichmann to manipulate the FBI with the CIA, and this tape was the "smoking gun" that proved the President knew about the blackmail and the coverup from June 1972. When the contents of the tape were made public, even Barry Goldwater threw in the towel and told Nixon he should quit.
Nixon eventually resigned in 1974, thus avoiding a looming impeachment. His successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him.
[edit] Crimes
More than 70 people were convicted of crimes related to Watergate (some pled guilty before trial).
[edit] Consequences
The main consequence was the collapse of public confidence in government and politicians in general. Jimmy Carter won the 1976 election by campaigning as an outsider, untouched by Washington politics.
After Watergate, political conspiracy theorists could get a far wider audience for their views.
[edit] Quotes
- Let me just say this, and I want to say this to the television audience: I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service -- I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I could say that in my years of public life, that 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 have earned everything I have got. - Richard Nixon, not quite getting it
- There will be no whitewash in the White House. - Richard Nixon
- America must not again fall into the trap of letting the end, however great that end is, justify the means - Richard Nixon
- When the President does it, that means it is not illegal. - Richard Nixon
- Had they not brought down Nixon, we wouldn't have lost Vietnam. Had [they] not brought down Nixon, the Khmer Rouge would not have come to power and murdered two million people in a full-fledged genocide. - Rush Limbaugh[1]
[edit] Pop culture
The aftermath of the Watergate scandal has resulted in the introduction of a number of phrases into American culture, such as:
- "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"
- "The previous statement is inoperative. This is the operative statement."
- "I am not a crook."
- Expletive deleted
- The suffix -gate appended to virtually every scandal since
