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An Explanation of the Watergate Scandal    


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........¤* The Watergate Scandal *¤.
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The American political scandal known as Watergate resulted in
the resignation, on August 9, 1974, of President
Richard M. Nixon, the only president in the nation's
history to resign. The scandal began to unravel
on June 17, 1972, when five men were arrested for
breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic
National Committee, located in the Watergate apartment
and office complex in Washington, D.C.
It was soon discovered that one of the men was employed
by the Committee to Re-elect the President
(CRP or CREEP) and that the break-in had been
planned by two others with close ties to the White House.



From the outset President Nixon sought to cover up any connection
between the Watergate burglary and the CRP or the White House
staff. But during hearings to investigate the matter,
it became clear that Watergate had been only
part of a wide array of questionable activities
ordered by White House personnel. The hearings
also revealed that since early 1971 the president
had tape-recorded all his private conversations in
the Oval Office.



In February 1973, a U.S. Senate committee, headed by Senator Sam
Ervin, Jr., of North Carolina, was formed to investigate matters
relating to Watergate. A special prosecutor,
Archibald Cox, was also engaged. The Senate
committee and Cox soon demanded to hear the
White House tapes, but Nixon refused to release
them, citing executive privilege. Nixon held out
until July 1974 when the Supreme Court, in United
States v. Richard M. Nixon, ruled that the tapes
be released. They soon revealed that Nixon had
been personally involved in a conspiracy to obstruct
the Watergate investigation.



Even before this revelation, the Judiciary committee of the U.S.
House of Representatives had voted 27 to 11 to start impeachment
proceedings against Nixon on the first of three
eventual charges. With his political support in
the Senate rapidly crumbling, Nixon resigned
his office rather than face removal through the
impeachment process.



Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two investigative reporters for the
Washington Post newspaper, were awarded Pulitzer Prizes
for their ongoing coverage of the Watergate
cover-up. Their stories often revealed new dimensions
of the scandal based on information and leads
provided by an individual they called Deep Throat.
Speculation still continues about the
identity of Deep Throat, but it remains a closely
kept secret.



The effects of Watergate were far-reaching and profound. The
discovery that Nixon had misused campaign funds led to
the Campaign Reform Act in 1974, which limits campaign
contributions and expenditures in presidential
elections. In 1978, Congress also provided
that the attorney general, under certain circumstances,
could ask for court-appointed special prosecutors
to investigate the president and other high-ranking
executive officers. These special
prosecutors, who can be removed by the attorney
general only for supportable reasons, are
virtually free of any presidential control.



Perhaps Watergate's most notable and enduring legacy has been a
sense of erosion of public confidence in the institutions of
government. The scandal broke toward the end of
the Vietnam War era, a time when many people
felt the government had misled them about the
conduct and progress of the war. Watergate only served
to compound a growing disillusionment with the
president and members of Congress. Polls taken
since the time of Watergate consistently reveal a
markedly heightened public skepticism about the
truthfulness and intentions of elected public officials.

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