ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of The Watergate Scandal

1663 Words7 Pages

“No man is above the law.” This phrase is believed to be a representation of the checks and balances of the United States Government. However, when one truly looks into it, is it really the case? A prime example of an executive official getting away with an illegal crime with no lockup time is exemplified by the Watergate Scandal. President Richard Nixon was elected on November 6, 1968 and a majority of people loved him, his campaign, and a majority of his goals for the country. Nixon accomplished many tasks both abroad and in the US during his term as president; however, these accomplishments are completely overlooked as his most infamous marker is his involvement in the Watergate Scandal. In fact, in the eyes of much of the world and the USA, “References to Nixon's deeds and the Watergate controversy soon became a shorthand for amorality, abuse of power, and official criminality” (Kutler 1). Nixon in a majority of ways is only …show more content…

However, during his presidency Nixon created many positive impacts that many citizens enjoy to this day, and just as his presidency had pros for the American citizens it also had cons. The Americans’ trust in the federal government never improved after the Watergate Scandal and to this day, it has not reached what it was before Nixon’s presidency. Furthermore, the press was also impacted by the scandal, as there reputation was refurbished and made more positive as they spread the truth. Finally, Nixon and his scandal influenced the world in both positive and negative ways. Peace was spread by Nixon eventually, and he was able to create a more open policy between other countries, but his scandal gave countries from around the world the capability to do exactly what Nixon did. All-in-all, Nixon and the Watergate scandal had a very significant impact on America and the world as a

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of The Watergate Scandal: United States Vs. Nixon

    569 Words  | 3 Pages

    United States vs. Nixon was a case brought to the Supreme Court in 1974, questioning whether or not President Nixon was involved in the Watergate Scandal. The Supreme Court declared he was not above the law and required him to hand over tapes they believe had evidence on the event. President Nixon, instead of handing over the tapes, resigned and his Vice President, Gerald Ford was signed into office. The case of United States versus Nixon was important in that it reaffirmed checks and balances and defined the powers of Executive Privilege.

    Read More

  • Summary Of In The Arena By Russael E. Train

    656 Words  | 3 Pages

    Train disagrees with others who ignore Nixons environemntal success, as he feels these people view the Watergate Scandal and other things Nixon had done as more significant and

    Read More

  • Taken Hostage Summary

    1136 Words  | 5 Pages

    On the domestic aspect, citizens were beginning a new chapter in which they did not trust the government. Stemming back to Lyndon B Johnson and the Credibility Gap of the Vietnam War, the most recent, most devastating attitude change surrounded the Watergate Scandal and the aftermath. During Nixon’s presidency, he was attempting to bug the Democratic Party headquarters located in the Watergate Hotel. While his henchmen were placing the bugs, they were caught, thus causing a huge controversy amongst Americans. Although Nixon attempted to cover up his ties to the break in, it eventually came out that he ordered it to be done.

    Read More

  • How Did Richard Nixon Foreign Policy Change

    777 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Nation was greatly changed by one President that will always be remembered: Richard Nixon. He was a respected President but made some bad decisions during his presidency. He is not the only President that made bad decisions. Every President did, but his decisions changed the way people view the next future ruler and the way people look at politics. Richard Nixon established connections with China and the Soviet Union, but he will always be known for his mistakes during the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal.

    Read More

  • How Did Richard Nixon End The War In Vietnam?

    177 Words  | 1 Pages

    Richard Nixon was the 37th U.S President from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974 and during his term, President Nixon would become one of the most talked about administration. This was due to the Watergate scandal; this would heavily over shadow his other accomplishments and bring the White House under the microscope. Nixon would tap phones and record conversations of people when he would have meetings. He did end the war in Vietnam and improved our relationships with China and the USSR. One of his objections in the United States was to try and bridge the divide in our cities and try to heal the war weary people of our nation, because of all the disagreements over Vietnam.

    Read More

  • Impeachment Process: Carl Bernstein And Bob Woodward

    354 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nixon was the “unindicted co – conspirator” of this whole scandal. Additional research reveals that the website http://www.thejournal.ie/what-was-watergate-14-facts-richard-nixon-494970-Jun2012/ reports that “their work mainly involved following the money trial which broadly led from the burglars back to CREEP which had a slush fund to pay for the all the illegal activities that were going in.” Impeachment was necessary as punishment for such an act. Consequences had to be recognized by the actions of the Nixon Administration and resignation was the best solution. Give one example of someone within the Nixon Administration abusing their power.

    Read More

  • How Did Richard Nixon Gain Power In Government

    399 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Committee uncovered the existence of the secret White House tape recordings, sparking a major political and legal battle between the Congress and the President.” (3) One was known as the “smoking gun” tape, which revealed Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate cover-up from June 23, 1972, only a few days after the Watergate break-in. (4) Nixon soon lost all his political support, facing impeachment from the House Judiciary Committee. In August 1974, Nixon resigned from office, becoming the only U.S. president in history to

    Read More

  • Examples Of American Imperial Presidencies

    455 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, Richard Nixon did many things to abuse his presidential powers. Outside of the knowledge of Congress, he ordered the American military to invade Cambodia and Laos. He was responsible for multiple bombing raids there which had major repercussions for our armed forces as well as America. Nixon also bugged the oval office to listen to

    Read More

  • Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal

    228 Words  | 1 Pages

    In general I would say Richard Nixon was a fairly decent president. During a time where there were many protests amongst the American public (especially the youth) against the troops in Vietnam, Nixon was able to pull the troops out of the war. Nixon also reduced the tensions with the Soviet Union, and helped China join the United Nations. He also helped decrease the amount of racial discrimination by segregating schools in the south. It is a shame though, that those achievements of his are not acknowledged because of the Watergate Scandal.

    Read More

  • Does The Watergate Scandal: Impeachful

    2170 Words  | 9 Pages

    Instead of going along with the Watergate Scandal Richard Nixon could have stepped up like a good president and stop the situation. Also, instead of giving them hush money, he could have made them tell the police or he could have went to the police himself and told them what was happening. There are so many solution that Richard Nixon could have done and he wouldn’t have been impeached ,but it happened and now he can’t take it back. Nixon can’t even redo his wrong and neither can the

    Read More

  • Richard Nixon And The 1972 Watergate Scandal

    1068 Words  | 5 Pages

    From the five burglars all the way up the political “food chain” to Richard Nixon, there were many people involved in one of the biggest scandals in U.S. history. The major fact that stunned a large number of Americans was not that many of the people in Congress were a part of the scandal, but that their own president orchestrated the whole thing. These actions, and the sly sneaking around of the government,

    Read More

  • How Did Richard Nixon Impact On The Environment

    1122 Words  | 5 Pages

    President Nixon helped our environment threefold during his presidency. Unfortunately, the majority of U.S. citizens either do not notice or do not care about these changes. Even though Richard Nixon was held responsible for the Watergate Scandal ,he did many things that have a big impact on the environment today. Before he resigned from office, Richard Nixon enacted the Clean Air Act of 1970 and founded the Environmental Protection Agency. Richard Nixon did many other great deeds that benefit the environment that we live in today.

    Read More

  • Richard Nixon Foreign Policy

    1350 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many would put Richard Nixon in the top five on a list of America’s worst presidents. Those who share in this opinion focus only on the negative aspects of Nixon’s presidency and fail to see all of the things he succeeded in doing. Nixon’s presidency encompassed great achievements especially in the category of foreign policy. Throughout his presidency, Nixon shaped United States’ foreign policy and had many events to show for it. For example, Nixon gained popularity for being the president who finally ended the war in Vietnam.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Richard Nixon's Resignation

    669 Words  | 3 Pages

    All of this deceit only made Nixon viewed as dishonest and shady to the American people, making his impeachment seem almost predictable. But something that was not predicted was Richard Nixon’s

    Read More

  • Nixon Paranoia

    584 Words  | 3 Pages

    He had amassed a collection of government fills, tape records, and intelligence on the common people in the Watergate building. After it was broken into, files were stolen and released to the public. It was the first real time that the general public learned just how paranoid Nixon was, but also how much he wanted to keep the power he already had. As these precious documents surfaced, one could see in full light that Nixon exhibited all the symptoms of Paranoid Personality Disorder. He was always distrustful of people, he recorded every encounter he had, so that one could twist his words against him.

    Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of The Watergate Scandal

Open Document