When you think of a “scandal”,
what scandal comes to mind?
(other than Watergate)
Watergate
Scandal
Watergate…the story
So, What exactly was Watergate?
 Literally- Apartment/Hotel Complex in Washington DC
The Original Crime (June 16, 1972)
 Burglary DNC HQ
 5 men trying to sabotage election of 1972 by
 photographing documents
 placing bugs
 Burglars had money traced to CREEP
The Big Crime (June 17, 1972-August 1974)
 Cover-up original crime (the burglary) by Nixon & his
men
Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon
Papers
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Daniel Ellsberg was an employee
of the Defense Department who
leaked a classified assessment of
the Vietnam War in 1971.
The 7,000 page document came
to be known as the Pentagon
Papers.
They cast doubt on the
justification for entry into the war
and revealed that senior
government officials had serious
misgivings about the war.
When the New York Times and
Washington Post began to publish
the Pentagon Papers, the Nixon
Administration sued them.
The Supreme Court ruled that the
papers could continue to publish
the documents.
The White House Plumbers
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Howard Hunt
G. Gordon Liddy
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James McCord
Chuck Colson
After the release of the
Pentagon Papers, the
White House created a
unit to ensure internal
security.
This unit was called
the Plumbers because
they stopped “leaks”
to the press.
In 1971 they burglarized
the office of Daniel
Ellsberg’s psychiatrist,
seeking material to
discredit him.
On June 17, 1972, five men carrying
wiretapping equipment were arrested breaking
into the Democratic National Committee’s
headquarters located in the Watergate
Complex in Washington D.C.
http://www.mustseewashingtondc.com/attractions/watergate-complex.jpg
Watergate
Burglars
http://www.peacebuttons.info/IMAGES/0617.1972_Watergate-burglar.jpg
Questioned by the press, the White
House dismissed the incident as “a thirdrate burglary attempt.” Pressed further,
President Nixon himself denied any
White House involvement.
http://chnm.gmu.edu/7tah/workshops/ws1/images/tahwatergate.jpg
The Watergate incident was not an
isolated incident. It was part of a pattern
of illegality and misuse of power by a
paranoid and ruthless White House.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/s03472u.jpg
Nixon could have dissociated himself
from the break-in by dismissing his
guilty aides, but it was election time.
Fearful of bad press, he arranged hush
money for the burglars and instructed
the CIA to stop the FBI investigation.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/crook.jpg
Ordering the CIA to stop the FBI from
investigating the Watergate incident
was an obstruction of justice, a criminal
offense.
http://msupress.msu.edu/imageDump/watergate%20nixon.jpg
In January 1973, the Watergate burglars
were found guilty. One of them began to
talk about his White House connections.
http://www.historycommons.org/events-images/a999bernardbarker_arraignment_2050081722-21567.jpg
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, 2
Reporters from the Washington Post
uncovered the Committee’s to Re-elects
illegal “slush fund’ and its links to key
White House aides.
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Watergate/woodsteingraham.gif
In May, a Senate committee began
holding nationally televised hearings, at
which it was discovered that the
Watergate break-in was linked to the
White House.
Attorney General John Mitchell,
controlled secret “slush fund.”
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Watergate/woodsteingraham.gif
The slush fund received its money
illegally from the campaign
contributions of the Republican party to
finance “mischief” against anyone that
posed a threat to the Nixon
administration.
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Watergate/woodsteingraham.gif
Nixon tries to shift the blame:
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Nixon forced his chief of staff and chief
advisor to resign.
He also fired the White House attorney,
John Dean.
Nixon hired Archibald Cox as the special
prosecutor to investigate the Watergate
scandal
Spiro Agnew – Nixon’s VP
resigns
Failed to pay his taxes
Took bribes
Replaced by Gerald Ford
The guilty White House officials
implicated President Nixon. During the
testimony, it was discovered that Nixon
had installed a secret taping system in
the Oval office.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall06/Weiner/IMGS/nixonsmen.gif
http://www.magazine.org/ASSETS/11AAAD4DFD224BCCBDEB0C4AD7B43A83/33a.jpg
Claiming “Executive Privilege”– The President
right to keep information secret to protect
national security. Nixon refused to surrender
the White House tapes. Supreme Court
eventually orders him to turn over the tapes
http://watergate.info/images/740429address.jpg
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/images/hblock11.jpg
Lawyers were shocked to find concrete
evidence that the president had ordered
the cover-up of the Watergate break-in.
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/12/19/1229689270212/Gallery-deepthroat-dies---010.jpg
Saturday Night Massacre – Reference to the
resignations and firings of government officials
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Saturday evening, October 20, 1973:
1. Nixon orders Attorney General to fire Archibald Cox
2. Elliot Richardson refuses and resigns
3. Next highest Justice Dept. official also resigns rather
than fire Cox
4. Nixon names Solicitor General Robert Bork acting
Attorney General and he fires Archibald Cox
Nixon’s approval rating drops 22%
http://video.anews.eu/videos_clips/theway/img/watergate2.jpg
By then, the House of Representatives
had began to consider articles of
impeachment, to remove the president
from office.
http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2005/graphics/watergate3.jpg
The Impeachment Process:
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#1: Official establish grounds for
impeachment
#2: The House announces articles of
impeachment
#3: Senate holds a trial for the accused
(2/3 vote needed for conviction)
#4: Official is removed from office (can
not hold office again)
Certain that he would be convicted by
the Senate, On August 9, 1974, Nixon
became the first U.S. president to resign
from office.
http://cafamilytree.com/past/1970/headline.jpg
Gerald Ford swears in as President of the United States.
http://img.servihoo.com/kinews/AFP/SGE.DSI00.281206002935.photo00.quicklook.default-245x183.jpg
The one lesson of Watergate – that, in
America, the rule of law prevailed. No
one is above the law, not even the
president.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulhamby/2963265158/
A month later, Ford grants Nixon a “full,
free, and absolute “pardon” for all
offenses he had committed or might
have committed during his presidency.”
http://www.haisentito.it/img/_gerald-ford.jpg
President Ford took that action, he said,
to spare the country the agony of
Nixon’s criminal prosecution. He felt the
country needed to move on.
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/speechgfx/ford-pardons.jpg
4 Reasons Ford’s popularity
decreased:
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1. Giving Nixon a Pardon
2. Offered a pardon to Draft Dodgers
3. The Growing Trade Deficit/ Poor
Economy
4. Corruption in the CIA / FBI
Congress passes:
Freedom of Information Act -protecting
privacy and access to federal records.
Fair Campaign Practices Act limiting and
regulating contributions in presidential
campaigns.
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/09/16/campaign.finance/campaign.finance.jpg
Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act:
prohibiting domestic wiretapping
without a warrant.
http://www.illuminati-news.com/graphics/07-08/14/wiretapping.gif
Watergate/Twitter assignment:
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Using the timeline and your knowledge of the Watergate
Scandal, create a timeline of tweets from the following
people:
1. President Nixon
2. The Burglars
3. Woodward/ Bernstein
4. President Ford
5. Mark Felt
6. Congress (House or Senate)
* Your timeline should include at least 8 tweets (at least
1 from the names above)