Main content
AP®︎/College US History
Course: AP®︎/College US History > Unit 8
Lesson 13: Society in transitionWatergate
AP.USH:
KC‑8.2.III.C (KC)
, PCE (Theme)
, Unit 8: Learning Objective J
Read about the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon.
Overview
- In June 1972 a group of spies with ties to President Richard Nixon was caught while attempting to place listening devices in the office of the Democratic National Committee in Washington's Watergate building.
- After a lengthy investigation, which Nixon attempted to undermine by refusing to turn over tapes of his conversations in the Oval Office, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that the House of Representatives impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
- Rather than face impeachment, Nixon resigned in August 1974, succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.
- Watergate, as the scandal came to be known, added to a general sense that the golden age of the postwar era in the United States had ended.
Nixon
Richard Nixon had not clawed his way up to the presidency without scratching a few people along the way. From early in his career, Nixon had made an art of employing "dirty tricks" to win elections, and by the time he made it into the White House he had many enemies. After a military analyst leaked the Pentagon Papers—documents that revealed that the US government had lied to Congress and the American people about the scope of the Vietnam War—Nixon became obsessed with maintaining secrecy in his administration. He employed a group of aides that he called "plumbers" in order to plug any further leaks.start superscript, 1, end superscript
The plumbers helped Nixon's fundraising organization, the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP), with a series of illegal activities aimed at maintaining the president's power and harassing individuals on an internally-circulated "enemy list." CREEP and the plumbers undertook a variety of dirty tricks during the election of 1972, including but not limited to forging documents that might incriminate or embarrass Democratic opponents, conducting illegal surveillance, breaking into a psychiatrist's office in order to steal information to discredit a political enemy, placing spies undercover in Democratic campaigns and press corps, and renting facilities and ordering campaign supplies in the name of Democratic challengers and sticking them with the bill.squared
The Watergate break-in
CREEP eventually made a fatal blunder. On June 17, 1972, a security guard caught a group of five "burglars" in Washington, DC's Watergate office complex, home of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters. The incident seemed fairly innocuous until the FBI discovered that the burglars had ties with the CIA. Over time, it became clear that the burglary was in fact a botched attempt at wiretapping the phones at the DNC headquarters in order to spy on the presidential campaign of George McGovern.cubed
During the election of 1972, McGovern accused Nixon and the Republicans of breaking in to his office, but at that time there was little solid information tying the men involved with the break-in to the president. Nixon won the election handily, with 520 electoral votes compared to McGovern's 17.
By early 1973, however, the truth was beginning to trickle out. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reporters for the Washington Post, had reported on the Watergate story since the break-in. They received tips from a highly-placed anonymous source known only as Deep Throat (revealed in 2005 to have been FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt) and kept the story alive by publishing their research into the break-in and alleged cover-up.start superscript, 4, end superscript
Although several of the Watergate burglars cracked and pointed fingers at Nixon in their testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, there was no hard evidence connecting the president to any wrongdoing on the part of his subordinates. Perhaps the investigation would have ground to a halt had the existence of a voice-recording device in the Oval Office not emerged: all of Nixon's conversations had been taped. The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the tapes.start superscript, 5, end superscript
Denial and "executive privilege"
Nixon refused to hand over the tapes, citing "executive privilege," or the right of the president not to respond to certain subpoenas or reveal confidential White House information. After the revelations from the Pentagon Papers that the president secretly had carried the Vietnam War into the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos, it began to seem as though Nixon believed he was above the law. His administration was further compromised when Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign after federal prosecutors charged him with taking bribes. Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as Agnew's successor.start superscript, 6, end superscript
In July 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that the House of Representatives impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice and abuse of power. Nixon finally handed over the tapes after a Supreme Court order in August 1974.
Revelations and resignation
The tapes confirmed that Nixon had been involved in covering up the Watergate affair; in what has been called the "smoking gun" tape, Nixon ordered the FBI not to investigate the break-in any further, a clear obstruction of justice.
On August 8, 1974 Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment. His successor, Gerald Ford, immediately pardoned Nixon for all crimes, discovered and undiscovered. Ford became the first and only person to have served as both vice president and president of the United States without having been elected to either office. Ford's connection with the disgraced Nixon ensured that he would not be elected to a second term.start superscript, 7, end superscript
The Pentagon Papers, the Watergate scandal and Nixon's subsequent fall from grace contributed to a growing sense in the United States that the government was unprincipled and untrustworthy.start superscript, 8, end superscript
What do you think?
What role did the media play in the Watergate scandal?
Why do you think Nixon didn't destroy the Oval Office tapes that incriminated him?
Do you think Nixon's resignation was a sign that the American system of government was broken, or was it a sign that government was working?
Want to join the conversation?
why did Mark Felt go under a pseudonym?(4 votes)
Because if he had given his real name Nixon probably would fire him and lock him up in a prison cell.(11 votes)
how was Gerald ford able to know about all the crimes Nixon commited. Was Gerald part of the watergate scandal?(7 votes)- He didn't know all about the crimes, but he knew enough to be certain that Government's business would remain in gridlock during a Nixon trial. He pardoned Nixon so that the country could get on with things.(6 votes)
Why was there a recording device in the oval office that no one knew about? I imagine there are a lot of classified conversations there.(2 votes)- Actually, Nixon ordered the recording device to be installed. I believe he knew he would be convicted if he destroyed the tapes, so he kept them and tried to "hide" them instead.(8 votes)
Was Nixon’s resignation A sign that the American system of government was broken, or was it a sign of the government was working?(2 votes)
It was both. That things had become so politically corrupt up to the highest office in the executive branch was a sign of brokenness. That these things were being challenged and corrected by the action of the two houses of the legislative branch and the highest levels of the judicial branch working together was a sign of the government working. BUT it was not easy. Brokenness, whether in a person's soul, a marriage, family, society or government, is never healed without a lot of work, and without leaving a lot of scars.(4 votes)
Did president Nixon negatively effect his reputation permanently by not turning over conversation tapes from the oval office?(3 votes)
He did, the common saying is that "Honesty is the best policy." The scandal was a big deal and the fact he would not turn over the tapes and admit that he was wrong made people see he was an untrustworthy person. (Sorry It took so long for your question to be answered.)(2 votes)
- What was the overall outcome of this case?(3 votes)
Eventunally, the Supreme Court ordered President Nixon to give them the tapes that later revealed he was part of the Watergate scheme, resulting his resignation.(2 votes)
Are there any other crimes that have been discovered about Nixon or have all investigations been ceased? Does anyone know about the connection between Ford and Nixon? Is there any more information on Nixon I can look for on Khan?(2 votes)- It's possible that there are still investigations going on, but I'd be very surprised if there is anything much to investigate.
President Richard Nixon has been dead for 27 years, as are most of the other players in that episode. There would be little reason to investigate further unless you pursue it as a hobby or personal interest.
As for other information, I would recommend doing some Internet searches to learn more.(2 votes)
How many men were apart of the break in?(1 vote)- It is said that there were 5 people who broke into the Watergate office complex.(2 votes)
