Watergate Scandal

Neill Luther

History

Watergate Scandal

Watergate complex 

The Watergate scandal  was such a huge deal to the United states because it changed the way that the government was trusted,  Nixon’s reputation,  the governments/ future presidents reputation, plus the way that American citizens viewed their government all together.   This changed how the government’s politics today are used and viewed by the people. 

The five burglars of the Watergate building 

The Watergate gate Scandal happened in 1972 just before the 1972 electio

n.   What happened in the Watergate scandal was where five people broke in to the Watergate complex where the democratic committees headquarters were  to gain information for the republican party by tapping in to phone lines and listening to their conversations, so that the republicans could use this information against them in the upcoming elections.  It all started off when the burglars were caught red-handed in the building, creating the huge problem that the press got information about.  The main problem with that was that the Nixon administration tried to cover up the fact that they had anything to do with the situation, even though that they were the people behind the ordeal. 

After the Watergate scandal had reached the press it had to of been very shocking for the American citizens.  As the American citizens did not already have very much trust within their own government this scandal did not help at all.  After Watergate some people thought more negatively about the government shown by example from this newspaper article “ The respondents were asked whether Watergate had changed their perceptions of Federal officials. Two out of five (38 percent) said they were more negative now because of Watergate.”   This one article was perfect for my information on how the scandal changed people s views against the government.   In the article before it shows that other people did not trust the

government and were not surprised at the fact that Watergate had happened within the U.S.   The majority of people agreed that Watergate was a negative effect on the U.S. but a small percentage thought that it had not made any effect at all. 

The scandal really affected citizen’s trust in the government and also did not give them a better since of privacy from the government.    When rumor spread about the scandal some people were kind of skeptical about the amount of privacy that they had from the government.  Once people heard about how the burglary had happened people  feared  that the government would be able to listen in on anything that they were saying on the phone.  This put somewhat of a fear into a small amount of Americans. 

Even though Nixon resigned in 1974 because of his fear of being impeached from the problem with the Watergate scandal, he had not been the mastermind behind the scandal.  Although Nixon did not administer the burglary he  had tried to cover up the fact that it had happened, which had really created a problem for Nixon making his reputation completely turn around.   From Nixon being the president towards the end of the Vietnam War to becoming the president that created the Watergate scandal.  Although most people when they think of Nixon think of him as the president who messed up his chance of winning the reelection  but Nixon did have other stuff about him that were not so bad.  A lot of people were not in favor of Nixon and trying to find a way for him to get in trouble,  and this was the way for him to get in trouble even though that kind of stuff was going on throughout the U.S.  But the Watergate scandal ruined his reputations because it was such a bad thing to the American citizens.  

Richard Nixon 

          The Watergate scandal could have been the cause of some new politics changing the way that people viewed politics in the government and out of the government.   If this scandal had not happened then the president after Nixon had resigned (Gerald R. Ford) would not  have wanted to sign the information act of 1986, which would have strengthened the Privacy act of 1974 .   Nixon and the Watergate scandal also created a problem with many of his government officials creating them to also be questioned about their current positions, changing the way the current government people had been placed.  So Watergate changed way the way that current politics and the officials under Nixon had challenged. 

The Watergate scandal had a huge effect on the United States by Nixon’s mistake because it changed peoples view and trust  with the government, and the presidents reputation forever. 

                                   Bibliography

This site gave me the information that I needed to learn more about the investigation process used in the scandal, as well as the basic information needed to help me on my essay.

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This site gave me the best information on how much of an effect that Watergate had on the United states. 

This site gave me basic information about the scandal and videos about Nixons speeches after Watergate.

This site gave me a lot of information that I needed to find out about how it gave the government a bad name and changed the way that people viewed  the government.