Watergate and Nixon Flashcards
who were the white house plumbers
-they prevent more leaks of sensitive information
-formed due to previous leaks published by New York times
who were the CREEP and who were the leaders
-campaign to re-elect Nixon
-set up by Nixon
-directed by John Mitchell
how were the CREEP related to the white house plumbers
-a fund in CREEP’s budget was given to the white house plumbers to spy on and damage Nixon’s opponents
-Plumbers then persuades newspapers to publish stories to ruin Edmund Muskie
-he cried, leading him to lose democratic primaries
what happened in June 1972
-5 men were arrested after breaking in to offices of the National Democratic Committee in the Watergate complex in DC
-caught trying to repair bugging devices that were installed during a previous break-in
who was Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
-reporters for the Washington post
What did Woodward and Bernstein do
-found evidence linking break in to CREEP and Whitehouse
-they were denied by John Mitchell(CREEP), then the Whitehouse
impacts of Woodward and Bernstein
-brought case to national attention
-raised suspicions of Democrat members of congress
-persuaded that further investigations were necessary after Congress accepted white house was not involved
what did the FBI do
-found links to CREEP and that Liddy and Hunt(WH plumbers) were involved in planning of break in
-discovered extent of CREEP sabotaging and spying on democrats
-discovered that the break in was funded by CREEP received donations from individuals that were trying to help Nixon’s re-election through legal means
What was the ‘letter’
-Hunt, Liddy and 5 burglars proved to be connected to CREEP
-people still did not believe, Nixon still seen as an effective President and won 1972 election
-during the trial, the judge received a letter from a burglar claiming WH officials told burglars to lie in trial
-Nixon denied knowledge of burglary prior to the event
-sacked Dean and Haldeman, Erhlichman Resigned(white house people and head of plumbers
-Select Committee on Presidential Campaign activities was set up after persuasion from democrats to senate to investigate
-meeting was televised, John Dean said Nixon was involved in the cover up
-Nixon refused Questioning
What were the ‘Recordings’
-witness revealed calls in Nixon’s office were recorded
-Select Committee tried getting the recordings
-Nixon refused due to national security and people would avoid speaking openly to president again
-Nixon eventually released edited scripts of some calls, then released more, unedited(except for bad language)
-evidence showed: Nixon blocked initial investigation of break in, abuse of power and disobeying laws requiring him to allow access of evidence
-bad language used shocked public by extent of swearing and examples of him attacking Jews and Italians
-‘smoking gun’ was a recording showing Nixon trying to stop FBI investigating the break-in, proved he was trying to cover up since the beginning
these led to senate considering impeaching Nixon(he retired before that)
General Ford and the Presidential Pardon
-Vice President Gerald Ford became President after Nixon resigned
-1 month after becoming President Ford pardoned for any crimes he may have committed
-led to him losing 1976 election, millions of Americans wanted to see Nixon brought to Justice
-was accused of making a deal with Nixon before he resigned
-Ford denied and said pardoning Nixon was the only way USA could move on from Watergate
-allowed nation to recover and prevented years of criminal trials
Impacts of Watergate towards Nixon
-ended his political career
-forced to retire
-destroyed his reputation
-his achievements as president were ignored
impact towards the president’s office
-showed public how the president’s office behaved
-shocked people about how the president spoke about others and bad language used
how did watergate impact the Vietnam war
-people began to wonder how many cover-ups were in Vietnam war, as the people did not trust what they were told
-strengthened the anti-war movement
how did watergate impact politics
-government officials tried and received prison sentences, lead to a big change in government staff
-republican party lost many seats in senate
-Jimmy Carter, a democrate became president
-Voters valued honesty more than capability
-lost trust in government, fewer voted and fewer politicians
-new laws to prevent similar events
-journalists tried to uncover more scandals in the coming years, publishing ‘scandals’ without any evidence
