Watergate Scandal When Justice changed all

The scandal occurred early Saturday morning of June 17, 1972. Five men were caught stealing information from the Democratic National Committee located in the Watergate building. They even tried to bug the office.

Background

Three of the men were born in Cuba, the fourth said after the Bay of pigs invasion in 1961 he began training exiled Cubans for guerrilla warfare, and the fifth said he was a former CIA employee,James W. McCord Jr. It was also discovered that he was part of security for President Nixon's re-election campaign. Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell was quick to say that the men "were not operating either in our behalf or our consent."

How was Nixon involved?

The Vietnam War wasn't something the people of the U.S. were proud of so Nixon didn't want it to stand out. But after he bombed Vietnam the news went straight to the first page of the news papers. So Nixon thought he was in danger of losing the election. After the robbery Nixon started raising money to stop the investigation. He tried to destroy evidence before it went to the public and fired any staff that didn't follow his instructions. A check worth $25,000 was supposed to help fund President Nixon's re-election campaign was instead found in one of the robber's bank account. After the Scandal came to light Nixon resigned as president.

Was there a Trial?

There wasn't a trial. A lot of people thought there should be a trial, but President Gerald Ford, Nixon's successor, pardoned Nixon. He pardoned him for all of the crimes he may or may not have committed while in office.

What did America think of the scandal?

Nobody knew what to think. A lot of people just wanted to see him answer for crimes that he should be charged for. No one understood why President Gerald Ford made the decision that he did. Not until many years later did they realize his idea of pardoning him.

How did this change america?

Presidents of the future will probably try not to do a scandal to make sure that they become president for another four years. The Watergate Scandal changed American law and culture.

Citations

Watergate Scandal. A&E Television Networks. accessed 2 December 2016. history.com/topics/watergate

The Washington Post. accessed 30 November 2016. Washington Post.com

Karlyn Bowman.Watergate Revisited: How Has America Changed? accessed 2 December 2016. forbes.com/sites/bowmanmarsico

Reference. Reference An IAC Publishing, LLC Company. 2 December 2016. reference.com/history/did-watergate-break-occur

Credits:

Created with images by angela n. - "White House" • cliff1066™ - "January 22, 1998: "State Of The President"" • cliff1066™ - "Richard Milhous Nixon, Thirty-seventh President (1969-1974)" • ell brown - "Town Hall, Priory Street, Dudley - Clock Tower" • Ronile - "statue of liberty new york ny" • Studio Incendo - "Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution #umbrellarevolution #UmbrellaMovement" • jp26jp - "old transcript constitution"

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