The Watergate Scandal

■Essential Question:–What was the Watergate scandal

& how did it change American politics in the 1970s?

■Warm-Up Question:–What was Nixon’s greatest feat

in foreign policy: Vietnam, China, or the Soviet Union? Explain

Quick Review: Why was Nixon overwhelmingly re-elected as

president in 1972? Why was Nixon so popular?

Conservative domestic policy:•Lowered gov’t spending•Reduced social programs

Active foreign policy:•Ended the war in Vietnam•“Opened” China •Détente with the USSR

Nixon was insecure & paranoid about power:• He kept an “enemies list” of people he

suspected were out to undermine his policies• “Tricky Dick” used his position as president

to spy on, infiltrate, & sabotage his “enemies” • These tactics & fears were the reasons for the

Watergate scandal that ended his presidency

In what ways might Nixon have been

“his own worst enemy”?

What do you see in this image?

The Break-In■ June 17, 1972: 5 men were

caught breaking into the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate complex of Washington DC

■ All 5 were tied to the Republican Party’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CReeP)

■ Investigative journalists uncovered evidence tying several key Nixon aides directly to the plot, forcing Nixon to dismiss them

The Watergate Scandal: A Visual Review

Gordon Liddy & Gordon Liddy & the “Plumbers” the “Plumbers”

The Cover-Up■ Nixon appointed Archibald Cox

as special prosecutor to oversee the Watergate investigation

■ When it was discovered that Nixon had an audio-recording system that taped all conversations within the Oval Office, Cox subpoenaed the tapes

■ The tapes proved that Nixon had attempted to cover-up his aides’ involvement in the break-in, so he ordered Cox to drop the subpoena

The Watergate Scandal: A Visual Review

The Saturday Night Massacre■ When Cox refused to drop the

subpoena, Nixon demanded that Cox’s boss, the Attorney General, fire him

■ Both the Attorney General and his top assistant resigned rather than fire Cox, but the third-ranking officer in the Department of Justice gave in to the president’s demand

■ A new special prosecutor was appointed, but by this time the Senate was conducting its own investigation and demanded the tapes

The Watergate Scandal: A Visual Review

US vs. Nixon■1974■Supreme Court ruled unanimously

that the president can not invoke executive privilege to withhold evidence that is “demonstrably relevant in a criminal trial”

■Nixon was ordered to turn over tape recordings of conversations within the Oval Office relevant to the Watergate cover-up

The Watergate Scandal: A Visual Review

Nixon Resigns■ Nixon resigned on August

9, 1974 under threat of impeachment for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in

■ His resignation left his Vice-President Gerald Ford (who had not been elected, but rather appointed after Nixon’s elected Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, had been forced to resign the year before in a bribery scandal) as President

■ Ford quickly pardoned Nixon

The Watergate Scandal: A Visual Review

Why is Watergate such an important event in

U.S. history?

How did Watergate change the way

Americans perceive their political leaders?

Do you think Nixon’s actions were different from most politicians?

Should Nixon’s presidency be judged more in his foreign

policy successes or the Watergate scandal? Why?

Effects of Watergate ■The Watergate scandal changed America:

–The scandal eroded public trust in their political leaders; Added to the distrust created by the Vietnam War

–Revealed the importance of the media in serving as a “watchdog” of the gov’t

–Congress assumed more leadership–Uncertainty whether prosecutors

would charge Nixon with crimes