Watergate Scandal
The events that created the Watergate Scandal include a hostile political climate. Richard M. Nixon, the Republican President was running for reelection at a time when the country was so divided due to the Vietnam War. This made it essential for the president and his key advisers to resort to a forceful presidential campaign which turned out to be illegal espionage. In May 1972, the CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President) broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters where they made away with top-secret documents and bugged office’s phones. A group of the members of the CREEP returned to the Watergate building on 17th June after realizing that the wiretaps were not working. They were arrested when a security guard realized that someone had taped over most of the building’s door locks. The five burglars were not immediately connected to the president (Novick & Burns, n.d). However, when the detectives identified the reelection committee’s white house phone number among one of the burglar’s belonging, this raised suspicion.
Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein discovered the role of Nixon in the conspiracy. Through a whistleblower referred to as ‘Deep Throat’, they were able to acquire critical information that led to the charging of president Nixon with criminal behavior. Deep throat revealed the misdeed of the Nixon administration. He revealed that Nixon had taped into every conversation that took place in the Oval place. The charges that Nixon was charged with include the obstruction of justice by trying to hinder the investigation of the Watergate break-in, protecting those responsible, and concealing the illegal activities he engaged in. For instance, Nixon and his associates planned to use the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA to interfere with the FBI’s investigation of the crime he was involved in. This shows that Nixon was abusing his presidential powers to deliberately obstruct justice. The second charge was the abuse of power by using the office of the presidency on several occasions where he used federal agencies such as Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and White House Special Investigative unit to breach the constitutional rights of the citizens and obstructing lawful investigations.
The Westgate scandal had a huge effect on the trust of American Voters in their government and leaders. They began to question their leaders and think more deeply about their leaders. The American voters began distrusting the government that has led to a change in the political calculus for many issues. Many Americans have seen that the trust level, whether it’s their confidence in the federal government or their trust of each other has reduced. Many Americans insinuate that the interaction between their trust issues has made it difficult to resolve some of the issues in the country. Additionally, some Americans view distrust as an element inciting other issues they consider critical. For instance, some think that there are direct connections between distrust and other professed issues such as partisan paralysis in government. Americans believe that it’s a serious issue and not just about politics. It is hard to believe that the president had nothing to do with the Watergate scandal that resulted in his resignation (Rainie & Perrin, 2019). This is the reason why the Americans of this nation have a distrust for their government up to this day in history. The current presidents have made use of their executive privilege to pass laws but Americans have hope that the wound that was caused by the Watergate scandal will be healed over time and people will trust the government that they have chosen to protect them. Americans still believe that they will elect the leaders who will cater to their needs.
References
Novick, L., & Burns,S., K. (n.d.). Lynn Novick. Retrieved July 01, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/author/lynn-novick/
Rainie, L., & Perrin, A. (2019, July 22). Key findings about Americans’ declining trust in government and each other. Retrieved July 01, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/22/key-findings-about-americans-declining-trust-in-government-and-each-other/