Trace how the Watergate crisis brought an end to the Nixon presidency.

What is the Watergate crisis? It happened in June 1972 in the Watergate office complex which is
the headquarters for the democratic party (break in). Five men broke into the democratic national
committee and stole information and taped into the phone lines to record and listen into phone
conversations. Nixon had government agents spy on Democrats so he could stay in office. The Supreme
Court forced Nixon to give up videotapes that contained conversations about his plans that were
recorded in the oval office. Congress was about to impeach Nixon, but he resigned and some of the
people that were involved went to prison for their crimes.

It was revealed that President Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices, and he had
recorded many different conversations. Recording from theses tapes implicated the president and
revealed he had attempted to cover up the questionable and illegal things that had taken place during
his time in administration, both before and after the break-in. After a protracted series of bitter court
battles, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the President had to hand over the tapes to the government
investigators and in the end he ultimately complied.

Nixon and his supported were worried about his re-election prospects because the Vietnam War
was very unpopular with the American people and how close the 1968 election was. Nixon and his
supporters were willing to do whatever it took to win which included spying on opposition rallies and
spread false rumors and reports. In order to fulfill his 1968 campaign promise to end the war, Nixon
dropped his longtime insistence that North Vietnamese troops had to withdraw from South Vietnam.

Nixon was impeached on three charges: obstructing justice in Watergate coverup, misusing
federal agencies, and defying congress by not handing over the tapes and documents. After he handed
over the tapes it proved that he ordered the CIA to stop the FBI investigation, which proved that he was
part of the Watergate coverup. The reason the House of Representatives never voted to impeach Nixon
was because he resigned first. Nixon knew he had been caught and had no chance of winning. He
chooses to resign instead of going through an impeachment trial. President Ford granted Nixon a
presidential pardon for his crimes because he said America needs to heal and that we needed to “put
the scandal behind us.” He wanted to end the national nightmare, but it ended up costing him the
election in the future.

Nixon was the first President that was forced to resign due to the direct result of the Watergate
scandal. Nixon became so consumed with his opponents that he compiled an “enemies list” and
ultimately ruined his career. He had his supporters destroy incriminating documents and gave false
statement to investigators. He ordered a coverup to try and conceal all the illegal things him and his
supporters were doing. Even with all the evidence and testimony at the trial Nixon and his
administration denied all the charges and accusations. Nixon trying win ended up badly damaging his
reputation and his approval rating went down.

Watergate had a huge impact on Americas trust in the American government. It caused distrust
in government and all of authority. It made people question everything. What else was covered up and
what is being covered up now?