What was happening in the United States politics during 1972-1974 can be characterized by a broad array of words. But whatever means are chosen to describe it one thing is for sure: what took place in the intervening years became a precedent in many aspects.
On July 17 1972 a group of men was trying to break into the Democratic National Committee office situated in the Watergate complex, but were caught by the police which were in time called for by the guards of the building. At first, nothing indicated that this had anything to do with the President himself, though it was obvious that these seven men intended to wiretap the devices in the office (judging from the equipment they brought with them). And maybe no one would have ever known that this had anything to do with Nixon if contacts of Nixon’s Reelection Committee had not been found among the belongings of these people. This is where not only it was understood that the President had put his hand into organizing the penetration of the group into the office of the Democratic Party, but also became obvious that it was only a part, one of the displays of a potentially bigger plot.
What was it that could make the President of the United States eavesdrop his political opponents? To understand that one must remember what the actual developments in the international relations during that period were. The one important issue was the very peak of the infamous Vietnam War in 1972. The second fact worth highlighting was presidential elections which had to be held in the fall of that year. Amidst political turbulence caused by divergent perceptions of America’s foreign policy of that time combined with approaching elections which always fuel controversy compelled President Nixon to get involved into some dishonorable political patterns.
In fact, according to the evidence disclosed later, this big unfair and dishonest play had been set up by Nixon and his administration a couple of months before that. The materials of the prosecutor’s research indicate that everything began back in May 1972 when
Republicans initially wiretapped the devices in the aforementioned office and also stole a number of classified documents from there. In fact, the reason why the “burglars” tried to penetrate the building again in July was that the wiretapping turned out to have failed and needed replacement or repair.
Notwithstanding the fact that Nixon even gave speeches in which he repeatedly swore that the developments around Watergate did not have anything to do with him and even though he even succeeded to win next presidential elections by a landslide the facts and the flow of time showed exactly the contrary. Wiretapping turned out to be just the one aspect of what Nixon was doing illegally, a top of the iceberg, so to say. After certain witnesses gave evidence it became clear that Nixon recorded also every conversation he had with anyone in the Oval Cabinet. While President’s lawyers tried to prove that he had been acting legally and that nobody had any legal ground to demand from him to demonstrate the records of these conversations (which Nixon continuously refused to do), public disquiet grew incrementally. That was due to another reason as well: information was released that Nixon and his administration tried to intimidate and buy the FBI by intermediation of the CIA in order to stop investigations. At the same time evidence were given by the people who carried out the “burglary” that Nixon had tried to give them “hush money” (History. Com Staff). This was exactly where the actions of President Nixon could definitely begin to be defined as an abuse of power and deliberate obstruction of justice, which meant – and means – much in legal terms. (History.com Staff).
Eventually, the beginning of the end happened when Nixon’s accomplices gave up and started giving away information about Nixon’s crimes. This happened nearly at the same time when the demand of prosecution to release records from the Oval Cabinet became unbearable. So Nixon did it. He did release a part of the record – a part, which was sufficient, however, to understand that President’s oaths given in his August 1972 were good for nothing and that he really had played a big unfair dishonest play. The president was impeached for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution.
Nixon was not prosecuted. But that does not mean that in absence of any legal proceedings being initiated against the President there were no results whatsoever. Yes, the next President, that took office immediately after the Nixon’s impeachment Gerald Ford pardoned the former President and did not let prosecutors press any charges. Nixon avoided being convicted. But as it was said at the very beginning of the paper, all the same what happened became a precedent, in many meanings of this word. “Although Nixon was never prosecuted, the Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leadership and think more critically about the presidency.” (History.com Staff). Also, it showed the world how truly democratic the country can be if the high-ranking officials – all the way up to the President – face responsibility in the exact same manner that any other person does. It showed to the world that hypocrisy and dishonest does not have any place to be in the highest levels of the US politics and that trying to impede the process of justice is not an option in a truly democratic state.
Reference list
- History.com Staff. (2009). Watergate Scandal. Retrieved from History.com wesite: http://www.history.com/topics/watergate.
- “Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon.”(n.d.). Watergate.info. Retrieved from: http://watergate.info.
