Introduction To American Politics

2010PPP Introduction to American Politics

The Watergate Scandal (henceforth, “Watergate”) was the political misconduct that began with a seemingly inconsequential burglary at the Watergate apartment complex in Washington D.C, and ended with the resignation of the President of the United States. It had a significant impact on American politics by calling into question the integrity of the political and constitutional institutions of the United States. This essay will discuss the basic elements of Watergate, utilising a chronology of key events, the political and constitutional implications of these actions and consequently the impact Watergate had on the legacy of the Nixon Administration.

The basic premise of Watergate is relatively simple. The series of events that led the President to resign are critical in order to establish and maintain reasonable context, particularly for discussion of constitutional implications. As mentioned, the scandal began with a seemingly inconsequential burglary. The burglary occurred at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate complex, and five men would be charged with the burglary of the DNC suite on the night of June 17, 1972. Media outlets paid little attention to incident, and most concluded that the Republican Party (Henceforth, “GOP” – Grand Old Party) would not attempt such an obtuse tactic (Schudson, 2004). Key staffers of the White House and the committee to re-elect the President moved swiftly to deny any connection between the accused men and their crimes, with the White House Press Secretary, Ron Ziegler, referring to the incident as a ‘third rate burglary attempt’ (Genovese, 1999). These unequivocal denials set in motion a complex series of mistruths that would eventually be dispelled as corruption at the highest levels of American politics transpired.

Public scrutiny of the accused and their motives commenced shortly after the five men were arrested. It soon emerged that a former...