An essay on the Watergate scandal with detailed introduction and conclusion

Watergate scandal was a political scandal that took place in the United States in the 1970s due to a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters situated at Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. The Nixon administration attempted covering up its involvement in 1972.the whole affair began when five men were caught breaking in and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the Watergate complex. This took place in June 1972 .the FBI established a connection between the cash that was found on the burglars to a slush fund that had ben used by the committee behind president Nixon's reelection.in 1973 there was mounting evidence against president Nixon's staff which included testimonies provided by former members of staff (Gill, 2010).

The evidence surfaced during an investigation that was carried out by senate Watergate committee. There was tape recording system in President Nixon's office that had caught in tape many conversations. There was undeniable evidence that had been spoken by President Nixon and it had all been recorded in tape. these tape recording implicated the president bringing out revelations that he had tried covering up the very questionable and illegal happenings that took place during the break in. this was a revelation that he had obstructed justice and attempted covering up the break-in. there was a series of court battles that eventually led to a decision by the supreme court ruling against the president and ordering him to hand over the taps for further investigations by the governments

Causes of the Watergate scandal

There are various factors that led to the Watergate scandal.one of them is the fact that Nixon wanted to win the election and he was willing to do everything to ensure that he would be reelected. There was a rapid growth of the loose presidential power of the then president Nixon during the cold war era. This mad it easy for the then sitting president to do such things that got him entangled in this scandal. Secondly there was a lot of polarization of the political process that was on the rise as a result of the Vietnam war .Another factor that led to this scandal is the fact that president Nixon had a very resentful and secretive character. He attempted covering up the act by burglars since he was very secretive. However the attempts of covering up resulted to concealing of evidence and the obstruction of justice (Wiegand, 2010).

Effects of the Watergate scandal

The Watergate scandal resulted to various things.one of them being the obstruction of investigation by the FBI.since president Nixon had hidden and attempted to conceal all the evidence that could be used to investigate this case it became quite difficult for the FBI to continue with investigations. Another effect of this scandal was the resignation of Richard Nixon who was the president of the United States .this took place in 1974 and it goes down the history books as the only resignation of a president in the U.S.A. The scandal also led to the indictment, trial, conviction and the eventual incarceration of 43 people most of who were top officials in the Nixon administration.it led to legislation curbing executive power since leaders I the Nixon administration were apprehended (Watergate.info, 1995).