467). While Woodward and Bernstein got the credit for first bringing the story to light, as media reports increased, later research showed that much of what newspapers, radio and television reported to the public had already been discovered by investigative agencies such as the FBI (Feldstein,-PAGE), which suggests that perhaps the famous informer who met periodically with Woodward might have been someone from inside the FBI.
Eventually, money paid to two of the burglars, James McCord and G. Gordon LIddy, were traced to the Committee to Re-Elect the President ((Staff writers, p. 467). However, that did not implicate President Nixon. Jeb Magruder, Deputy Director for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (Emery, p. xvii), had begun the initial cover-up activities. Eventually, however, White House Counsel John Dean took over the task of coordinating the cover-up. When called before a Congressional committee, Dean spoke the truth and reported extensive White House involvement in both the break-in and the cover-up (Rosen,-PAGE).
However, not everyone believed Dean, and except for one mistake by Nixon, he might never have been tied to the break-in and following events. What may have brought Richard Milhaus Nixon's presidency to an end, forcing him to resign or face impeachment, may have been hubris. His landslide victory in the 1972 presidential election, in which he won all the electoral votes for 49 of the 50 states, may have led him to believe that the American people had given him permission to do whatever was necessary for him to achieve his goals (Washington Post Staff, p. 23). Nixon had an elaborate system in his Oval Office for taping conversations. That recording system activated when Watergate...
If Nixon had destroyed those tapes, Dean's
claims might never have been believed, and conceivably Nixon might have been able to stay in office. However, other events implicated the President as well, and the cumulative weight of them was damning. After McCord was found guilty, he asserted that witnesses had lied at his
trial and that he had been pressured to plead guilty to prevent more information from coming out in such a trial (Staff writers, p. 468).
The Watergate Affair had long-lasting effects on
American society because it made American citizens aware that even the most favored
politicians were capable of committing illegal acts if they feel the circumstances require them. It began an era of unheralded investigation into politicians and their actions that continues to this day.
SOURCES
Emery, Fred. Watergate: The Corruption of
American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon. New York: Random House, 1994.
Feldstein, Mark, 2004. "Watergate revisited." American Journalism Review, August.
Rosen, James S. 1997. "Anniversary gate: twenty-five years later, the Watergate scandal continues to unfold. National Review, July 14.
Staff writers. "Watergate Affair." Encyclopedia Americana, International Edition. Vol. 28, pp. 467-469. Danbury, CT: 1999.
Washington Post Staff. The Fall…
