The Watergate Affair Essay Example for Free

The Watergate Affair Essay The Watergate Affair was perhaps one of the greatest political scandals to have affected the Ameican government. Its significance was this scandal involved officials leading up to the highest levels of the government which ultimately led to the White House which was during the incumbency of President Richard Nixon. The immediate cause of this scandal began when several men were arrested for burglarizing the headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC hence the name of the scandal. These men were caught rummaging filing cabinets for vital documents and electronic wiretapping devices were also found in their persons; apparently, they were planinng to bug the office and electronically eavesdrop on any conversation taking place there. The underlying cause behind this operations was the Nixon Administration was concerned on how confidential government reports were being obtained by the Democrats which served as political ammunition against Nixons reelection bid. It was later revealed that the men involved were aides of the Presidents re-election team though initially, President Nixon denied any involvement and subsequent news reports revealed that a massive cover-up was being conducted as an attempt to cover up any involvement by the President. Subsequent investigations by the media revealed that the White House has formed a secret unit called â€Å"Plumbers† for the purpose of spying reporters and government officials who may have been leaking information to the former (Szulc, 1972, p. E2; Rugaber, 1972, p. 220). The media had been faithfully following the events related to what became known as the Watergate Scandal which had by far, overshadowed the achievements of Nixon during his presidency and hounded him all throughout. These revelations of covert government operations within the United States prompted the Senate to form a committee on the campaign activities of the President on February of 1973. Throughout the year, more revelations came out as the pressure on those responsible was intensifying ranging from being sworn to silence and destroying evidence of involvement by the White House. This then prompted the Senate to subpoena Nixon who had repeatedly refused to appear and even release the tapes when demanded, further heightening the suspicion of a cover-up as it was revealed when these tapes had been edited by the time it was released to them (Apple, 1974, pp. 57-58). The constant reporting of the media of what the Senate committee revealed had convinced the American public that Nixon should be impeached and (possibly) made to resign if found guilty (Kovach, 1974, p. 1). Based on the initial investigations by the Senate and its appointed prosecutors, Nixon was charged by the Senate for obstruction of justice, abusing his power and showing contempt of Congress by refusing to appear in the hearings and these became grounds on serving an impeachment against him. Seeing that he had proverbially painted himself in a corner and by the 9th of August, 1974, Nixon went on national television to announce his resignation to spare himself the indignity of being served the impeachment following the availability of more evidence that would furher incriminate him. The Watergate Affair revealed how the government could abuse its power in conducting spying and even conduct political sabotage and it was unfortunate that in its desire to keep certain matters of the state a secret, its agents were caught and led to severe repercussions. References Apple, R. W. (1974, January 5). â€Å"Nixon Rejects Subpoenas from Senate Committee for 500 Tapes and Papers. † New York Times. pp. 57-58. Rugaber, W. (1973, January 14). â€Å"Mystery, Comedy, Etc. Dirty Tricks. † New York Times. p. 220. Szulc, T. (1972, June 25). â€Å"From the Folks Who Brought You the Bay of Pigs. † New York Times.