Nixon's Watergate

Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, had interesting mannerisms that people know him well for. One was the shaking of his jowls, while saying, “I am not a crook;” the other was his holding up the “peace” or “victory” hand sign, (a two-fingered letter “V”) using both hands at the same time. Nixon was long involved in politics and served not only as president, but as Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower. He is also known for his involvement in a political nightmare known as Watergate, an event so profound in the eyes of the public that it was continually reported on by all the major television networks.

Watergate, named after the Watergate Hotel located in Washington DC that was home of the Democratic Party’s National committee offices at the time. With the discovery that it had been burglarized, the floodgates opened, revealing to the world all the kinds of things that go on in the struggle for political power.

The world watched as the honorable president of the United States, (who by the way, had the trust of the American people, as he had been voted into office by a landslide, 49 of 50 states, so popular the some feared he would created a one party government. ) stood accused of his involvement in the matter, which included charges of burglary, espionage, lying, and bribery. Threatened with impeachment, the once loved and respected man, 37th President of the United States of America, Richard M. Nixon, felt compelled to resign from office.

Watergate and the events surrounding it, such as the Pentagon Papers, had a dramatic effect on the way the public viewed the US government from that point on. There was greater distrust than ever in the workings of media, the seen and unseen forces involved in political parties. For along time after this scandal, political platforms were more about character that real issues of politics and voters, newspaper reporters, and TV anchormen were quick to find fault with elected officials and doubt their truthfulness.

Nixon's crime, it seemed, was violating privacy right, ordering the wire tapping of telephone conversations in those democratic offices. He eventually publicly admitted that he ordered a cover-up of the Watergate incident even though the Federal bureau of Investigation, (FBI) said he didn’t do anything "illegal." Nixon insisted too, that he "was not a crook," but he eventually resigned from office.

When Nixon resigned, his then, Vice President, Gerald Ford became the president and formally, and fully, pardoned Nixon of all his "crimes."