Watergate after 30 years essays

Watergate after 30 years essays The term 'Watergate', labeled by Congress in 1974, stands for not only the burglary, but also for the numerous instances of officially sanctioned criminal activity and abuses of power as well as the obstruction of justice that preceded the actual break-in. Watergate involved the political behavior of the President and his men, beginning during Nixon's first term and extending to his resignation. Some of the criminal behavior was a result of the disastrous events of the 1960's. The day it all began was a Sunday, May 28, 1972. The first of several illegal break-ins into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate Complex was in effect. Despite Nixon's high standing position for being reelected, his CREEP staff (Committee to Reelect the President) was afraid that they might not have as much 'dirt' on Nixon's opponents as they had on Nixon. The President laid upon his staff the determination to do whatever possible to win the election! With this approval, Nixon's staff, headed by G. Gordon Liddy, began planning more ways of attaining information from the DNC. What they named the 'Plumbers unit' was established as a special task force for the President. The Plumbers' purpose was to keep any secret information from being discovered by reporters. In one situation, wearing CIA provided disguises, they illegally broke into Dr. Field's office, a psychiatrist, for information on a patient, Daniel Ellsberg, who had given private Pentagon papers to the New York Times 25). It turned out that the doctor had already been visited by the FBI and, taking precaution, removed the files. On June 17th, after several break-ins, police arrested five burglars found in the offices of Larry O'Brien, the Democratic National Chairman, at the Watergate complex. President Nixon, immediately after hearing of the break-in, appointed a top aide, John Ehrlichman, to uncover everything he could about the break-in and denied any invol...