The Watergate affair is a political scandal that occurred in America in 1972, which led to the resignation of the then head of state, Richard Nixon. This is the first and so far the only case in the history of America when the president, in his lifetime, prematurely resigned his post. The word Watergate is still considered a symbol of corruption, immorality, and crime by the authorities. Today we will find out what the Watergate case in the USA had, how the scandal developed and what it led to.
Beginning of Richard Nixon's Political Career
In 1945, the 33-year-old Republican Nixon got a seat in Congress. At that time, he was already famous for his anti-communist beliefs, which the politician did not hesitate to express to the public. Nixon's political career developed very rapidly, and already in 1950 he became the youngest senator in the history of the United States of America.
The young politician was prophesied excellent prospects. In 1952, the current president of the United States, Eisenhower, nominated Nixon as vice president. However, this was not destined to take place.
First conflict
One of the leading New York newspapers accused Nixon of illegally using election funds. In addition to serious accusations, there were quite funny ones. For example, according to reporters, Nixon spent part of the money to buy a cocker spaniel puppy for his children. In response to the allegations, the politician delivered a televised speech. Naturally, he denied everything, claiming that he had never committed illegal and immoral acts in his life that could have stained his honest political career. And the dog, according to the accused, was simply presented to his children. In the end, Nixon said that he was not going to leave politics and just did not give up. By the way, he will pronounce a similar phrase after the Watergate scandal, but more on that later.
Double fiasco
In 1960, Richard Nixon first ran for President of America. His opponent was George Kennedy, who in that race simply had no equal. Kennedy was very popular and respected in society, so he won by a huge margin. 11 months after Kennedy's appointment as president, Nixon nominated himself as governor of California, but lost here too. After a double defeat, he was thinking about leaving politics, but the desire for power nevertheless took its toll.
Presidency
In 1963, when Kennedy was killed, Lyndon Johnson came in his place. He coped quite well with his task. When it was time for the next election, the situation in America was greatly aggravated - the Vietnam War, which was too long, provoked protests throughout the United States. Johnson decided that he would not run for a second term, which was very unexpected for the political and civil society. Nixon could not miss this chance and put forward his candidacy for president. In 1968, ahead of his opponent by half a percent, he headed the White House.
Merits
Of course, Nixon is far from the great American rulers, but it cannot be said that he was the worst president in US history. He, along with his administration, was able to resolve the issue of America’s exit from the Vietnam confrontations and normalize relations with China.
In 1972, Nixon paid an official visit to Moscow. In the entire history of US-USSR relations, such a meeting was the first. She brought a number of important agreements regarding bilateral relations and arms reduction.
But at one point, all of Nixon’s services to the United States literally depreciated. For this, only a few days were enough. As you may have guessed, the Watergate affair is the reason.
Political wars
As you know, the confrontation between Democrats and Republicans in America is considered a familiar thing. Representatives of the two camps almost in turn take control of the state, nominating their candidates for elections and providing them with massive support. Of course, every victory brings the greatest joy to the winner party and great disappointment to the opponents. To gain leverage, candidates often go to a very sharp and unprincipled struggle. Propaganda, incriminating evidence and other dirty methods come into play.
When a politician receives the reins of government, his life turns into a real duel. Each, even the smallest mistake, becomes a reason for competitors to go on the offensive. To protect themselves from the influence of political opponents, the president has to take a huge number of measures. As the Watergate affair showed, Nixon was second to none.
Secret Service and other power tools
When the hero of our conversation at the age of 50 came to the presidency, one of his primary tasks was the creation of a personal secret service. Her goal was to control opponents and potential opponents of the president. The scope of the law was neglected. It all started with the fact that Nixon began to listen to the telephone conversations of his competitors. In the summer of 1970, he went even further: gave the green light to the secret services conducting non-sectional searches of Democratic congressmen. The president did not disdain the divide and conquer method.
To disperse anti-war demonstrations, he used the services of mafia militants. After all, they are not police officers, which means that no one will say that the government neglects human rights and the laws of a democratic society. Nixon did not shy at blackmail and bribery. When the next round of elections was approaching, he decided to enlist the help of officials. And so that the latter would react to him more loyally, he asked for certificates of tax payment by people with the lowest income level. It was impossible to provide such information, but the president insisted, demonstrating the triumph of his power.
In general, Nixon was a very cynical politician. But if you look at the political world, from the point of view of dry facts, it’s extremely difficult to find honest people there. And if there are any, then they most likely just know how to cover their tracks. Our hero was not like that, and many knew about it.
"Plumbers Division"
In 1971, when only one year was left until the next presidential election, the New York Times published in one of its issues secret CIA data on military operations in Vietnam. Although Nixon’s name was not mentioned in this article, it called into question the competence of the ruler and his apparatus as a whole. Nixon took this material as a personal challenge.
A little later, he organized the so-called plumbers division - a secret service engaged in espionage and not only. An investigation conducted later showed that the staff of this service had been developing plans to eliminate people who interfere with the president, as well as disrupt rallies held by Democrats. Naturally, during the election campaign, Nixon had to resort to the services of "plumbers" much more often than usual. The president was ready to do anything to be elected for a second term. As a result, the excessive activity of the espionage organization led to a scandal that went down in history as the Watergate affair. Impeachment is far from the only result of the conflict, but more on that below.
How did it all happen
The headquarters of the US Democratic Party Committee was at that time in the Watergate Hotel. One of the June evenings of 1972, five men entered the hotel, with suitcases of plumbers in rubber gloves. That's why they later called the espionage organization plumbers. That evening they acted strictly according to the scheme. However, by chance, the sinister deeds of the spies were not destined to take place. They were prevented by a guard who suddenly decided to conduct an unscheduled detour. Faced with unexpected guests, he followed instructions and called the police.
The evidence was more than compelling. The main one is the cracked door to the Democrats headquarters. Initially, everything looked like a simple robbery, but with a thorough search, grounds were found for more significant charges. Law enforcement officers found the criminals complex recording equipment. A serious investigation has begun.
At first, Nixon tried to hush up the scandal, but almost every day new facts were revealed that reveal his true face: the “bugs” installed at the headquarters of the Democrats, the recordings of conversations that were conducted in the White House and other information. Congress demanded that the president provide all the records to the investigation, but Nixon presented only part of them. Naturally, this did not suit investigators. In this matter, not even the slightest compromise was allowed. As a result, all that Nixon managed to hide was 18 minutes of sound recording, which he erased. They could not restore it, but it doesn’t matter anymore, because the surviving materials were more than enough to demonstrate the president’s dismissive attitude towards the society of his native country.
Former presidential aide Alexander Butterfield claimed that conversations in the White House were recorded just for the story. As an irrefutable argument, he mentioned that even in the days of Franklin Roosevelt, legal recordings of presidential conversations were made. But even if he agrees with this argument, there remains the fact of listening to political opponents, which is impossible to justify. Moreover, in 1967, unauthorized wiretapping was banned at the legislative level.
The Watergate affair in the United States caused a great deal of resonance. As the investigation progressed, public outrage grew rapidly. At the end of February 1973, law enforcement officers proved that Nixon more than once committed serious violations regarding the payment of taxes. It was also discovered that the president used huge amounts of public funds to fulfill personal needs.
Watergate Case: Verdict
At the beginning of his career, Nixon managed to convince the public of his innocence, but this time it was impossible. If then the president was accused of buying a puppy, now it was a question of two magnificent houses in California and Florida. The plumbers were accused of conspiracy and arrested. And the head of state every day felt stronger not as the owner of the White House, but as his hostage.
He stubbornly but unsuccessfully tried to dispel his guilt and run the Watergate case on the brakes. A brief description of the then state of the president can be made with the phrase “struggle for survival”. With remarkable enthusiasm, the president refused his resignation. According to him, under no circumstances did he intend to leave the post to which he was appointed by the people. The American people, in turn, did not even think about supporting Nixon. Everything led to impeachment. Congressmen were determined to remove the president from high office.
After a full investigation, the Senate and the House of Representatives delivered their verdict. They admitted that Nixon behaved inappropriately for the president and undermined America’s constitutional order. For this, he was removed from office and presented to the court. The Watergate affair has caused the president to resign, but that’s not all. Thanks to the audio recordings, investigators found that many politicians from the president’s circle regularly abused their official position, took bribes and openly threatened their opponents. What surprised Americans most was not the fact that the highest ranks went to unworthy people, but the fact that corruption had reached such proportions. That, which until recently was an exception and could lead to irreversible consequences, has become commonplace.
Resignation
On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon, the main victim of the Watergate affair, left home, resigning as president. Naturally, he did not admit his guilt. Later, recalling the scandal, he will say that, as president, he made a mistake and acted indecisively. What did he mean by that? What decisive actions were discussed? It is possible to provide the public with additional dirt on officials and close associates. Would Nixon have made such a grandiose admission? Most likely, all these statements were a simple attempt to justify themselves.
Watergate and the Press
The role of the media in the development of the scandal was unambiguous. According to the American researcher Samuel Huntington, during the Watergate scandal, it was the media that challenged the head of state and, as a result, caused him an irreversible defeat. In fact, the press did what no institute in American history had succeeded in before - deprived the president of his post, which he received with the support of the majority. That is why the Watergate affair and the print of American newspapers still symbolize power control and the triumph of the press.
Interesting Facts
The word "Watergate" has become entrenched in the political slang of many countries of the world. It refers to the scandal that led to impeachment. And the word "gate" has become a suffix that is used in the name of new political, and not only scandals. For example: Monikageyt at Clinton, Iranigate at Reagan, a scam of the Volkswagen automobile company which they nicknamed Dieselgate and so on.
The Watergate affair in the United States (1974) has been repeatedly reflected to varying degrees in literature, cinema, and even video games.
