Watergate
The word Watergate covers much more than a conspiracy, or even a series of conspiracies. It is the standard against which political scandal is measured. It covers conspiracies to commit burglaries, cover them up, obstruct justice, and misuse campaign funds. What began as a simple burglary opened an investigation which led to the discovery that the President of the United States conspired with his staff and others to commit a multitude of felonies, some of them planned within the confines of the Oval Office. Before it was finished, 69 people were indicted, 48 of whom were convicted, including the former Attorney General of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
Most people believe that the Watergate scandal began when burglars were caught as they attempted to plant listening devices – bugs – in the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel and Office complex. This isn’t exactly true. They were caught when they went in to the office to adjust the bugs which they had illegally planted weeks earlier. During this second burglary, June 17, 1972, they were caught and their connections to a White House security expert, E. Howard Hunt, were gradually revealed. White House attorney John Dean and FBI Director L. Patrick Gray later destroyed the contents of Hunt’s White House safe, tampering with evidence.
President Richard Nixon, who was running for re-election at the time, attempted to distance himself from the affair, which as it was investigated led to more and more evidence of other illegal activities, and inched closer and closer to the White House. It was revealed that money donated to the President’s re-election campaign – hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash – was in fact used to finance the burglary as well as numerous other illegal activities. The Watergate burglars were paid by the President’s re-election committee, which was run by the former Attorney General, John Mitchell.
When it was revealed in testimony before a congressional committee that the President had installed surreptitious listening devices in the Oval Office to record conversations a legal battle over the tapes ensued. Nixon claimed that he did not have to turn the tapes over to Congress. The courts claimed he did. Nixon offered transcripts of the tapes, with large areas redacted for reasons of “National Security”, or to eliminate embarrassing language. The Supreme Court ordered the tapes released. When they were, there were gaps indicating parts of the tapes were erased, including one of over 18 minutes in a critical conversation.
Before it was over the President resigned, to be pardoned by his successor, and most Americans, weary of the long scandal, turned their attention elsewhere. Some continued to study the Watergate conspiracy, and the several other conspiracies which investigation into Watergate exposed, run from the Nixon White House by members of his administration. The activities surrounding Watergate are an apt lesson on how easily the President of the United States can break the law and abuse his authority if not closely watched by an independent media and the Congress of the United States.