The Watergate Scandal

Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States of America and was the first president ever to step down from office. He resigned after serving a term for about six years. He is best known for the Watergate scandal which was a break and enter into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters. It was a major political scandal which led to investigations that disclosed how the Nixon administration had been abusing its power. The scandal was as a result of Nixon’s suspicion of his opponents and as a result, he bugged their offices with electronic devices such as radio transmitters and wires in order to spy on them (Rozell 50). They also used the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to investigate activist groups and various political figures. Richard Nixon committed more crimes during his time which include; treason by trying to sabotage the Paris peace talks which were attempting to find an amicable solution to the Vietnam war, the secret bombing of Cambodia which was against the American constitution and led to many deaths, money laundering and bribery, colluding with milk producers to increase the price of milk to obtain money to fund his political ambitions and burglary (Nixon 73).

 He ultimately resigned since he faced impeachment from office and face a trial by the Senate. However, his successor, President Ford, deliberated a pardon for Nixon despite it not being popular in the country. His pardon had several impacts to the nation which include; the people felt the need for presidents to be kept under more scrutiny, new reforms on use of public funds were made and a large number of new politicians moved to Washington to grow their political careers (Olson 103). It was also a contributing factor to the loss of some seats in the House and also in the Senate for the Republicans.

Works Cited

Nixon, Richard. RN: the memoirs of Richard Nixon. Simon and Schuster, 2013.

Olson, Keith W. Watergate: the presidential scandal that shook America. University Press of Kansas, 2016.

Rozell, Mark J. Executive privilege: Presidential power, secrecy, and accountability. Univ Pr of Kansas, 2010.