The Watergate scandal was a significant political controversy during the Nixon administration from 1972 to 1974, leading to Nixon’s resignation. The name originated from attempts by the Nixon administration to conceal its involvement in the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The final toll included one presidential resignation and one vice-presidential resignation, although Agnew’s crimes were unrelated to Watergate. 40 government officials were indicted, with some serving time in prison or receiving reduced sentences in exchange for testimony.
The Watergate scandal began on June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the DNC. Five men were arrested after breaking into the DNC’s Watergate headquarters, stealing copies of top-secret documents, and bugging the office’s phones. The trial of the five arrested burglars and two accomplices began in federal court less than two weeks before Nixon’s second-term inauguration. The relatively narrow indictment on charges of burglary led to dozens of people associated with the Nixon administration and campaign either plead guilty or are convicted of crimes related to the Watergate affair.
Among the major names in Watergate were Gordon Liddy, H.R. Haldeman, Mark Felt, John Ehrlichman, John Dean, Leon Jaworski, and Hilary Rodham Clinton. Of the seven individuals indicted and later convicted of the planning and execution of the June 17, 1972, Watergate break-in, six had been employed by the CIA. In total, 41 people will receive criminal convictions related to the Watergate scandal.
📹 Watergate – The Scandal that Took down the President
#Grammarly Between 1972 and late 1973, there was a series of mysterious meetings in an underground car park near …
Who were the guys who exposed Watergate?
At the age of 91, Felt revealed to Vanity Fair magazine that he was the anonymous source known as “Deep Throat” during his tenure as Deputy Director of the FBI. Felt provided critical information to The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about the Watergate scandal, which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974. Woodward confirmed Felt’s claim, and the identity remained a secret for 30 years. Felt finally acknowledged his identity after being persuaded by his daughter to reveal it before his death.
He published two memoirs, The FBI Pyramid in 1979 and A G-Man’s Life in 2006. In 2012, the FBI released Felt’s personnel file covering the period from 1941 to 1978 and files pertaining to an extortion threat made against him in 1956. Born on August 17, 1913, in Twin Falls, Idaho, Felt was the son of Rose R. Dygert and Mark Earl Felt.
Who snitched on the Watergate scandal?
The identity of Mark Felt, a man who was suspected by the press and public, was initially kept secret. However, only Woodward, Bernstein, Elsa Walsh, and Ben Bradlee knew of his identity before he was revealed to be Deep Throat. Writer Nora Ephron eventually concluded that he was Mark Felt. In 1999, a 19-year-old college student, Chase Culeman-Beckman, claimed that Bernstein’s son Jacob told him Mark Felt was Deep Throat. Jacob Bernstein had said that he was 100% sure that Deep Throat was Mark Felt, as he was someone in the FBI.
James Mann, who worked at the Post during the Watergate scandal, brought evidence together in a 1992 article in The Atlantic Monthly. He argued that the information that Deep Throat gave Woodward could only have come from FBI files. Felt was embittered at being passed over for director of the FBI and believed that the FBI was hostile to the Nixon administration. Woodward kept in close touch with Felt over the years, even showing up unexpectedly at his daughter Joan’s house in Santa Rosa, California in 1999 after Felt’s dementia began. Some suspected that Woodward might have asked Felt to reveal his identity, but he consistently denied being Deep Throat.
In 1976, Assistant Attorney General John Stanley Pottinger convened a grand jury to investigate a series of potentially illegal break-ins Felt authorized against various dissident groups. When a juror asked him, “Were you Deep Throat?”, Pottinger explained that Felt went white with fear and would have to answer truthfully. Pottinger offered to withdraw the question if Felt wished, as it was outside the purview of the investigation.
Who are the 5 men involved in Watergate?
In 1972, police dispatched an unmarked police car with three plainclothes officers, known as the “bum squad”, to investigate the Watergate building. Alfred Baldwin, on spotter duty at Howard Johnson’s hotel, was distracted by the film Attack of the Puppet People and did not notice the police car’s arrival or the DNC’s sixth floor suite of 29 offices. By the time Baldwin noticed unusual activity, it was too late.
The police apprehended five men, later identified as Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis. They were criminally charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. The Washington Post reported the day after the burglary that police found lock-picks, door jimmies, almost $2, 300 in cash, a shortwave receiver, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35 millimeter cameras, and three pen-sized tear gas guns. The actual amount of cash was $5, 300.
G. Gordon Liddy informed Jeb Magruder in Los Angeles that the four men arrested with McCord were Cuban freedom fighters recruited by Howard Hunt. Nixon’s organization and the White House worked to cover up the crime and any evidence that might have damaged the president and his reelection. On September 15, 1972, a grand jury indicted the five office burglars, along with Hunt and Liddy, for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The burglars were tried by a jury, with Judge John Sirica officiating, and pled guilty or were convicted on January 30, 1973.
Who led the FBI during Watergate?
Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray was notified of the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which became synonymous with the Nixon cover-up and resignation. The FBI immediately found itself involved in the most politically sensitive investigation in its history, and despite some internal issues, their exhaustive efforts were invaluable in unraveling the Watergate saga. The break-ins occurred in the office building in the center of the Democratic National Committee.
How many people were involved in Watergate?
Following the arrest of five individuals involved in a 1972 break-in, the media and the Department of Justice connected the money found to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising organization of Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. The House of Representatives granted the House Judiciary Committee expanded investigative authority, and the Senate established the U. S.
Senate Watergate Committee. Witnesses testified that Nixon had sanctioned plans to cover up his administration’s involvement in the break-in, and there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office.
Nixon’s administration resisted the investigations, leading to a constitutional crisis. The televised Senate Watergate hearings gained nationwide attention and public interest. Numerous revelations and Nixon’s efforts to impede the investigation led the House to initiate impeachment proceedings against him in 1973. The Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Nixon compelled Nixon to surrender the Oval Office tapes, which revealed his complicity in the cover-up. Nixon resigned from office in 1974, becoming the only U. S. president to do so.
How many men were caught at Watergate?
Five men, Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis, were arrested for attempted burglary and telephone eavesdropping. They were found with lock-picks, door jimmies, nearly $2, 300 in cash, a short-wave receiver, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras, and three pen-sized tear gas guns. The incident occurred in Yorba Linda, California, and is part of a larger investigation into the use of handi-talkie technology.
Was the CIA involved in the Watergate case?
On June 22, acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray contacted CIA chief Richard Helms to inquire about the CIA’s involvement in the Watergate scandal. In response, Helms confirmed that the CIA had no involvement in the burglary.
Who was convicted in the Watergate scandal?
The Watergate Seven, a group of individuals involved in the Watergate scandal, were convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping. G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent and general counsel for the Committee to Re-elect the President, was sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison. The group was also involved in the indictment of seven advisors and aides of President Richard M. Nixon, who were indicted by a grand jury on March 1, 1974, for their roles in the Watergate scandal.
Nixon was named an unindicted co-conspirator by the grand jury. The trial of the first Watergate Seven began on January 8, 1973. The term “Watergate Seven” was coined in April 1973 by American politician, lawyer, and political commentator Rep. Ed Koch, who posted a sign on the door of his United States Congress office stating that the premises were surveilled by the Watergate Seven.
Who caught the people at Watergate?
On June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Wills noticed duct tape covering the back parking lot door of the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D. C. He removed the tape but found another reappeared 30 minutes later. Wills contacted authorities, who searched the building and found five men hiding in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Headquarters office. The men were identified as Bernard L. Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord Jr., and Frank Sturgis, all of whom had connections to Richard M. Nixon’s reelection campaign.
How many were involved in the Watergate scandal?
In 1972, the Watergate incident involved a Republican Party security aide, but former attorney general John Mitchell denied any involvement. On August 1, a $25, 000 cashier’s check was found in the US and Mexican bank accounts of one of the Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker. The check was a 1972 campaign donation by Kenneth H. Dahlberg, which was used to finance the burglary and wiretapping expenses. Barker’s multiple national and international businesses had separate bank accounts, which he attempted to use to disguise the true origin of the money being paid to the burglars.
Donations totaling $86, 000 ($626, 000 today) were made by individuals who believed they were making private donations by certified and cashier’s checks for the president’s re-election. Investigators’ examination of the bank records of a Miami company run by Watergate burglar Barker revealed an account controlled by him personally had deposited a check and then transferred it through the Federal Reserve Check Clearing System.
Who else was involved in the Watergate scandal?
In 1972, police apprehended five men, identified as Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis, for attempted burglary and interception of telephone and other communications. The Washington Post reported that they found lock-picks, door jimmies, almost $2, 300 in cash, a shortwave receiver, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35 millimeter cameras, and three pen-sized tear gas guns. The actual amount of cash was $5, 300.
G. Gordon Liddy informed Jeb Magruder that the four men arrested with McCord were Cuban freedom fighters recruited by Howard Hunt. Nixon’s organization and the White House worked to cover up the crime and any evidence that might have damaged the president and his reelection. On September 15, 1972, a grand jury indicted the five office burglars, Hunt, and Liddy for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The burglars were tried by a jury, with Judge John Sirica officiating, and pled guilty or were convicted on January 30, 1973.
📹 Watergate in Two Minutes
A super fast overview of the basics of understanding the Watergate scandal. Grow your brain with a longer video here!
It wasn’t just the Watergate scandal he did. Before he was elected, he spoke to a South Vietnamese official during Negotiation talks, he told them to reject anything and he would help the achieve their primary goals. What he did, was a Crime and it is already considered Treason for interfering in Negotiations.
Unfun fact: The Watergate scandal was only openly revealed, thanks to an unsung hero named Frank Wills, who was working as a security guard in the Watergate hotel’s office complex in June 17 1972. As he was making his rounds, he noticed a piece of duct tape covering a lock of a basement office and decided to remove it. When he came back to check on it again, he found the lock was taped again. Suspicious, he called in police to report the mysterious occurrence. Two undercover cops named John Barrett and Paul Leeper came to the hotel in plain clothes and in an unmarked car to avoid arousing suspicious and proceeded to scour the hotel for any doors marked with duct tape. They were lucky to find evidence of a secret wire-tapping, bugging and intelligence operation, because a Watergate lookout named Alfred Baldwin (who was supposed to ensure the spy operation was not sabotaged) was too occupied on perusal “Attack of the Puppet People” on his television set. By the time he caught sight of Barrett and Leeper breaking into doors leading to the secret operations, it was too late to radio his colleagues about the immediate compromise.
Back again with my request. I’d love to see a article about the British soldier eric harden, during the liberation of the netherlands in 1945 there was a slaughter at a field, it was mid winter and reinforcements were ways out. There were alot of injured people in the battlefieldlfield freezing and beelding to death, eric left base camp and ran out mutliple times saving people. Every time he ran out he got shot at and hit mutliple times. After being ordered not to go back out. He went another time but this time he got shot in the head by a sniper. For his heroic deeds he was given the victoria cross
According to the new book out on Watergate, Butterfield wasn’t all that reluctant to mention the taping system. Talking to his wife the night before, she got the distinct feeling he was going to mention it. Nixon had harangued a number of lower staffers, along with Butterfield, who was quite fed up by this time.
As a guy who wants to be part of FBI, and heard the name Deep Throat in 1:39, I just said out of my mind “Deputy Director Mark Felt” without thinking anything Edit: At that time, the Deputy Director of the FBI, the 2nd highest-ranking member of the FBI and highest career position in the FBI was called as Associate Director
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon’s resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration’s continual attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building. After the five perpetrators were arrested, the press and the U.S. Justice Department connected the cash found on them at the time to the Nixon re-election campaign committee. Further investigations, along with revelations during subsequent trials of the burglars, led the U.S. House of Representatives to grant its judiciary committee additional investigation authority to probe into “certain matters within its jurisdiction”, and the U.S. Senate to create a special investigative committee. The resulting Senate Watergate hearings were broadcast “gavel-to-gavel” nationwide by PBS and aroused public interest. Witnesses testified that Nixon had approved plans to cover up administration involvement in the break-in, and that there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. Throughout the investigation, the administration resisted its probes, which led to a constitutional crisis. Several major revelations and egregious presidential action against the investigation later in 1973 prompted the House to commence an impeachment process against Nixon. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the Oval Office tapes to government investigators.
I like to be a bit more fair to Nixon his Presidency then most people today are. When you remove the Watergate scandal from his career you would have to say he was a excellent President and stateman through his whole life in my opinion. He did a ton of good to great things as President, Vice President (for Eisenhower), a US Senator and US Congressman. Among his/the nations greatest achievements during his Presidency was détente, the opening of talks with China, the creation of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the leading of the international movement to defend Israel when it was being ganged up on again, the leading of of the West against the oil embargo by the Middle East and being President during the first landing of our species on our moon. Something to this day 50 years later no other nation has done. And most of all the negotiation of the ending of the Vietnam war with a peace treaty that despite what people think today actually allowed the US to complete all of it’s goals in first entering the Vietnam war. Those being the stopping the spread of Communism and the keeping of South Vietnam a free and independent country. Further the peace treaty that Nixon’s team negotiated included the guarantee of North Vietnam to not attempt to unite North and South Vietnam through military means ever again (something they would break). It was because of the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s removal from office that North Vietnam broke the Paris Peace Agreement and invaded the South again, something the political and military leaders of North Vietnam have repeatedly admitted to.
The thing that bugs me is that people throw “gate” at the end of every stupid scandal. Deflategate, Gamergate. . both stupid, by the way. . but even more stupid is that they decided to add “gate” at the end. Watergate was a PLACE. It wasn’t a scandal about water and “gate” isn’t some euphemism for scandal.
The real simple history is that when you’re a President of a political party that is shifting into right-leaning conservatism and you govern as a left-leaning liberal and leave domestic issues out to dry because you want to play in international waters and the combination of 1 and 2 leaves you as the representative of no one but the nebulous “moderates” then don’t be surprised when behavior that was not only tolerated but out and and about for every president and politician that came before you makes for a noose around your neck. For all the pageantry and propaganda surrounding the Watergate “scandal” the reality is if Nixon had governed at home as a Conservative and actually taken steps to formalize an alliance and bring Southern Democrats into his coalition, or conversely just been a liberal democrat under the same conditions then literally nothing would have happened and none of you would know what “Watergate” even was unless you checked into it. The story of “journalists” doing brave work and cracking the case is a full fledged lie. The reality is secretive leakers go ahold of the information and fed it to journalists, the same as what happens today. just slower turnaround because of the vestiges of journalistic ethics and older technology.
Nixon illegally negotiated on behalf of the US while running as a political candidate in 1968. He used Madam Chenault as intermediaries and asked the South Vietnamese government to hold out during peace negotiations with the communists. LBJ and the Justice Department knew this, but LBJ elected not to act on the information as he didn’t want to expose government’s wiretapping of the anti-war movement. Nixon ran on a “Peace with Honor” platform and the Democrats lost. He then became ultra paranoid, and then became obsessed with government leakers and his own staff plotting behind his back, all the while keeping the government surveillance programs going. In the end he caught himself in one of his own traps.
I think this is an oversimplification of what happened- Two details that are questionable are when did Richard Nixon know of the break in. I am not sure if the tapes reveal if Nixon knew of the breaking until after the break in. The other question is what was Mark Felts motivation? Mark Felts was not happy with not getting the fbi director. Two people, you may want to hear or read is Geoff Shepard and Dwight Chapin. These are men who seemed to be honest- I believe these guys would say Nixon didn’t know until a year after the break in. But it’s history- Nixon was a flawed man and some people wanted him out of office. He had many crisis like Vietnam, taking us off the gold standard, opening trade with China, desegregation, and created the epa. When you deal with events like these, some people may have not liked how he dealt with them and wanted him out of office.