The Watergate case was a political scandal that took place 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 a president left his post ahead of schedule during his lifetime. The word "Watergate" is still considered a symbol of corruption, immorality, and criminality on the part of the authorities. Today we will find out what prerequisites the Watergate case had in the USA, how the scandal developed and what it led to.
The beginning of Richard Nixon's political career
In 1945, the 33-year-old Republican Nixon won a seat in Congress. At that time, he was already famous for his anti-communist convictions, which the politician did not hesitate to express in 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 predicted to have excellent prospects. In 1952, President Eisenhower nominated Nixon for vice president. However, this was not destined to take place.
First conflict
One of the leading New York newspapers accused Nixon of illegal use of campaign funds. In addition to serious accusations, there were also very funny ones. For example, according to journalists, Nixon used part of the money to buy a Cocker Spaniel puppy for his children. In response to the allegations, the politician made a speech on television. Naturally, he denied everything, arguing that he had never in his life committed illegal and immoral acts that could tarnish his honest political career. And the dog, according to the accused, was simply presented to his children. Finally, Nixon said that he was not going to leave politics and just did not give up. By the way, he will say a similar phrase after the Watergate scandal, but more on that later.
Double fiasco
In 1960, Richard Nixon ran for the first time for the presidency of America. His opponent was George Kennedy, who simply had no equal in that race. Kennedy was very popular and respected in society, so he won by a huge margin. Eleven months after Kennedy's nomination as president, Nixon ran for governor of California, but lost here too. After a double defeat, he thought about leaving politics, but the craving for power still took its toll.
Presidentship
In 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Johnson took his place. He did his job quite well. When the time for the next election came up, the situation in America greatly worsened - the Vietnam War, which is toodragged on, sparked protests across the United States. Johnson made the decision 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 the presidency. In 1968, ahead of his opponent by half a percentage point, he headed the White House.
Merit
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 withdrawal from the Vietnam confrontations and normalize relations with China.
In 1972, Nixon paid an official visit to Moscow. In the entire history of relations between the US and the USSR, 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 merits to the United States literally depreciated. It only took a few days to do this. As you may have guessed, the reason for this is the Watergate case.
Political wars
As you know, the confrontation between Democrats and Republicans in America is already a common 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 winning party and great disappointment to the opponents. In order to gain leverage of power, candidates often go to extreme lengths andunscrupulous struggle. Propaganda, compromising evidence and other dirty methods come into play.
When this or that politician takes the reins of power, his life turns into a real duel. Each, even the slightest mistake, becomes a reason for competitors to go on the offensive. To protect himself from the influence of political opponents, the president has to take a huge number of measures. As the Watergate case showed, Nixon had no equal in this regard.
The secret service and other instruments of power
When the hero of our conversation at the age of 50 came to the presidency, one of his first tasks was the creation of a personal secret service. Its purpose was to control the opponents and potential opponents of the President. The limits of the law were 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: he gave the go-ahead for secret services to conduct non-sectional searches of Democratic congressmen. The President did not disdain the "divide and rule" method.
To disperse anti-war demonstrations, he used the services of mafia militants. After all, they are not policemen, which means that no one will say that the government neglects human rights and the laws of a democratic society. Nixon did not shy away from blackmail and bribery. When the next round of elections was approaching, he decided to enlist the help of officials. And in order for the latter to treat him more loyally, he asked for certificates of payment of taxes 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 is 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.
Plumber Division
In 1971, when the next presidential election was only a year away, the New York Times published in one of its issues secret CIA data regarding military operations in Vietnam. Despite the fact that the name of Nixon was not mentioned in this article, it called into question the competence of the ruler and his apparatus as a whole. Nixon took this piece as a personal challenge.
A little later, he organized the so-called plumbing unit - a secret service engaged in espionage and more. An investigation later revealed that the service's employees were developing plans to eliminate people who interfere with the president, as well as disrupting rallies held by Democrats. Naturally, during the 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 spy organization led to the scandal that went down in history as the Watergate case. Impeachment is far from the only result of the conflict, but more on that below.
How it happened
The headquarters of the US Democratic Party Committee was at that time in the Watergate Hotel. One June evening in 1972, five men entered the hotel, with suitcases of plumbers, wearing rubber gloves. That is why the spy organization was later called 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 thwarted by a guard who suddenly decided to make an unscheduled round. Faced with unexpected guests, he followed instructions and called the police.
The evidence was more than irrefutable. The main one is the broken door to the Democrats' headquarters. Initially, everything looked like a simple robbery, but a thorough search revealed grounds for more weighty charges. Law enforcement officers found sophisticated sound recording equipment from the criminals. A serious investigation has begun.
At first, Nixon tried to hush up the scandal, but almost every day new facts were discovered that reveal his true face: "bugs" installed at the headquarters of the Democrats, recordings of conversations that were conducted in the White House and other information. Congress demanded that the president provide the investigation with all the tapes, but Nixon presented only a part of them. Naturally, this did not suit the investigators. In this case, not even the slightest compromise was allowed. As a result, all that Nixon managed to hide was 18 minutes of audio recording, which he erased. They couldn’t restore it, but it doesn’t matter anymore, because there were more surviving materialsenough to show the President's disdain for the society of his home country.
Former presidential aide Alexander Butterfield claimed that conversations in the White House were recorded simply for history. 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, the fact of listening to political opponents remains, which cannot be justified. Moreover, in 1967, unauthorized listening was banned at the legislative level.
The Watergate case in the US caused a great resonance. As the investigation progressed, public outrage grew rapidly. In late February 1973, law enforcement officers proved that Nixon had committed serious tax violations more than once. It was also revealed that the President used huge amounts of public funds to meet personal needs.
Watergate case: verdict
Early in 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 about two luxurious houses in California and Florida. The plumbers were accused of conspiracy and arrested. And the head of state every day felt more and more like not the owner of the White House, but its hostage.
He stubbornly, but unsuccessfully, tried to dispel his guilt and defuse the Watergate case. Briefly describethe then state of the president can be, 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 of 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 issued their verdict. They acknowledged that Nixon behaved inappropriately for a president and undermined America's constitutional order. For this, he was removed from office and presented before the court. The Watergate case caused the president's resignation, but that's not all. Thanks to audio recordings, investigators found that many political figures from the president's entourage regularly abused their positions, took bribes and openly threatened their opponents. Americans were most surprised not by the fact that the highest ranks went to unworthy people, but by the fact that corruption had reached such proportions. What until recently was an exception and could lead to irreversible consequences has become commonplace.
Resignation
August 9, 1974, the main victim of the Watergate affair, Richard Nixon, left his homeland, leaving the presidency. 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 this? About whatdecisive action was involved? Perhaps, about providing the public with additional compromising evidence on officials and close associates. Would Nixon have made such a grandiose confession? 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 clearly decisive. According to American researcher Samuel Huntington, during the Watergate scandal, it was the media that challenged the head of state and, as a result, inflicted an irreversible defeat on him. In fact, the press did what no other institution in American history had ever done before - stripped the president of his office, which he had obtained by enlisting the support of the majority. That is why the Watergate affair and the printing of American newspapers still symbolize the control of power and the triumph of the press.
Interesting facts
The word "Watergate" has become a part of political slang in many countries of the world. It refers to the scandal that led to the impeachment. And the word "gate" has become a suffix that is used in the name of new political and not only scandals. For example: Clinton's Monicagate, Reagan's Irangate, the Volkswagen scam called Dieselgate, and so on.
The Watergate case in the USA (1974) has been depicted more than once in varying degrees in literature, cinema and even video games.
Conclusion
Today we found out that the Watergate case is a conflict that arose inAmerica during the reign of Richard Nixon and led to the resignation of the latter. But as you can see, this definition describes the events rather sparingly, even considering the fact that they, for the first time in US history, forced a president to leave his post. The Watergate case, the history of which is the subject of our conversation today, was a big upheaval in the minds of Americans and, on the one hand, proved the triumph of justice, and on the other, the level of corruption and cynicism of those in power.
