Top 10 Sensational Facts about the Watergate Scandal (1972-74)

Top 10 Sensational Facts about the Watergate Scandal (1972-74)

The Watergate Scandal was a political scandal in the United States of America that went on from 1972 to 1974 during the administration of U.S president Richard Nixon and also led to his resignation. The scandal originated from Richard Nixon’s administration trying to cover up its involvement in the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972.

The scandal was one of the most controversial and contentious ones in America’s history that caught the attention of the press in different parts of the world. Therefore, this article will explore some sensational facts about the scandal so that it can give the reader insight into what the scandal was all about and what transpired. The article is also important in educating the reader about the past events that happened in the United States.

1. The tapes on the door led to the burglars’ arrest

A filing cabinet at the Watergate Scandal by Kenneth Lu-Wikimedia

The Watergate Scandal started when five burglars including James McCord, Virgilio Gonzalez, Benard Barker, Frank Sturgis and Eugenio Martinez were arrested in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters which is located in Washington DC.

It was later discovered the burglars had ties to the committee to re-elect the president and the White House itself. The whole break-in went south when a Watergate Security guard noticed that a tape had been placed on the latches of the door in the basement.

The tape had been left by James McCord who had worked for the FBI and the CIA before. Seeing the tape that had not been there before made the security guard alert the police that a burglary had been in process.

2. The Washington Post reporters did not write the first story

An aerial view of the Watergate Complex by Indutiomarus-Wikimedia

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who were Washington Post reporters were famed for their investigative work in the Watergate Scandal but they were not the first paper to cover the break in a long-time police reporter known as Alfred Lewis who got the first by-line about the story.

In 1994, a writer named Martine Weil expanded on Lewis’s contributions saying that he was familiar with top police officials and went into the building with the investigators and thus had information that was unavailable to any other news outlets.

3. Other newspapers played important roles in reporting the scandal

The Washington Post was critical in breaking the Watergate Scandal. The news outlet got scoops from a source known as Deep Throat. However, other newspapers like the New York Times, Newsday and the Los Angeles Times had scoops that were beneficial to breaking the scandal. This means that the solving of the scandal was a collective effort across news outlets.

4. Richard Nixon’s paranoia created evidence that sunk him

A picture of Richard Nixon-Wikimedia

It is said that the president would not have faced any consequences for the Watergate Scandal. Many people were to take the fall for the scandal and there was no evidence linking him to the scandal

He could easily deny everything, denouncing the culprits as ignorant followers, and then move on. He did, however, record himself confessing. A lot. Nixon was highly paranoid while in office, and while he was by no means the first to record White House meetings, he believed that since he was spying on allies and competitors, they must be doing the same to him.

In his paranoia, Nixon bugged his own office in the White House, a grave error that led to the recording of the “Smoking Gun” tape, on which he is heard discussing asking the CIA deputy director to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into the break-ins with Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman.

5. It is not known what the burglars were breaking in for

It is not known what the burglars were looking for at the Democratic National Headquarters. Some of the speculations include political strategy insights, a connection between Cuba and the Democratic Party fundraising or information to be used to target the DNC chair, Larry O’Brien.

6. The Justice Department contemplated a Nixon indictment after he resigned

According to Justice Department memoranda, authorities are having trouble understanding the Constitution’s Article I, Section 3, Clause 7. A person who is removed from office by impeachment and conviction “shall nevertheless be susceptible to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment, according to the Law,” according to the paragraph. However, the Constitution did not refer to a President who had resigned from office. After a month, Nixon’s pardon put an end to that discussion.

7. The National Archives tried to restore the 18.5-minute gap from the president’s recordings

The enigmatic 18.5-minute gap in a 1972 recording of a conversation between the president and Haldeman in the days following the burglary was one of the most talked-about aspects of the Watergate controversy. Nixon’s secretary, Rose Mary Woods, testified that she had unintentionally erased a piece of the recording while fiddling with a phone call when the tapes were subpoenaed the next year and concerns about the missing audio surfaced.

The tapes are kept in a climate-controlled vault at the National Archives, which was still looking for a way to recover the missing recording in 2003.

8. The role of the House in ending Watergate

The Watergate Complex. Photo sourced from wikipedia-Wikimedia

On a Saturday night, July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee ultimately produced three articles of impeachment following a lengthy process that had begun in February 1974. Nixon recognised in a public speech he would probably face a Senate trial and a full House impeachment vote in response to the “smoking gun” recording on August 5, 1974.

9. The role of the Supreme Court in ending the scandal

United States v. Nixon (1974), a case in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously, required Nixon to turn over the White House tapes on July 24, 1974. Nixon’s argument that he had “total, unconditional Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial proceedings under all circumstances” was rejected by the court.

10. The government prosecutor did not believe in the president’s involvement in the scandal

James Neal, the senior prosecutor in the case that resulted in the convictions of Haldeman, John Mitchell, the attorney general, and John D. Ehrlichman, Nixon’s domestic adviser, was unwavering in his opinion that the president had no knowledge of the bugging or break-in at the Watergate hotel. “The tapes reveal some astonishment on Nixon’s part when he was apprised of the break-in,” he said as his evidence.