politics was entering an age of calm consensus. The economy was temporarily
strong: opposition to the Vietnam War had faded as the two sides negotiated in
Paris for an end to the war.”6 Then in Nixon’s political career “A warlike
atmosphere between the media (as well as other perceived enemies of the
administration that appeared on Nixon’s “enemies list”) and the mushrooming
Watergate scandal combined to create a dark side to U.S. politics in the 1970’s.
At its simplest level, the Watergate affair was “a third-rate burglary” and a
subsequent cover-up by President Nixon and his aides. In the summer of 1972,
several employees of the Committee to Re-elect the President were arrested after
they were discovered breaking into and bugging the Democratic National
Committee’s offices at the posh Watergate complex in Washington. The break-in
was not a major issue in the 1972 election, but the next year congressional
committees began an investigation.”6 Along with the congressional committees
investigation, two reporters from the Washington Post, named Bob Woodward, and
Carl Berstein did some investigating of their own. They had a politician who
knew about all that was going on with the Watergate scandal, nicknamed “Deep
Throat.” Deep Throat supplied the two reporters with the information they
needed to tear open the Watergate scandal. These two reporters open up the
Watergate scandal, and all the participants involved. “During the investigation,
a presidential aide revealed that Nixon had secretly taped Oval Office
conversations with aides. When the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox
ordered Nixon to surrender the tapes, Nixon ordered Cox fired. Then the Supreme
Court ruled that Nixon had to surrender even more tapes, which indicated that he
had played an active role in covering up the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned
the presidency when his impeachment and conviction appeared certain. The
impeachment articles charged him with obstruction of justice, abuse of
presidential powers and contempt of Congress. President Nixon resigned on
August 9, 1974. The Watergate affair was perhaps the greatest political scandal
in U.S. history. For the first time, a president was forced to leave office
before his term expired.”6
Vice President Gerald Ford became the President of the United States.
President Ford then granted Richard Nixon a full pardon of the crimes committed
against the presidency, and the people of the United States.