Watergate
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Republican President Richard Nixon was up for re-election, so he decided to tip the odds in his favor by paying people to break into and wiretap the Democratic Party headquarters. That worked for a while...until the nation found out about it. Nixon resigned before he was impeached, which has less to do with delicious fruit and everything to do with being kicked out of office. Oops.
Language | English Language |
Modern America: 1950-Present | 1970s |
Social Studies | Event |
Themes | Politics |
Transcript
Your face wouldn't show up on every news program or in every newspaper.
00:31Well... just be grateful that your name isn't Richard Nixon.
00:35Nixon, a Republican, was running for re-election and needed to build a strong campaign.
00:39Unfortunately, he decided the best way to do so was to lie and steal.
00:44Despite the images the name "Watergate"
00:46might evoke, Nixon had nothing to do with destroying any large dams.
00:50"Watergate" was the name of the hotel where the Democratic headquarters were based.
00:54So the press decided to name the scandal after that hotel.
00:58One night, some men broke into an office inside the hotel...
01:01...and started going through files and attempting to plant listening devices.
01:05They were caught red-handed.
01:06Some immediately suspected that Nixon was involved, but there was no concrete proof just yet...
01:13One of the men, James McCord, claimed that he and his accomplices were paid to keep quiet
01:18during the ensuing trial so that Republicans could save face.
01:22Eventually, someone leaked the fact that Nixon had tapes in his possession consisting of
01:26recorded conversations between himself and key political figures.
01:31Nixon immediately fired the prosecutor in
01:33charge of the case, in hopes that he wouldn't have to hand over the tapes.
01:36Although... it didn't keep six of his Republican aides
01:39from being convicted of hindering the investigation.
01:41The courts wore Nixon down over time, and eventually he caved.
01:45He handed over the tapes... even if some of them appeared to be missing or altered.
01:49Nixon did his best to argue his way out of
01:51most of the stuff that remained on the tapes...
01:57...but the part in which he was caught talking about distributing hush money to keep the
02:00burglars quiet... was pretty incriminating.
02:03As it turned out, he was the one who probably should have kept his lip zipped.
02:08He couldn't escape the damage that had been done...
02:10...and ultimately he resigned from the office of the presidency.
02:14Corruption and politics often go hand in hand...
02:16...but Nixon has set the bar pretty high.
02:19If he is "not a crook"...
02:23...then that makes these guys saints.