President Nixon and the Watergate Scandal – Flashcards

- It was caused by an attempt to bug the offices of the Democratic Party in the Watergate buildings in Washington. - 5 men were arrested in June 1972. - The men were employed by CREEP, Committee to re-elect the President.

- President Nixon stated that the White House was not involved in any of these activities, but at the same time authorised the payment of $460,000 to the five men. - The trial took place after Nixon was re-elected and one of the five men admitted that White House had been involved. - A Senate Committee was set up to investigate and many of Nixon's closest advisors were forced to resign. - President, however, continued to maintain his innocence.

- It was then revealed that all conversations in the White House since 1971 had been recorded on tape. The Senate demanded the tapes, but Nixon refused to hand them over. - Some tapes were eventually handed over in November 1973 and the US public was shocked by the attitudes and the language of Nixon. But the tapes had been edited. - Nixon finally handed over the unedited tapes only after a ruling from the Supreme Court and an announcement by the House of Representatives that it was about to begin impeachment proceedings. - The tapes proved that Nixon had lied and that he had tried to prevent the investigation, but not that he had known about the original break in and bugging. Nixon resigned in August 1974 to avoid the disgrace of impeachment.

- It was one a series of revelations about US presidents that hit Americans very hard. The truth about Kennedy's affairs and Johnson's perversions were already beginning to come out and Nixon's own vice- president, Spiro Agnew, had been forced to resign for tax evasion. - Thirty-one of Nixon's advisers went to prison as a result of the investigation. - It came at the same time as the withdrawal from Vietnam, which was seen by many as a defeat for the USA.

- 1973 - This is a federal law intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress.

- 1974 - Limited the amount of money parties could raise for election and banned foreign contributions.

- 1974 - Allowed American citizens to inspect government fils held on them.

- 1974 - This means that the president had to account for all the money spent of his own personal properties and of evading.