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- Herausgeber: 50Minutes.com
- Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
- Serie: History
- Sprache: Englisch
Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the events of the Watergate scandal in next to no time with this concise guide.
50Minutes.com provides a clear and engaging analysis of the Watergate scandal. What started out as an apparently ordinary break-in at the DNC headquarters soon turned into a full-blown scandal that would change the face of American politics forever. It led to the discovery of corruption and embezzlement on the part of the Nixon administration, the resignation of many government officials, and an impeachment resolution being brought against the president himself.
In just 50 minutes you will:
• Discover the suspicious circumstances surrounding the break-in at the Democrat Party’s headquarters
• Learn about the gradual discovery of more and more information implicating senior White House officials in corruption and embezzlement
• Understand the events of the dramatic build-up to the impeachment process against Nixon and his eventual resignation
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Seitenzahl: 27
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
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The Watergate scandal
Key information
When: from 17 June 1972 to 9 August 1974.Where: Washington, D.C.Context: Richard Nixon’s reelection.People involved:Richard Nixon, American president (1913-1994).Sam Ervin, American politician (1896-1985).Impact:Crisis of confidence of the American general public regarding the president and his administration.Nixon’s replacement in the White House by Gerald Ford (1913-2006).Introduction
How did a seemingly ordinary burglary lead to the resignation of the President of the United States two years later? The Watergate scandal, which resembled something between a detective novel and a legal battle, was followed by the resignation of many senior officials between 1972 and 1974, with the paranoid and omnipotent madness of the Nixon administration in the crosshairs. Additionally, it showed that American democracy was built on safeguards and a free press, avoiding the excesses that a president who was greedy for power and control could cause.
For the United States, the Watergate scandal was one of the major events of the second half of the 20th century. Coinciding with the end of the Vietnam War (1954-1975) and the economic crisis that had appeared on the horizon, this scandal marked the end of an era and plunged the United States into a period of uncertainty.
Context
The presidential election
In 1972, the incumbent president Richard Nixon was facing the Democrat George McGovern (1922-2012) in the presidential election. Nixon had been elected in 1968 and could boast of having calmed the tense relations with the Soviet Union, boosted the economy and sent astronauts to the moon. But, above all, he was obsessed with security and control. Thus, during his first term as president, he removed all responsibility from his Cabinet in order to better concentrate the power in the hands of a few collaborators whom he trusted completely, such as Henry Kissinger (born in 1923), John Ehrlichman (1925-1999) and H. R. Haldeman (1926-1993). Haldeman, who had previously worked in advertising, helped the Californian to transform the White House into a permanent communication tool by using information and controlling his image, which the president was obsessed with.
Up against the incumbent president was the Democratic Senator from South Dakota, George McGovern, a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War. He advocated the establishment of a minimum wage and supported improving relations with Fidel Castro (Cuban head of state, 1926-2016). Considered too left wing, the Democrats’ candidate was not particularly eminent and, moreover, only owed his nomination to the withdrawal of the party’s two leading figures, Edmund Muskie (1914-1996), the Senator for Maine, and Ted Kennedy (1932-2009). The former was the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Republican Party, which sent a letter in which Muskie badmouthed French Canadians to the media. The letter later turned out to be fake, but his reputation would never recover from it. Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, quit the race in 1969, following the Chappaquiddick incident, for which he was responsible and which caused the death of his companion, Mary Jo Kopechne. Consequently, for Nixon, the election was nothing more than a formality.
