Watergate in the US: history

Watergate business - a political scandal that occurred in America in 1972, which led to the resignation of the then head of state - Richard Nixon. This is the first and so far the only case in the history of America, when the president in his lifetime, prematurely left his post. The word "Watergate" is still considered a symbol of corruption, immorality, and crime by the authorities. Today we will find out what the background was for the Watergate business in the United States, how the scandal developed and what it led to.

The beginning of the political career of Richard Nixon

In 1945, the 33-year-old Republican Nixon got a seat in the congress. At that time, he was already famous for his anti-communist convictions, which the politician did not hesitate to express to the public. Nixon's political career developed very rapidly, and already in 1950 he became the youngest senator in the history of the United States of America.

Young politicians predicted excellent prospects. In 1952, the incumbent President of the United States, Eisenhower, nominated Nixon as vice-president. However, this was not destined to take place.

First conflict

One of the foremost New York newspapers accused Nixon of illegally using pre-election funds. In addition to serious charges, there were also very amusing. For example, according to journalists, Nixon spent part of the money to buy a cocker spaniel puppy for his children. In response to the accusations, the politician made a speech on television. Naturally, he denied everything, claiming that he had never committed illegal and immoral acts in his life that could tarnish his honest political career. And the dog, according to the accused, his children just gave. Finally, Nixon said that he was not going to leave politics and just did not give up. Incidentally, he will say a similar phrase after the Watergate scandal, but about this a little later.

Double Fiasco

In 1960 Richard Nixon first ran for America's presidency. His opponent was George Kennedy, who in that race simply was not equal. Kennedy was very popular and respected in society, so he won with a huge margin. Eleven months after Kennedy was appointed president, Nixon put himself up for governor of California, but he lost here too. After a double defeat, he thought about leaving politics, but the desire for power still took its toll.

The post of president

In 1963, when Kennedy was killed, Lyndon Johnson took his place. He did quite well with his task. When the time for regular elections was coming, the situation in America was greatly aggravated - the Vietnam War, which was too long, caused protests throughout the United States. Johnson decided that he would not run for a second term, which was quite unexpected for the political and civil society. Nixon could not miss this chance and put forward his candidacy for the presidency. In 1968, ahead of his opponent by half a percent, he headed the White House.

Merit

Of course, Nixon is far from the great American rulers, but it can not be said that he was the worst president in US history. Together with his administration, he was able to resolve the issue of America's withdrawal from the Vietnam confrontations and normalize relations with China.

In 1972, Nixon paid an official visit to Moscow. For the entire history of relations between the US and the USSR, such a meeting was the first. She brought a number of important agreements on bilateral relations and arms reduction.

But at one point, all the merits of Nixon before the United States were literally depreciated. For this it was only a few days. As you may have guessed, the reason for this is the Watergate case.

Political wars

As you know, the confrontation between Democrats and Republicans in America is already common. Representatives of the two camps are almost in turn taking control of the state, nominating their candidates for the elections and providing them with massive support. Of course, every victory brings the greatest joy to the winner's party and a huge disappointment to the opponents. To get the levers of power, the candidates often go for a very sharp and unprincipled struggle. In the case comes propaganda, compromising evidence and other dirty methods.

When a politician gets the reins of government, his life turns into a real duel. Everyone, even the slightest mistake, becomes a reason for competitors to go on the offensive. To protect themselves from the influence of political opponents, the president has to take a huge number of measures. As the Watergate case showed, Nixon was unrivaled in this respect.

Secret Service and other instruments of power

When the hero of our conversation at the age of 50 years came to the presidency, one of his top priorities was the creation of a personal secret service. Its goal was to control opponents and likely opponents of the president. The scope of the law was neglected. It all started with the fact that Nixon began to listen to the telephone conversations of his competitors. In the summer of 1970, he went even further: gave the go-ahead for conducting secret searches by secret services of congressmen-democrats. The president did not disdain the "divide and conquer" method.

To disperse the anti-war demonstrations, he used the services of mafia militants. They after all not policemen, so, nobody will tell, that the government neglects human rights and laws of a democratic society. Nixon did not shy away from blackmail and bribery. When the next round of elections was approaching, he decided to enlist the help of officials. And to make the latter more loyal to him, he asked for information about the payment of taxes by the people with the lowest level of income. It was impossible to provide such information, but the president insisted, demonstrating the triumph of his power.

In general, Nixon was a very cynical politician. But if you look at the political world, from the point of view of dry facts, it is extremely difficult to find honest people there. And if they exist, they, most likely, just know how to sweep the tracks. Our hero was not like that, and many knew about it.

"Plumbing unit"

In 1971, when only a year remained until the next presidential election, the New York Times published in one of its numbers classified information of the CIA concerning military operations in Vietnam. Despite the fact that Nixon's name was not mentioned in this article, she questioned the competence of the ruler and his apparatus as a whole. Nixon took this material as a personal challenge.

A little later he organized a so-called division of plumbers - a secret service engaged in espionage and not only. An investigation later showed that the employees of this service had worked out plans to eliminate people who interfere with the president, as well as disruptions of rallies held by the democrats. Naturally, during the election campaign Nixon had to resort to the services of "plumbers" much more often than in normal times. The president was ready to do anything to have him elected for a second term. As a result, the excessive activity of the espionage organization led to a scandal that went down in history as the Watergate affair. Impeachment is far from the only result of the conflict, but this is a little lower.

How it all happened

The headquarters of the committee of the Democratic Party of the United States was at that time at the Hotel Watergate. One of the June evening in 1972, the hotel included five men, with suitcases of plumbers, wearing rubber gloves. That's why the espionage organization was later called plumbers. That evening they acted strictly according to the scheme. However, by chance, the ominous acts of spies were not destined to take place. They were prevented by a security guard who suddenly decided to conduct an unscheduled detour. Faced with unexpected guests, he followed the instructions and called the police.

The evidence was more than incontrovertible. The main one is the hacked door to the Democrats' headquarters. Initially, everything looked like a simple robbery, but with a thorough search, the grounds for more serious charges were found. Law enforcers found complex recorders in criminals. A serious investigation began.

Initially, Nixon tried to suppress the scandal, but almost every day revealed new facts revealing his true identity: "bugs" installed at the headquarters of the Democrats, recording conversations that were conducted in the White House and other information. Congress demanded that the president provide all the records to the investigation, but Nixon presented only a part of them. Naturally, this did not suit the investigators. In this case even the slightest compromises were not allowed. As a result, everything that managed to hide Nixon - 18 minutes of audio, which he erased. It could not be restored, but it does not matter, because the surviving materials were more than enough to demonstrate the president's disdainful attitude towards the society of his native country.

Former presidential aide Alexander Butterfield claimed that conversations in the White House were recorded simply for history. As an irrefutable argument, he mentioned that in the days of Franklin Roosevelt, legal records of presidential conversations were made. But even if he agrees with this argument, it remains a fact of listening to political opponents, which can not be justified. Especially since in 1967 unauthorized wiretapping was banned at the legislative level.

The Watergate affair in the United States caused great resonance. As the investigation progressed, public outrage swiftly increased. At the end of February 1973, law enforcement officers proved that Nixon had repeatedly committed serious violations regarding the payment of taxes. It was also discovered that the president used huge amounts of public funds to realize his personal needs.

Watergate Case: Verdict

At the beginning of his career, Nixon managed to convince the public of his innocence, but this time it was impossible. If then the president was accused of buying a puppy, now it was a question of two luxury houses in California and Florida. The "plumbers" were accused of conspiracy and arrested. And the head of state every day increasingly felt himself not the owner of the White House, but his hostage.

He stubbornly, but unsuccessfully, tried to dispel his guilt and put the Watergate cause on the brakes. Briefly describe the then-current state of the president can be, the phrase "struggle for survival." With remarkable enthusiasm, the president refused to resign. According to him, under no circumstances did he intend to leave the post, to which he was appointed by the people. The American people, in turn, did not even think of supporting Nixon. All led to an impeachment. Congressmen were determined to remove the president from high office.

After a full investigation, the Senate and the House of Representatives delivered their verdict. They acknowledged that Nixon behaved in a way that was unsuitable for the president and undermined the constitutional order of America. For this he was removed from his post and presented to the court. The Watergate case was the reason for the resignation of the president, but that's not all. Thanks to audio records, the investigators found that many politicians from the president's circle regularly abused their official position, took bribes and frankly threatened their opponents. The Americans were most surprised not by the fact that the highest ranks got to unworthy people, but that corruption has reached such a big scale. What has only recently been an exception and could lead to irreversible consequences has become commonplace.

Resignation

On August 9, 1974, the main victim of the Watergate case, Richard Nixon, went home, leaving the post of president. Of course, he did not admit his guilt. Later, recalling the scandal, he will say that, as president, he made a mistake and acted hesitantly. What did he want to say in this way? What decisive action was discussed? Perhaps, on providing the public with additional compromising material on officials and proxies. Would Nixon have gone to such a grandiose confession? Most likely, all these statements were a simple attempt to justify themselves.

Watergate business and press

The role of the media in the development of the scandal was unambiguously determining. According to the American researcher Samuel Huntington, during the Watergate scandal it was the media that threw the head of state to the challenge and, as a result, caused him irreversible defeat. In fact, the press did what no institution in American history managed to do before-deprived the president of his post, which he received, with the support of the majority. That is why the Watergate affair and the seal of American newspapers still symbolize control over the authorities and the triumph of the press.

Interesting Facts

The word "Watergate" was fixed in the political slang of many countries of the world. It denotes a scandal that led to impeachment. And the word "gate" became a suffix, which is used in the name of new political, and not only, scandals. For example: Monikagate at Clinton, Irangate at Reagan, scam of the automobile company "Volkswagen" which was nicknamed Dieselgate and so on.

The Watergate affair in the United States (1974) was repeatedly shown to a varying degree in literature, cinema and even video games.

Conclusion

Today we have found out that the Watergate affair is a conflict that arose in America during the reign of Richard Nixon and led to the resignation of the latter. But as you can see, this definition rather sparingly describes the events, even given the fact that they, for the first time in US history, forced the president to leave his post. The Watergate affair, the history of which is the subject of our today's conversation, was a big upheaval in the minds of the Americans and, on the one hand, proved the triumph of justice, and on the other - the level of corruption and cynicism of the powers that be.