NIXON AND WATERGATE THE SCANDAL THAT SHOCKED AMERICA

THE CAMPAIGN In 1972 Nixon ran against George McGovern McGovern ran an extremely bad campaign Nixon used character assassination tactics in his campaign You could see Nixon could be a dirty man

CREEP Nixon’s campaign managers organized CREEP (Committee to Re-election the President) They received illegal campaign contributions They illegally bugged the Democratic headquarters They were caught in 1972 and put on trial

THE PLUMBERS The plumbers were a group of people hired by CREEP to get info on certain people They were suppose to discredit enemies of Nixon They broke into the Watergate Hotel to, paid for by CREEP, tap DNC phones They were the ones caught in the break-in

MORE PLUMBERS The investigations led to discoveries of other illegal activities Nixon was involved in Nixon authorized a payment of more than 460,000 to keep people quiet about the break-in

DEEP THROAT Deep Throat was the man that leaked information to the president Deep Throat (Mark Felt) was an associate director in the FBI He was considered to be a myth until 2005 when he revealed himself

CREEP TRIAL Almost all the country watched the trials on t.v. Most of the evidence led back to Nixon, if not directly at least indirectly The defendants were scared of the judge and agreed to give up information The plumbers were convicted

SENATE INVESTIGATION When the trial ended the Senate began an investigation Afraid that the Senate would find info on him Nixon appointed a special attorney Archibald Cox was suppose to help with investigation but make sure it did not lead back to Nixon

SENATE INVEST. CONT Nixon had a tape recorder installed in the oval office in 1971 Cox wanted Nixon to surrender the tapes and so did the Senate Nixon claims executive privilege on the tapes Nixon order the attorney general to fire Cox

Other officials More than 50 Nixon officials were facing criminal charges Spiro Agnew resigned facing charges of accepting bribes Nixon did not pay his state income taxes in California since 1969 So much pressure forced Nixon to release heavily edited transcripts of the tapes

The tapes It was very obvious that the tapes would be enough to indict Nixon The transcripts released were not enough The Supreme Court in U.S. vs. Nixon forced him to release the tapes It seemed certain Nixon would be impeached and then removed

Resignation Nixon decided that instead of facing impeachment he would resign from office Gerald Ford would take over for Nixon In response to this Congress took action on presidential power War Powers Act Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act

Cont. Federal Election Campaign Act Privacy Act 31 Nixon administration officials were convicted Ford pardons Nixon No strong president until Reagan in 1980