The Watergate conspiracy is not false. There are multiple series of proofs that collectively prove this scandal. Various pieces of evidence show former President Nixon’s involvement in this conspiracy. His resignation alone is proof enough of his involvement because that was the only option he had after all his mates had been wire-tapped and his attempted coercion of the media was in vain. If he was innocent, he would’ve accepted the trials brought against him by the US House of Representatives and explained himself at the impeachment trial, but rather, he ran from the charges. President Nixon also did not choose to resign until the US House of Representatives tried to charge him with espionage which seems very dubious.
The Watergate scandal is one of the biggest American political scandals in history. The scandal is called the Watergate scandal as a symbol of President Nixon’s efforts to debase the democratic order through criminal acts (History Channel). This scandal involved the United States president of 1972, Richard Nixon, and his administration. Richard Nixon was already the president of the United States from 1969-1972. During the 1972 election, he was re-elected as the US president. During the early days of his second term, the Watergate conspiracy began which made him resign two years later in 1974 (Wallenfeldt and Hogeback).
Watergate has been suspected to have stemmed from the White house’s dismay with the 1970 congressional elections. It has been speculated that the Nixon committee for election did not feel secure about the 1972 presidential election and was worrisome of possible defeat in terms of President Nixon’s chances at re-election. On June 17, 1972, secrets were leaked from the US government to the public. In May 1969, following the leak to the press about American air bombing raids in neutral Cambodia, reporter telephones, Henry. A. Kissinger, and the National Security Assistant were all wiretapped. Consequently, after the May 1969 events on June 17, 1971, the “Pentagon Papers” were leaked to multiple news sources. The Pentagon Papers was a document that consists of decisions that were confidentially made by the Defense Department during the Vietnam war. Following these events, the white house recruited a former CIA agent, G. Gordon Liddy, and a former district attorney in Dutchess county New York, E. Howard Hunt Jr to secure information about Daniel Ellsberg who released the pentagon papers. Liddy and Hunt were made undercover as plumbers who needed to prevent leaks. This was made into a whole unit with other individuals other than Liddy and Hunt. In September of 1971, Hunt and other undercover agents broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office to collect evidence which was photographed records and papers of what was discussed.
During the early primary presidential elections, the “plumbers” and their apprentices engaged in espionage and the sabotage of Senator Edmund S. Muskie’s candidacy. Senator Muskie was considered the strongest potential Democratic presidential nominee. This can be inferred as the reason he was sabotaged. Senator George McGovern and Senator Hubert H. Humphrey were also sabotaged as the two other leading candidates.
On June 17, 1972, numerous burglars were arrested in the Democratic National Committee office. The burglars were employees of the Committee for the re-election of the president. The robbery was not a money move. It was linked to President Nixon’s re-election as far as misappropriating documents and bugging phones. Other criminal acts featured in this conspiracy include biased tariff audits, attempted coercion of the news media, and imposing domestic warfare against political opponents using sabotage and espionage (spying or using spies to get political or military information. President Nixon tried his best to cover his role in the Watergate scandal, but when Washington Post newscasters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed his role in the scandal.
Britney Ogunkeyede
Saint Ignatius College Prep – DMSF Class of 2026