Watergate Chapter 32.2

The Imperial President Since the Great Depression, the Executive Branch of the U.S. government had continued to grow more and more powerful throughout the years. Historians refer to Nixon as the “Imperial President” because he used executive powers to the max.

The Watergate Scandal Nixon’s domestic program to spy on political opponents and to harass people who spoke out against the government was discovered. “Burglers” were discovered by a security guard at the Democratic Party’s office at the Watergate Building. The police found five men, who were connected with Nixon’s re- election committee. The U.S. public was barely interested and Nixon covered up the whole thing pretty effectively.

DEEPTHROAT: Two years investigative journalism by two men named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein continued to pursue the story. They were known as “Deepthroat.” After two years and “following the money,” brought the facts to the surface and Nixon’s abuse of powers were far worse than anyone originally imagined.

Impeachment: On July 25, 1974, Nixon was impeached (formally tried) for his role in Watergate. Nixon argued that “releasing the tapes” of his conversations with his administration about Watergate would violate national security interests. The Supreme Court ruled that he must release the tapes. However, before Congress could go through the impeachment process Nixon resigned – the first American President ever to resign.

Aftermath of Watergate: President and Vice President resigned (VP first, which is important…) 25 members of the Nixon Administration were convicted and served prison terms Americans, already having trouble trusting the government over Vietnam now had even more reason to be angry.