The Watergate Scandal W's
Who?
The CRP: The people involved in the Watergate Affair, or later simply known as Watergate, are people all throughout the government of the United States, but most notably from the CREEP or the CRP, the committee to reelect the president. The members of the committee are as follows: Kenneth H Dahlberg, E Howard Hunt-- LATER INDICTED ALONG WITH BURGLARS, Fred LaRue, G. Gordon Liddy--LATER INDICTED ALONG WITH BURGLARS, Jeb Stuart Magruder, James W McCord, John N Mitchell, Hugh W Sloan Jr, Maurice Stans, and Donald Segretti. These people were involved in Watergate in the sense that they were trying to make Nixon's path to the presidency as easy as possible. This included breaking into the psychiatrist office of the Doctor that worked on Daniel Ellsberg, a whistle blower that leaked the Pentagon Papers and trying to discredit him, as well as the break in at Watergate, sending in the plumbers to bug to the hotel in hopes of gaining information on one of the candidates, so that Nixon could win the election. They also gave hush money to the burglars, so they would keep quiet.
John Dean: part of the White House Council at the time was also a part of the cover up and the reveal of the fact that the president had knowledge of the Watergate Scandal.
William Mark Felt- Former director of the FBI, an informant on the scandal under the alias of Deep Throat.
WHO YA GONNA CALL???
THE PLUMBERS:
Bernard L Baker: Former CIA operative involved in the Bay of Pigs
Virgilio R Gonzales: Locksmith
James W McCord: Security coordinator for the Republican National Committee and on Nixon's board for reelection, through him and a paper trail, the press was able to link CREEP to the scandal.
Eugenio R Martinez: Had CIA connections and was an anti-Communist
Frank A Sturgis: Another CIA affiliate, and anti-Communist
Saturday Night Massacre:
People Fired In the Cover Up:
Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox
Attorney General Elliot L Richardson
Deputy Attorney General William D Ruckleshaus
Meet the Press: THOSE WHO BROUGHT THE STORY TO THE FOREFRONT...
Washington Post Reporters- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
John Dean: part of the White House Council at the time was also a part of the cover up and the reveal of the fact that the president had knowledge of the Watergate Scandal.
William Mark Felt- Former director of the FBI, an informant on the scandal under the alias of Deep Throat.
WHO YA GONNA CALL???
THE PLUMBERS:
Bernard L Baker: Former CIA operative involved in the Bay of Pigs
Virgilio R Gonzales: Locksmith
James W McCord: Security coordinator for the Republican National Committee and on Nixon's board for reelection, through him and a paper trail, the press was able to link CREEP to the scandal.
Eugenio R Martinez: Had CIA connections and was an anti-Communist
Frank A Sturgis: Another CIA affiliate, and anti-Communist
Saturday Night Massacre:
People Fired In the Cover Up:
Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox
Attorney General Elliot L Richardson
Deputy Attorney General William D Ruckleshaus
Meet the Press: THOSE WHO BROUGHT THE STORY TO THE FOREFRONT...
Washington Post Reporters- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
What?
What the CREEP were involved in were the attempted fixing of the presidential election by breaking into the Watergate building and, again, attempting to place bugs in the Democrat Headquarters there. They would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for that meddling security guard Frank Wills. What next ensued was a massive cover up involving the CIA, the FBI, the CRP giving hush money and court cases looking into the crimes....this is when tapes were discovered that Nixon tried to use executive order to make sure that no one could get access to. After transcripts of the tapes were released and found to be a waste of time, the real tapes were released with a number of minutes missing. The information still on the tapes though was enough to connect Nixon to the scandal... and of course Nixon becoming the first president to ever resign after being connected to the scandal.
While some people were charged with crimes for being involved, Nixon was not, being pardoned when Gerald Ford took office.
While some people were charged with crimes for being involved, Nixon was not, being pardoned when Gerald Ford took office.
When?
The actual scandal itself took place on June 17th, 1972. The rest of the events that happened, the cover up, the court cases and the resignation of Nixon occurred through August 8th, 1974. As a whole the scandal unfolded in 2 years, 1 month and 22 days.
Where?
The break in gets it's name from the Watergate Hotel, the place of the break in and attempted information gathering. This at the time was the headquarters for the Democratic National Committee. This headquarters was similar to the CRP in the way that it was the organizational place for the Democrats, this is why the Plumbers targeted the Watergate building, all the information on the candidates in one place.
Why? aka the motives...
The Watergate building, as stated in the where, was the headquarters for the Democratic party and would have information on both the Democratic candidates. The CRP's goal was to make the election easy to clinch for the president. Getting as much information as possible so Nixon could beat the Democratic candidates was thought to be helpful, but Nixon would go on to win the election months after the scandal.
How?
In an account by one of the burglars entitled Mission Impossible, the crew of plumbers had failed the first time, nearly being caught by the police, who tailed them for a few blocks. The burglar who accounted this had thought that the police were escorting them because they were working for the government. Later when they tried again, they signed into the Watergate building at midnight "it seems strange, a couple men going to work at midnight" the plumber commented in his account. They could not at first get in to the floor they desired, floor six, because of the guards present. One of the burglars knew the guards and was able to get in and take photos. They were successful in taking the photos. They returned a second time for the wire taps and the tapes were removed by the police and they were caught.
Resulting Consequences:
This resulted in the first resignation of the president of the United States.
The loss of jobs and jail time for CRP members.
This is the starting point for distrust between the American people and the US government.
The loss of jobs and jail time for CRP members.
This is the starting point for distrust between the American people and the US government.
Watergate Videos
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Resources:
http://watergate.info/
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall06/weiner/pages/People/creep.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/102173-2.htm
http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=3735
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall06/weiner/pages/People/creep.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/102173-2.htm
http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=3735