The Political Scandals

In June, 1972, police arrested septet individuals who were members of CREEP, the Committee to Re-Elect the President, as they were breaking into the Democratic National Committee's provide (Watergate 1). The burglars were collectively cognize as the "Plumbers," a "secret building block created and maintained by the White House with the expressed social function of fixing leaks in the administration" (Watergate 1). The Plumbers were allegedly going subsequently information on Daniel Ellsberg, a former defense division analyst who had recently permitted the New York Times to publish what were known as the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg's criticism of the Vietnam War.

As the close connection amid the White House and the Plumbers became known, in a series of articles in the Washington Post, the White House was also charged with obstructing the investigation. Nixon was coerce to name Archibald Cox as special prosecutor to relieve make growing outcry over the scandal. When Cox demanded Nixon turn over secretly taped recordings of phone conversations and meetings, Nixon refused. When Cox subpoenaed the tapes, Nixon fired Cox, citing executive director privilege. Two Justice Department officials resigned rather than fire Cox, as did Attorney General Elliott Richardson, who Nixon also fired. These events on unfolded on what would get a historic Saturday, "The pressure on Nixon continued to grow strong, so much so that on October 20, 1973, he was go to commit the Saturday Night Massacre" (Wate

rgate 2). Public and Congressional outrage agonistic Nixon to name another(prenominal) prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. When the Supreme Court denied Nixon's right to executive privilege regarding the tapes, Nixon reluctantly handed over eight transcripts of the tapes that showed he had violated the legality and knew about the cover-up effort.

Nixon was named an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Watergate scandal and cover-up, being forced to resign on August 8, 1974, or face received impeachment (Watergate 2).

Executive summary: Iran/Contra involvement. Report of the Independent Counsel. Viewed on Aug 7, 2004: hypertext transfer protocol://www.webcom.com/ pinknoiz/covert/icsummary.html, 1-13.

Both the Watergate and the Iran/Contra Affair were political scandals that demonstrated the dexterity for deceit and even criminal behavior by the highest take officials in American government. Watergate seriously undermined the credibility of the office of the presidency, a credibility gap that would take decades to begin to repair itself. The Iran/Contra Affair demonstrated the secretive nature of foreign policy and the government's willingness to subscribe to in illegal operations. Both scandals threw a spotlight on the worst behaviors of government officials, behaviors that are no commonly evaluate in politicians. The two scandals helped to shed Americans of any innocent not
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