Mrzyk 1
The Watergate Scandal changed the world’s views on authority. After the scandal, the perception of politicians was negative and distrust rang in the US. Unlike other typical robberies, the Watergate scandal was a professional grade robbery, rooted in the presidency which was the biggest shock for most citizens.
The Watergate scandal began with five men breaking and entering into the DNC (Democratic National Committee) at the Watergate complex on June 17,1972 trying to wiretap phone lines and steal secret documents. One of the five men was a former agent of the CIA while three others were “were native-born Cubans and another was said to have trained Cuban exiles for guerrilla activity after the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.”( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31/AR2005111001227.html). According to the Washington post article on the event (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31).
Police said the men had with them at least two sophisticated devices capable of picking up and transmitting all talk, including telephone conversations. In addition, police found lock-picks and door jimmies, almost $2,300 in cash, most of it in $100 bills with the serial numbers in sequence.
This means the operation was not only professionally executed but well-funded as well to have access to such technologies. The bugs were meant to be used to overhear conversations in the offices and tap into phone lines however they never got to finish the job.in uncovered ceiling panels going to O’Briens office. The men were also carrying walkie-talkies, short wave receivers, two cameras and unexposed film. The crew was found in Dorothy V. Bush’s office, adjacent to O’Briens next to opened file drawers, implying the cameras were going to be used to take pictures of the documents inside. The article also states:
A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee said records kept in those offices are “not of a sensitive variety” although there are “financial records and other such information.”
Mrzyk 2
This is what the crew would have been robbing although they were probably going to take even more information if they completed the heist. The reason the raid was incomplete was for two reasons. The first reason was when they entered the Watergate complex for the first time in May 1972 when they planted bugs and stole documents. The robbery was completed in May and the crew successful stole documents. However, the bugs that were planted did not work properly and so the team had to replace them. This lead to the second robbery in June which did not go as planned. As stated before the robbery was very well planned however the second reason was the team placed duct tape over locks in the building to prevent the doors from latching shut. These pieces of tape caused Security Guard Frank Wills to notify the police and catch the spy’s red handed. As previously mentioned, the burglars carried walkie-talkies which were used to communicate with two guides across the street in a hotel room, former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy and former CIA officer E. Howard Hunt. The grand jury investigating the case sought testimony from the two men, both of whom worked in the Nixon white house, and indicted them for guiding the burglars.
The investigation and trial that came after the Watergate robbery was complex because it was a scattered web of connections and accomplices that took part in the scandal and the covering up of the scandal. From the original five people in the robbery and the Liddy and Hunt, there was one thing in common besides taking part. They had all been a part of Nixon’s reelection. Liddy and Hunt were both aides in the White House already and the suspects have been given fund by Nixon from his reelection campaign, according to the Washington Post article “Bud Suspect Got Campaign Funds” (www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bug-suspect-got-campaign-funds/2012/06/06)
Mrzyk 3
According to court testimony by government prosecutors, Barker’s bank account in which the $25,000 was deposited was the same account from which Barker later withdrew a large number of hundred-dollar bills. About 53 of these $l00 bills were found on the five men after they were arrested at the Watergate.
This quote shows that not only was election money given to the burglars but it was used for and in possession during the robbery. This led the grand jury to suspect Nixon as having a part in this and the public agreed with this. Nixon, however, swore his White House staff was not involved in the Watergate affair in any way and many voters believed him. Nixon won the election in a landslide and was sworn into office in November. Nixon had been arranging hundreds of thousands of dollars in “hush” money to keep the burglars from telling the truth. Nixon and his aides also worked out a plan to obstruct the investigation. They did this by instructing the CIA to impede the FBI’s investigation. This act of covering up the act was worse than the crime of the espionage at the DNC. This is because the cover up was an abuse of presidential power and it was a deliberate obstruction of justice. The US government works because of set checks and balances however this completely overturned that system as the President had the most power, not because he could dismiss their verdict but because he had people on the inside that could keep said verdict from being given. Many people at this point such as the Grand Jury, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, trial judge J. Sirica and members of a Senate investigating committee began to believe this was all part of one elaborate scheme. At this point some conspirators of Nixon’s began to crack under the pressure and began to testify against Nixon and his crimes. These conspirators included White House Council John Dean and other aide, Dean however testified that Nixon had a tape recorder in the Oval Office that
Mrzyk 4
recorded all of his conversations. These tapes became the key to impeach Nixon to find out the truth of the Watergate scandal. Nixon had a hard time trying to keep the tapes to himself, he knew that they would be the prove that he was guilty and so he tried to keep them out of the prosecutor’s hands, Archibald Cox. Cox was determined to get the tapes and Nixon’s lawyers were having a harder time maintaining confidentiality. Eventually Nixon could not get Cox to stop demanding for the tapes so Nixon ordered that he was fired. When this order was released several Justice Department officials resigned in protest and this became known as the Saturday night massacre. Eventually Nixon released some but not all the tapes. Shortly afterwards several white house aides were indicted as conspirators and other charges based on the Watergate affair. Nixon was also ordered by the Supreme Court to release all the tapes and was under charge for impeachment because of obstruction of justice, criminal cover up, abuse of power and several violations of the constitution. When Nixon released the tapes he was certainly going to be impeached so he became the first president to resign from office.
Each tape was not as important as the last but together they proved to be the evidence the persecutors needed against Nixon. The most important tape was nicknamed the smoking gun tape and it clearly showed Nixon involved in the cover up of the Watergate Affair.
FBI is not under control, because Gray doesn’t exactly know how to control them, and they have, their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they’ve been able to trace the money, not through the money itself, but through the bank, you know, sources – the banker himself. And, and it goes in some directions we don’t want it to go.
Mrzyk 5
This quote from the smoking gun tape (watergate.info/1972/06/23) shows Haldeman and Nixon discussing the cover-up of the robbery and how they do not like how productive the FBI is being. They even discuss how “Gray” cannot control the FBI which implies that he is a conspirator. This discussion leads us to believe that Haldeman and Nixon want to cease the FBI productivity and they are planning how. This clearly shows Nixon as part of the cover-up.