Guilty or Less Guilty?
While some people may not believe that Nixon was involved in the Watergate Scandal, there is substantial proof that he was. The Watergate Scandal is considered to be one of the largest political scandals in history as well as the only one to bring down a presidency. While the news of the scandal shocked the nation, the culprit behind it all did not. "Richard M. Nixon was a secretive man who did not tolerate criticism well, who engaged in numerous acts of duplicity, who kept lists of enemies, and who used the power of the presidency to seek petty acts of revenge on those enemies."(Barnes) The actions taken by 5 burglars on June 17, 1972 confirmed the speculations of many United States citizens.
On that fateful night …show more content…
He is faced with the huge decision of deciding to pardon the former president or not. In President Gerald Ford's mind, he saw the best course of action to take was to pardon Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal in order to easy tensions about it and put it behind us. "Ford justified this decision by claiming that a long, drawn-out trial would only have further polarized the public."(A&E Television Group) While this seemed like the best course of action to take, it did not sit well with the American people. They saw Nixon as a traitor and believed he should be punished for the actions he was responsible for and getting off free of charge from this tremendously popular scandal was not the decision they were looking for. The majority of Americans thought that the decision of pardoning Lincoln was a mistake and this was evidenced by Gerald Ford not winning reelection. Nixon's response to President Gerald Ford was one of gratitude but also of self defense. “wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.”(A&E Television Group) Nixon continued to stick with his story of not having any part in the Watergate Scandal despite the fact that he had just resigned from position as President of the United States due to the very same
While some people may not believe that Nixon was involved in the Watergate Scandal, there is substantial proof that he was. The Watergate Scandal is considered to be one of the largest political scandals in history as well as the only one to bring down a presidency. While the news of the scandal shocked the nation, the culprit behind it all did not. "Richard M. Nixon was a secretive man who did not tolerate criticism well, who engaged in numerous acts of duplicity, who kept lists of enemies, and who used the power of the presidency to seek petty acts of revenge on those enemies."(Barnes) The actions taken by 5 burglars on June 17, 1972 confirmed the speculations of many United States citizens.
On that fateful night …show more content…
He is faced with the huge decision of deciding to pardon the former president or not. In President Gerald Ford's mind, he saw the best course of action to take was to pardon Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal in order to easy tensions about it and put it behind us. "Ford justified this decision by claiming that a long, drawn-out trial would only have further polarized the public."(A&E Television Group) While this seemed like the best course of action to take, it did not sit well with the American people. They saw Nixon as a traitor and believed he should be punished for the actions he was responsible for and getting off free of charge from this tremendously popular scandal was not the decision they were looking for. The majority of Americans thought that the decision of pardoning Lincoln was a mistake and this was evidenced by Gerald Ford not winning reelection. Nixon's response to President Gerald Ford was one of gratitude but also of self defense. “wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.”(A&E Television Group) Nixon continued to stick with his story of not having any part in the Watergate Scandal despite the fact that he had just resigned from position as President of the United States due to the very same