The second special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal, Leon Jaworski, said, “From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known; our Constitution works. And during Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one - absolutely no one - is above the law”(“The Watergate Scandal”). President Richard Nixon dishonored the presidency by being deceitful to the country, misusing his powers by being involved in illegal acts, resulting in corruption and lies. Watergate was one of the worst presidential scandals that occurred in the 1970s. When news about the burglary at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. was publicized on June 17, 1972, people did not heed to the danger of the upcoming scandal. As the advancements
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By applying multiple checks and balances among the different branches of government, punishing President Nixon for his misuse of executive privilege, and displaying protection of the First Amendment, the Watergate scandal was an example of the American government functioning properly and meeting its expectation of holding elected officials accountable and protecting the rights of its people.
The constitutional system of separations of powers proved precious and effective in the Watergate scandal because it was obligatory that all branches of the government had to use checks and balances to determine whether the executive branch was following the law as it was expected to. James Madison proposed the idea of checks and balances with the theory that it will help prevent a despotic power from emerging and help create a significant internal structure of the federal government. For example, when President Nixon refused to turn over presidential tape recordings to Senate Watergate committee or to the Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Congress issued subpoenas towards President Nixon and his aides. They were ordered to respond to the federal court by July 26, 1973. However, Nixon refused to obey, citing “executive privilege”-- and unofficial power …show more content…
One of the most influential examples is that of the hard work and strong hope of the journalists of the Washington Post, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein, who revealed the entire reasons and involvement behind the burglary, eventually uncovering the entire scandal. Benjamin Bradlee, one of the Washington Post’s executive editors, forced the men to find plausible sources which led them to people like Deep Throat, a senior government official, who helped shine the light on the level at which the scandal was occurring (All the President’s Men). Woodward and Bernstein never got astray from their ambition of uncovering the President’s scandal and indirectly helped locate the tapes that Nixon worked extremely hard to cover up. No matter how many obstacles they faced, they did not stop researching their story, whether being threatened by the executive branch or by discouraged by the Washington Post. The executive branch also attempted to take away people’s rights of freedom of speech, apart from threatening Woodward and Bernstein “(“Watergate: The Long Shadow of a Scandal"). Many employees of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) were intimidated by the Committee to not reveal anything because they were mindful of the activities that the CREEP committed illegally, as a part of a larger plan to secure the reelection of President Nixon (All the
By applying multiple checks and balances among the different branches of government, punishing President Nixon for his misuse of executive privilege, and displaying protection of the First Amendment, the Watergate scandal was an example of the American government functioning properly and meeting its expectation of holding elected officials accountable and protecting the rights of its people.
The constitutional system of separations of powers proved precious and effective in the Watergate scandal because it was obligatory that all branches of the government had to use checks and balances to determine whether the executive branch was following the law as it was expected to. James Madison proposed the idea of checks and balances with the theory that it will help prevent a despotic power from emerging and help create a significant internal structure of the federal government. For example, when President Nixon refused to turn over presidential tape recordings to Senate Watergate committee or to the Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Congress issued subpoenas towards President Nixon and his aides. They were ordered to respond to the federal court by July 26, 1973. However, Nixon refused to obey, citing “executive privilege”-- and unofficial power …show more content…
One of the most influential examples is that of the hard work and strong hope of the journalists of the Washington Post, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein, who revealed the entire reasons and involvement behind the burglary, eventually uncovering the entire scandal. Benjamin Bradlee, one of the Washington Post’s executive editors, forced the men to find plausible sources which led them to people like Deep Throat, a senior government official, who helped shine the light on the level at which the scandal was occurring (All the President’s Men). Woodward and Bernstein never got astray from their ambition of uncovering the President’s scandal and indirectly helped locate the tapes that Nixon worked extremely hard to cover up. No matter how many obstacles they faced, they did not stop researching their story, whether being threatened by the executive branch or by discouraged by the Washington Post. The executive branch also attempted to take away people’s rights of freedom of speech, apart from threatening Woodward and Bernstein “(“Watergate: The Long Shadow of a Scandal"). Many employees of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) were intimidated by the Committee to not reveal anything because they were mindful of the activities that the CREEP committed illegally, as a part of a larger plan to secure the reelection of President Nixon (All the