Transcript The Watergate Scandal

The Watergate Scandal
"What did the President know, and when
did he know it?“ - Sen. Howard Baker
The indictment occurred as Nixon was running for re-election in 1972. He
defeated Democratic opponent George McGovern.
Watergate complex, Washington D.C.
The Watergate scandal occurred during the presidency of Richard Nixon; it resulted in
the indictment of several of Nixon's advisors and his resignation on 9 August 1974.
The scandal takes its name from the
Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.,
the site of a 17 June 1972 break-in into
the Democratic National Committee
headquarters. Subsequently, five men
were arrested for breaking and entering.
On September 15, a grand jury indicted
the burglars:
 Virgilio González
 Bernard Barker
 James W. McCord
 Eugenio Martínez
 Frank Sturgisand
 E. Howard Hunt
 Jr. and G. Gordon Liddy for conspiracy,
burglary and violation of federal
wiretapping laws.
All seven men were either directly or
indirectly employed by President
Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the
President (CRP, sometimes referred
to as CREEP). The five were tried and
convicted in January 1973.
Ten days after handing over the tapes, Nixon resigned, becoming
the only U.S. President to have resigned from office. The additional
pressure: impeachment proceedings in the House of
Representatives and certainty of a conviction in the Senate.
The Pardon
On 8 September
1974, President
Gerald Ford granted
Nixon a full and
unconditional pardon
for any crimes he
may have
committed while
President.
E. Howard Hunt
Hunt was a member of the White
House "plumbers," the secret
team assembled to stop
government leaks after defense
analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the
Pentagon Papers to the press. A
former CIA operative, Hunt
organized the bugging of the
Democratic headquarters in the
Watergate -- as well as a break-in
at the office of Ellsberg's
psychiatrist. Hunt's phone number
in address books belonging to the
Watergate burglars helped
investigators -- and reporters -connect the break-in to the
president and his reelection
campaign. Convicted of burglary,
conspiracy and wiretapping, Hunt
served 33 months in prison.
By the time of the Watergate
burglary, Hunt was already
moonlighting as a spy novelist. He
has since penned dozens of books,
including a memoir and "Dragon
Teeth“.
Murray Chotiner
"Deny what they didn't
charge, and charge what
they can't deny...If it's our
charge, we're revealing the
facts; if it's their charge, it's
a smear."
-Murray Chotiner
Murray Chotiner was the country's first paid political consultant, signing on
with Nixon right from the beginning. He masterminded such dirty tricks as
the "From one Democrat to another..." letter that went out to Democrats re:
Helen Gahagan "Pink Lady" Douglas, implying that she wasn't enough of a
Democrat for them, an unusual but effective tactic for the Republican
nominee.
In the '72 election, Chotiner planted Lucianne Goldberg (later to gain fame
as the literary agent who encouraged Linda Tripp to tape Monica
Lewinsky) as a spy, nicknamed "Chapman's Friend", within the McGovern
campaign to feed that campaign's foibles to the Nixon White House.
Watergate prosecutors considered charging him for making payments to
Goldberg for her work without proper documentation, but could never
prove criminal intent.
Because of his death, Chotiner's role in Watergate itself has never been
fully examined. (mysteriously killed in 1974) Regardless of actual
involvement, Chotiner's early tactics clearly set the tone for Nixon
campaigns to come, and without his aggressiveness early on, it is likely
that Nixon might never have made it to the Presidency. There is also some
mob connection RFK/JFK assasination conspiracy theory stuff floating
around his name, but really, is any Nixon cohort completely free of
Kennedy conspiracy rumour?
During the summer of 1972, John Dean played a major role
in the White House's attempts to cover up its involvement
.
in the Watergate burglary
One of Dean's key functions during the
summer of 1972 was the implementation and
supervision of "hush money" payments to
Watergate defendants. Dean used such men as
Herbert Kalmbach, President Nixon's personal
attorney, and White House aide Fred LaRue to
carry out the payments. From June to August
1972, Dean had minimal contact with
President Nixon; it wasn't until September 15,
1972, that Nixon called Dean into the Oval
Office to offer congratulations on Dean's
skillful handling of the Watergate cover-up. On
April 30, 1973, President Nixon made a
television speech in which he announced the
resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, "two
of the finest public servants" he had ever
worked with. The president, in a terse
statement, also stated that John Dean had
resigned. Throughout the month of April 1973,
Dean had broken ranks with the White House;
he had started to "spill the beans" to federal
prosecutors about his involvement in the
Watergate scandal.
Further reading
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/j6075/
edit/readings/watergate.html - Watergate
Case Study by James M. Perry
Elizabeth Drew - A Watergate Diary
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Diary-style;
Subjective;
Articulate writing – clear and easy to understand for the audience;
Facts-based (bombings in Cambodia, use of quotes, listing);
Use of low-lexical words – ‘impeachment’; ‘factionalism’
Use of ‘flashbacks’mentions Hunt and CIA in the beginning of the
text and at the end – almost like referring to the point that’s been
written before;
 Weighs up morals – enables the reader to evaluate the events;
 Rhetoric question (end of the article) can we really give people so
much freedom and then try to control them afterwards they’ve
gained ‘absolute’ and uncontrollable power? Or so…(don’t really
know what I am talking about)
Recasting task
You are part of a production team which is putting together a
radio programme about the events of the Watergate scandal.
Your role is to research and write the script for a section of the
broadcast which will talk about morals and actions of particular
political figures in this Event. Use the whole extract for this task.
You should adapt the source material, using your own words as
far as possible.
Write a commentary which explains the choices that you made
when writing your spoken text, commenting on the following:
- how language and form have been used to suit audience and
purpose
- how vocabulary and other stylistic features have been used to
shape meaning and to achieve particular effects.