Andrew Knox

History 137 – Research Plan #2

Prof. Jaime Cardenas

12 March 2011

The Watergate Scandal

Part I: Introduction (463 words)

The break-in to the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972,

set in motion the most infamous political scandal in American history. What began as simple dirty

tricks eventually unraveled the entire legacy of Richard Nixon's Presidency. He could have been

remembered fondly for the positive things he did in office, such as bringing the Vietnam War to a close,

creating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and lowering Cold War tensions by opening

diplomatic channels with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, but instead, his image is

forever tarnished by the shame surrounding Watergate and the first ever Presidential resignation that

followed it. He resigned on August 9, 1974. In the end, we remember him best as what he vehemently

claimed he was not: a crook.

I think Richard Milhous Nixon was the most interesting President of the 20th century, with his

stodgy demeanor, his “enemies list,” his colorful commentary about adversaries on tape and his aura of

invincibility all the way up to the point where he actually fell. In terms of characters, Nixon was my

favorite President. What I have never understood about the Watergate scandal was the seeming

insecurity which made an incumbent (who most likely would have won re-election with a good margin

anyway) think that they needed to cheat to beat George McGovern.

Whether or not he deserves that reputation is up in the air. It's common knowledge that he was

a politician who liked to play rough, but his actual level of involvement with the “Committee to Re-

Elect the President” (C.R.E.E.P.) has never been conclusively determined. Whether or not he was
involved in planning the break-in and sabotage attempt, Nixon's own tape recordings of meetings in the

Oval Office betray his guilt in the conspiracy to cover the incident up. This guilt became meaningless

in the eyes of the law when Nixon's replacement, Former Vice President Gerald Ford, gave Nixon a full

pardon upon entering office.

According to Foner, Nixon's resignation was a sea change in the American political climate, as

“Nixon's fall and the revelations of years of governmental misconduct helped convince many

Americans that conservatives were correct when they argued that to protect liberty it was necessary to

limit Washington's power over American's lives” (Foner 970). Many shocking revelations floated to

the surface after the resignation, including FBI disruption of the Civil Rights Movement, and the secret

military operations in Laos and Cambodia. Following the resignation, the procedures of the Freedom

of Information Act were strengthened, allowing public access to otherwise “secret” government

documents. Another testament to the strength of American democracy arose when Nixon resigned, it

showed that even the most powerful man in the world can be held accountable for his ethics.

Part II: Primary Sources (253 words)

The two archive locations I found that appeared to be the most relevant to the Watergate scandal

were the National Archives and Records Administration's Federal Records Center in College Park,

Maryland, and the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. Both archives

are operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The website for the

Nixon Presidential Library also claimed to have an office in College Park, so it is no doubt part of the

consolidated Federal Records Center. Their addresses are listed below.

The National Archives website had a page titled “Watergate and the Constitution,” which was

apparently set up for use as a primary source research training material for middle school students. It

highlights a document called “Justice Department Memorandum Considering Indictment of Richard M.

Nixon.” The document, which was created by the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, labels Nixon
as an “un-indicted co-conspirator” and “outlines reasons for and against pursuing an indictment against

Richard Nixon.”

The Nixon Presidential Library, being an institution solely devoted to the legacy of one man,

downplayed the importance of Watergate documents on their website. Instead, they tried to paint the

overall picture of the President's life. But, without a doubt, they must have a wealth of primary sources

related to Nixon, Watergate and his level of complicity in the scandal.

The National Archives and Records Administration

8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
http://www.archives.gov/
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/watergate-constitution/

Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

18001 Yorba Linda Blvd.
Yorba Linda, California 92886
http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/

Part III: Secondary Sources (925 words)

1. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon was written by Stanley I. Kutler. I

found a review written by Michael A. Genovese that was published in Library Journal.

Genovese complimented the author for avoiding the trap that many Watergate authors had done

before him, by doing "more than simply rehashing the events, Kutler makes good use of the

limited number of Nixon's papers (and those of his chief aides)." Evidently, this is a good book

to begin Watergate-related research, as the reviewer ends by stating “Kutler's lengthy but highly

readable volume is a useful and important book.”

2. Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon was written by

Fred Emery. I found a review by Peter Osnos that was published in the magazine Publisher's

Weekly on May 30th, 1994. The short review presents the book as a chronological catalogue of
 the various criminal acts that built up the Nixon Administration's attempted cover up of the

Watergate scandal. A quote from the book that especially caught my attention was one

attributed to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski, that “the Oval Office had been transformed by

Nixon 'into a mean den where perjury and low schemes became a way of life.'”

3. Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years was written by J. Anthony Lukas. The review I

found was written by Wes Daniels and was published in Library Journal. This review seems to

link Lukas's former profession as a reporter for The New York Times as a reason why his

narrative relies mostly on published sources. I was surprised to learn about the non-Watergate

dirty dealings that went down during the Nixon years, such as selling ambassadorships, fishy

real estate deals in California and Florida, other dirty tricks against political opponents, among

other questionable actions. I am astounded by the way that Republicans can still get away with

these kinds of things, yet Democrats get crucified for much less worse infractions.

4. All The President's Men was written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. This book is

widely acknowledged as the definitive book on the Watergate scandal. Bob Woodward and Carl

Bernstein were Washington Post reporters who covered all the elements of the scandal as they

unfolded, becoming some of the only journalists with first hand accounts, especially from secret

informants like “Deep Throat.” This book was made into a movie that starred Robert Redford

as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein. The review I found was written by Matt

Slovick and published by the Washington Post in honor of the 20th anniversary of the film's

release. The review has very little criticism (obviously because it celebrates the Post's own

work) but it provides great detail about Woodward and Bernstein's involvement in revealing the

conspiracy.

5. Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon was written by Theodore H. White. I found a
 review in the American Bar Association Journal written by John P. Frank. Frank relishes in

White's work, stating that the author's “major contribution [to the field of Watergate study] is

the rootlet theory of crime in the White House... put in its context, the Watergate break-in was

no great, central crime; it was simply one tree in a forest of crimes.” This book also exposes

Nixon as a huge hypocrite, as when he railed against a lack of transparency in the Truman

Administration in 1952, stating, “what we need in Washington is a President who, instead of

covering up, cleans up.”

6. Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America was written by Keith Olson. The

review I found was written by Robert Roberts of James Madison University and was published

in The Historian magazine. While Roberts compliments Olson's attempt at a “meticulous

chronicle” of the scandal from “third-rate burglary” to “a long national nightmare,” he feels the

author stumbles in terms of painting Nixon's relation to the scandal. Roberts sees the book's

primary flaw is that it “does not provide the reader with a clear picture of Nixon’s intense

personal hatred of his ideological enemies and opponents or his obsession with winning at all

costs.” It's about time I found a book with a negative review.

7. In Search of Deep Throat : The Greatest Political Mystery of Our Time was written by Leonard

Garment. Daniel Schorr wrote a review that was published in the Christian Science Monitor.

Leonard Garment was the acting White House counsel during the administration's collapse and

has seemingly become obsessed with determining the identity of the undercover informant

code-named “Deep Throat.” Suspects included Alexander Haig (former chief of staff), Pat Gray

(acting FBI director), Robert Bennett (a Senator from Utah), John Sears, John Ehrlichman and

even Garment himself. In 2005, W. Mark Felt, former Associate Director of the FBI, revealed

to the media that he was the infamous “Deep Throat.”

 8. Shadow : Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate was written by Bob Woodward. I found

a review by Robert Dallek that was published in The Nation. As is evident from the title, the

book is an evaluation of the Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations from the

context of the Watergate scandal. The reviewer claims that the coverage may be inequitably

spread among the administrations, stating that "more than half the book is devoted to the

Clinton presidency." The reviewer seems to think some of this criticism may be true, recalling

Bill Clinton's “explosive anger and petulance” and First Lady Hillary Clinton's “paranoid style.”

Part IV: Journal Article Summary (312 words)

I found an article in The New Yorker titled “Watergate Days,” written by Seymour M. Hersh. In

the article, Hersh gives his first-hand account of the scandal from his position (at the time) as a reporter

at the Washington, D.C. Bureau of The New York Times. Consequently, his account is derived more

from primary sources (interviews with high-level administration officials) than from secondary sources.

He details a chilling conversation with then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, in which

Kissinger, when confronted by reports that “he had been involved in wiretapping reporters,” considered

resigning for damage control. This proved to Hersh that the Administration saw that “Watergate was

more important than Kissinger.” Other sources Hersh received information from were leaked FBI

wiretaps and officials who did not want to be named. Hersh was originally assigned to cover the

Vietnam War and wanted to stay as far away from the Watergate story as possible.

One theme in the article is the sense of competition between Hersh/NY Times and

Woodward/Washington Post, it seems to be a constant race to get the facts in print first, to get the

juiciest scoop before the other guy. This competition, in a sense, also blinded Hersh, as he says, “I

knew little about Woodward and Bernstein’s sources, and nothing about Deep Throat[.] ... I knew W.

Mark Felt... like others in the demoralized bureau, was talking to the press. In fact, at the time I thought
that Felt was a source for a colleague of mine at the Times on at least one story. Felt was a first-rate

contact, but Woodward and Bernstein had many excellent sources. Their stories were as accurate as any

group of newspaper articles could be.” I wonder if he had this kind of reverence for Woodward and

Bernstein at the time, or if it has developed in the thirty years since?

Part V: Conclusion (297 words)

This Research Plan differed significantly from my previous Research Plan, which was about the

1918 Influenza Pandemic. There was no death, but there was even more intrigue. The first Research

Plan was about biology, and the general lack of understanding as to how diseases spread, whereas this

Research Plan was about government malfeasance, morality and ethical conduct. While in the Spanish

Flu paper, I focused on populations, large groups of people, and how their interactions led to

widespread calamity, this Research Plan was all about individuals, integrity and who gets to make the

truth. Watergate was the “tip of the iceberg” of illegal conduct within the Nixon administration, and

since its unveiling to the general public, I believe America's faith in its government has been

irreparably shaken. We just don't trust politicians like we used to, assuming they were meant to be

trusted at all in the first place.

Once I figured out the proper process, it felt like it was easier to find books and book reviews

for Watergate than for the Flu Pandemic. This is undoubtedly due to the much greater scrutiny of the

media during the 1970's as opposed to in 1918, the technological advancements in journalism, like

television, radio and recording tape, and the fact that there is such a place as the Nixon Presidential

Library and Museum. As was stated in my research for the first Research Plan, the Pandemic became

the “forgotten pandemic,” while no one, no matter how hard they try, can forget the details of

Watergate. It scarred the nation's confidence in its leadership. In a little over two years, Richard Nixon

went from popular President to disgraced private citizen. In the end, we remember him best as what he

vehemently claimed he was not: a crook.

Part VI: Works Cited

• Dallek, Robert. "Scandalocracy." Nation 269.4 (1999): 29-30. Academic Search Complete.
EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

• Daniels, Wes. "Nightmare (Book)." LJ: Library Journal 100.22 (1975): 2313. Academic Search
Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

• Emery, Fred. Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon.
New York: Touchstone, 1995. Print.

• Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 2nd ed., vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton,
2009. Print.

• Frank, John P. "BREACH OF FAITH (Book Review)." American Bar Association Journal 61.7
(1975): 798. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

• Garment, Leonard. In Search of Deep Throat : The Greatest Political Mystery of Our Time.
New York: Basic Books, 2000. Print.

• Genovese, Michael A. "Review: The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon.
(Book)." Library Journal 115.7 (1990): 107. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24
Mar. 2011.

• Hersh, Seymour M. "Ink: Watergate Days : The New Yorker." The New Yorker, 13 Jun 2005.
Web. 24 Mar 2011. <http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/13/050613ta_talk_hersh>.

• Kutler, Stanley. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon. New York: W. W.
Norton, 1992. Print.

• Lukas, J. Anthony. Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years. New York: Viking, 1976.
Print.

• Mondout, Patrick. "Watergate Bibliography." Super 70's, 17 Feb 2011. Web. 12 Mar 2011.
<http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/News/Special-Reports/Watergate/Bibliography.asp>.

• Olson, Keith. Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America. Lawrence, KS:
University of Kansas, 2003. Print.

• Osnos, Peter. "Review: Watergate:: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard
Nixon by Fred Emery." Publishers Weekly, 30 May 1994. Web. 24 Mar 2011.
<http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8129-2383-4>.

• Roberts, Robert. "Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America." Historian 66.4
(2004): 843-844. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

• Shorr, Daniel. "The mother of all unnamed sources." Christian Science Monitor Sept. 2000: 11.
Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

• Slovick, Matt. "Review: 'All the President's Men.'" Washington Post, 13 May 1996. Web. 24
Mar 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
 srv/style/longterm/movies/features/dcmovies/allthepresidentsmen.htm>.

• White, Theodore H. Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon. New York: Scribner, 1975.
Print.

• Woodward, Bob and Bernstein, Carl. All The President's Men. New York: Simon & Schuster,
1974. Print.

• Woodward, Bob. Shadow : Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2000. Print.