H 27 - Lesson work for American Dream lessons PDF

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Lesson work for American Dream lessons...

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27.02.2017

Nixon Republican Won due to division in Democrats and Middle Americans Won 1968 election Withdrew US from Vietnam Made Domino Theory Anti-communist Vetoed child development act (for financial reasons) Doesn’t like the media until he learned to control them Born into a poor family Appealed to those who were alienated by Johnson Decreases crime rates Stopped student protests Didn’t like losing

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Watergate Several burglars were caught inside the Democratic National Committee in Washington D.C. They were wiretapping phones and stealing documents. They were arrested and to begin with, it was not clear that they were connected to Nixon but when they found copies of the re-election committee’s White House phone number, people began to get suspicious. Nixon gave a speech swearing that the White House staff were not involved in the break-in, and he was re-elected in a landslide. He paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in “hush money” to the burglars, and he helped the CIA impede on the FBI’s investigation. This was more serious than the break-in. 5 pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted. But, they began to break, and let slip that he secretly taped every conversation in the Oval Office so prosecutors wanted these tapes. He began to protect these tapes, firing Cox who wouldn’t stop demanding the tapes. He agreed to release some of the tapes and in time, all were released. These provided undeniable evidence of his involvement in Watergate. He resigned on the 8th August. No-one knows if he was linked to the bugging but the problem was was that he tried to cover it up. He was pardoned by the new president for the crimes he had or had not committed, but his aides were convicted. He never actually admits to any criminal wrongdoing and his abuse of presidential power had a negative impact on American political life, causing confidence to fall. This added to the disappointment of Vietnam. I think Nixon was responsible because he spent so much money and time to cover it up which he wouldn’t need to do if he wasn’t involved. Also, he wouldn’t urge the robbers to plead guilty if they had nothing to do with him.

Key accusations Nixon faced:   

Obstruction of justice - cover up Abuse of power - invading civil rights/misuse of government agencies/authorising wiretapping Abuse of congress

Prosecution  Impounding money  Abusing congress  Personal intervention

Defence  No direct to Nixon about CIA/FBI and could have been his aides  Daughter receiving death and kidnap

27.02.2017

 Abuses presidential power  Uses CIA to keep FBI away from the case  Insecure about re-election  CREEP established  Illegal ways to see what Democrats were doing  Criminal surveillance  Only person not secure about his reelection  Involved with dodgy practices before Watergate  Editing tapes - 18 minutes was cut out  Evidence that 18 minutes about Watergate between Heldman and Nixon  Taken pages out of notebook to hide Watergate  Key people about being fired  Hush money  Can’t pardon someone who isn’t guilty

threats  Couldn’t attend certain events  Heavily involved  Worried about not being re-elected  Tapes don’t show direct involvement  No evidence for the notebook  Can’t be held accountable for the robbers  Protecting his party so hiding it  Thought money had better uses in other areas  Don’t know if he wanted the phones tapped  People were unpatriotic to him  Nixon just agrees in tapes, not his ideas  Advisors suggested actions, not Nixon  Said on TV he wasn’t involved  Ford pardoned him

Essay - 800 words “Nixon has received too much blame for Watergate”

What were the significant effects of Watergate?              

First president to have to resign Destroyed the Americans trust in the law system The press had won Loss of Republican support - could affect future Republicans Damaged the government Made Ford’s job much harder Cost Ford the 1976 election (pardoned Nixon) Led to legislations for the President Damaged Nixon’s legacy Damaged Ford’s legacy Perception of government corruption/loss of faith Climate of protest/social unrest Role of press Damaged government and press relations...