What was Watergate and why was it significant?
The Watergate scandal was a major scandal during and after the 1972 presidential election. United States President and Republican Richard Nixon was running for election against Democrat George McGovern. The U.S. Congress could not impeach him if he resigned.
What did Nixon do as president?
He focused on détente with the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, easing Cold War tensions with both countries. As part of this policy, Nixon signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and SALT I, two landmark arms control treaties with the Soviet Union.
What happened to Nixon after Watergate?
By late 1973, Watergate escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support. On August 9, 1974, facing almost certain impeachment and removal from office, he became the first American president to resign. Afterwards, he was issued a pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford.
What did President Nixon do in Watergate?
The metonym ‘Watergate’ came to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration, including bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious; ordering investigations of activist groups and political …
Why did the Watergate break-in occur?
On October 10, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reported that the FBI had determined that the Watergate break-in was part of a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage on behalf of the Nixon re-election committee.
What was the Watergate break-in like?
The Watergate break in was not the first but the third time the burglars tried to enter the facility and the second time that they did. They only went in a third time to move some wiretaps that had been providing the intelligence they wanted.
What caused Nixon’s political downfall?
The ostensible reason for Nixon’s political downfall was a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex on the night of June 17, 1972. The five people arrested by DC police at the scene all had connections to the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
What was Nixon’s favorability rating when he resigned?
When Richard Nixon announced his resignation on August 8, 1974, his favorability rating was 24\% with impeachment by the House a certainty and removal by the Senate very likely. And yet just two years earlier he had won re-election in a landslide over his Democratic challenger, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.