Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States resigned from office in 1974 because he was involved in the Watergate scandal, and the American public believed he was going to be impeached. This is the story of Nixon and Watergate....
Leading to the Break-in of the Watergate building on June 17th 1972, Nixon and his administration had been playing "dirty tricks" on the democrats. An organization was created to secure Nixon's second term. This program was called CREEP and high-ranking officials such as Gordan Liddy and Howard Hunt headed this organization. They did various illegal acts such as; tapping phones, opening mail, and arranging break-ins. In the election of 1968 against Democrat, George McGovern, Nixon created, "a broad campaign to sabotage political opposition" (Foner, pg 794). Watergate was just a specific event of many that Nixon's representitives made in effort to help Nixon be re-elected to office.
Though these efforts may have helped at the time, they forced Nixon to resign two years later from the very first accusation. President Nixon resigned from office because he was accused of obstructing justice. "He subsequently obstructed an investigation of the crime. After fighting a two-year holding action, he faced impeachment by the House of Representatives and resigned on August 9, 1974."( Foner, pg.347) He said goodbye to the White House and vice-president, Jerry Ford took the executive office.

By Katie Sarles
Noble and Greenough School
2000
History Teacher: Tim Kelley