What happened during the Watergate investigation and how did the scandal impact how the American people viewed the presidency?
Answer:
An ideal answer will:
1. Discuss how the Watergate break-in began initially with "plumbers" breaking into Democratic campaign headquarters and getting caught, and the role of CREEP in orchestrating the break-in.
2. Discuss how the White House denied involvement and maintained its innocence, in the midst of Woodward and Bernstein's investigation, when they received assistance from Mark Felt, "Deep Throat," a disgruntled FBI agent who had been passed over for promotion.
3. Discuss how some individuals, such as John Dean and James McCord, involved in the scandal started to talk to a grand jury and noted that there were important tapes of conversations in the Oval Office, which Richard Nixon refused to turn over after citing executive privilege.
4. Discuss how the House of Representatives started to draft articles of impeachment after the White House was ordered by a Supreme Court decision to turn over the tape recordings of conversations that took place in the Oval Office. With executive privilege denied, Nixon decided to resign from the presidency, rather than face impeachment.
5. Discuss how Gerald Ford ultimately decided to pardon Richard Nixon and that some Americans found this action inappropriate.
6. Discuss how the scandal negatively shaped how Americans viewed the office of the presidency, particularly the way that Nixon had abused his power to intimidate other Americans and his misuse of the FBI, CIA, and IRS.
7. Write a concise and effective conclusion that correlates the Watergate scandal with a loss in confidence of the presidency.
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