Watergate: Nixon's Downfall

1. How were the "plumbers" connected to President Nixon?
The plumbers were connected to President Nixon because, they were the burglars hired by President Nixon to break into the DNC. The white house, with President Nixon's consent, tried everything to get rid of the evidence. They urged the FBI to stop the investigation into the burglary on the grounds of national security. In addition to that the CRP payed the "plumbers" 450,000 dollars to keep silent after they were indicted September of 1972.

2. Who was the judge? Why did he hand out maximum sentences?
The judge was John Sirca. He handed out maximum sentences because he had believed that the burglars had not acted by themselves, he indicated that they had lied under oath.

3. How were Mitchell and Dean connected to Nixon?
Mitchell and Dean were connected to Nixon because Nixon had dissmissed White House counsel John Dean and and announced the resignations of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and attorney General Richard Kleindienst, who had recently replaced John Mitchell. Nixon was seen as trying to cover-up the burglary.

4. How were Haldeman and Erlichman connected to Nixon?
Haldeman and Erlichman were connected to Nixon because he had announced their resignation from the White House, which was seen as a cover-up made by President Nixon.

5. What did the following men tell the Senate about Nixon?

a. Dean: Dean stated that President Nixon had been deeply involved in the cover up. He had even said that he and Nixon, along with several advisers, discussed strategies for continuing the deceit.

b. Butterfield: Butterfield told the court that President Nixon had taped virtually all of the conversations in the White House. He claimed that the taping system was used by Nixon to "help Nixon write his memoirs." However for the Senate Committee that tape were key to revealing what Nixon knew, and when he knew.

6. Who was fired or forced to resign in the "massacre"?
President Nixon had ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox (who had appointed to investigate the case.) refused to fire Cox and resigned. Next, the deputy attorney general also refused the order by Nixon and was fired. And finally, Cox was fired by General Robert Bork.

7. Why weren't investigators satisified with the transcripts?
Investigators were satisfied with the transcripts because they demanded the unedited tapes, since Nixon had sent out ones edited rather than the untampered tapes.

8. What did the tapes reveal?
The tapes revealed that President Nixon had known about the role of administrators in the burglary and that he approved the plan to distract or take the investigation away from the FBI. It also revealed the eighteen minute conversation between Haldeman and Nixon which ended up disclosing the investigation completely.

9. Why did Vice President Spiro Agnew resign?
Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned because it was revealed that he took bribery from engineering firms while he was the governor of Maryland, and he thought that he'd be impeached because he thought he had no chance in winning the trial.

10. What did the House Judiciary Committee charge President Nixon with?
The House Judiciary Committee charged President Nixon with high crimes and misdameanors. They came to the conclusion that the president should be impeached because of the scandal, which the crimes and misdameanors of the scandal made the committee discuss and decide wheither or not President Nixon should be impeached. Also, they convicted him with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress for not obeying to release the tapes to Congress after they told him to.

11. How did the Watergate scandal create a constitutional crisis?
The Watergate scandal created a constitutional crisis because Congress had to revisit the constitution and fix how much power the President could have and fix the guidelines for the reasons why a president should be considered or should be impeached.