40 years ago, on 25th of July 1974, Judiciary Committee recommends that the 37th president of U.S.A, Richard Nixon, should be accused and revoked from his function. Nixon was in this situation due to the Watergate scandal.
On 17th of July 1972, at the headquarters of Democratic Party, a group of men was arrested and accused of a couple of offenses. Nixon denied his involvement, but some of his staff members were seriously involved in various illegal operations of intercepting and undercover missions.
Nixon’s henchmen, at the president’s order, harasses series of activists and politicians, using FBI, CIA and from IRS. The investigations on this scandal revealed multiple abuses committed by Nixon’s administration, culminating with president’s resignation on 9th of August 1974. It was the first and the only time when a U.S.A. president resigned.[adsenseyu1]
Nixon was scared by the polls experts who told him that he wouldn’t win the elections. To consolidate his position, he created the President’s Re-election Committee, representing for Nixon’s men a way to obtain millions of dollars that were necessary for an impressive re-election campaign, in 1972. Although it was obvious for everyone that the democrats will lose, Nixon’s henchmen wanted some extra safety measures.
Frank Willis was a watchman at Hotel Watergate’s complex of offices, located in Washington D.C. . In the morning of 17th of July 1972, the watchman noticed a tape on a door’s locker, situated between the staircase and the underground parking lot. Frank thought that the janitor forgot it, so se removed the tape. Only later he noticed that someone put another yellow tape in the same place.
So, he called the metropolitan police who arrested five persons found in the offices of the Democratic Party, persons who were in the opposition at that time. These five broke in to repair some listening devices set during another break-in and to photograph some secret documents. The name Howard Hunt was found in a notebook belonging to one of the arrested. He was a an employee at the White House, who was also hired as chief of security of the President’s Re-election Committee. This is how all started.
[adsenseyu1]
The link between the broke-in from Watergate and the President’s Re-election Committee contributed to the escalation of this case and also, to the increasing of political stake. Instead of condemning the involved people, the investigation reaches the American Senate. As time goes by, an increasing number of employees from White House are called in front of the senatorial committee headed by Sam Ervin.
Haldeman, Mitchell, Ehrilchman and John Dean knew the media impact that this story will have, so they wanted to buy the silence of the five breakers. They were promised that will be amnestied by the president. Just that John Dean “betrayed” and chose to cooperate with the senatorial committee, describing the White House as a place profoundly involved in the coverage of Watergate scandal. Dean accused Nixon that he had known about this maneuvers since September ’72, while the president declared that he was knew since March ‘73 .
