Civil rights Topic 5 Flashcards
(25 cards)
Why did Nixon set up the white house plumbers?
He was paranoid about people leaking sensitive information to the press
Why was CREEP set up
To raise funds for Nixons re-election campaign in 1971
How were the white house plumbers and CREEP connected
CREEP paid the plumbers to spy on and ruin the reputation of Nixons rivals
What were 5 of the plumbers arrested doing
Arrested fixing bugging devices that had previously been fit in the National Democratic committees office in the Watergate complex
They were quickly linked to CREEP but Nixon denied any allegations
Who were the two men of washington Post
- Bob Woodward
- Carl Bernstein
What did the washington post do
Kept Watergate in the press and raising its profile so congress investigated it
When was the trial of the plumbers
1973
What did the trial found about the plumbers
They were all guilty
Who sent in a letter while the plumbers were on trial
James McCord (a plumber + member of CREEP)
What was in the letter sent by James McCord
stated that leading officials in the white house had told the burglars to lie in court
Nixon began his own investigation after denying the contents of McCords letter, who was forced to resign due to this investigation
Ehrichman
and
Haldeman
What was the committee called which held their own investigation
Senate Watergate committee
What reason did Nixon give as to why he could not hand over the recordings from the oval office
breach national security
How many tapes did Nixon hand over at first
7/9 which had been heavily edited
Who forced Nixon to hand over the remaining tapes
The supreme court
What were in the last 2 tapes which Nixon was forced to hand over
revealed he had
- blocked the initial investigation into the break ins
- abused his power
- broken the lie
and thus his speeches denying involvement had been a lie
What was the ‘smoking gun’
A recording from 1972
it revealed that Nixon had tried to stop the FBI from investigating the break in
What happened to Nixon in 1974 after all the tapes had been heard
He was impeached, 66% of the US agreed with this
Nixon resigned in the end to avoid impeachment as he was going to be found guilty
What did the new President Gerald Ford do
He fully pardoned Nixon so he did not have to face a criminal trial
Ford believed it was the only way for people to move on
How did Watergate impact Nixon and US politics
- Destroyed Nixons reputation
- People were shocked at the bad language the president had used
- Big change of staff as many government officials were sent to prison
- Next presidents were chosen for the wrong reasons
- Trust was lost in the government
- A series of laws were passed to prevent Watergate ever happening again and stop President actions without the approval of congress
What was the War powers act
The president could not go to war without the support of congress
What was the election campaigning act
Limit the size of contribution which could be made for elections and how much a political party could spend
What was the congressional budget control act
The president could not use government money for personal use
What was the freedom of information act
People had rights to access documents held on them by the Federal government
