Modern American History
2 – 3 pages
In 1972, there was a break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate Office Complex. Thus began a series of events that would shake the public’s confidence in its most visible symbol of American authority and prestige: the presidency.
This is a Three part assignment:
PART ONE: Discuss ONE of the following events surrounding the break-in:
- When did the break-in occur?
- How was Nixon connected to the break-in?
- Which top aides resigned and why?
- When Nixon resigned, who took over as President?
PART TWO: The presence of a White House taping system was discovered.
- Discuss the events surrounding the discovery of the tapes and the issues involved in trying to get the tapes.
- What is the “18 1/2 minutes of silence”?
PART THREE: Include ONE of the following personalities in your discussion and discuss their involvement (see list). You are to incorporate persons from part three, into your discussions of parts one and two.
- Richard M. Nixon and his resignation
- Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon (not connected with the break-in but important in the context)
- H. R. Haldeman
- John Ehrlichman
- Attorney General Richard Kleindienst
- Archibald Cox
- Howard Hunt
- Chuck Colson
- G. Gordon Liddy
- John Dean
- John Mitchell
- James McCord
- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
- Mark Felt
- Deep Throat
