Watergate affected America deeply. For the first time, a president was publicly exposed as behaving himself in a way that didn't go with what Americans thought the idea of their president was. For the first andonly time in American history, a president resigned from office. Richard Nixon and his abuses of power led to a severe mistrust in political figures that had not existed before for Americans. the burglary was his attempt to cover up the truths about the Vietnam War,and his White House tapes, 18 minutes of which were allegedly accidentally erased by Nixon's secretary, all served to show America that the president was not who they thought they knew.
As soon as the attempted break-in at Watergate Hotel scandal became know, president Richard Nixon ordered the entire affair covered up. It became clear that the Nixon presidency had been involved in serious manipulation and abuses of power for years. Millions of dollars coming from Nixon supporters were used to pay for the cover-up in an attempt to hide the truth from Congress and the American people. The investigation would introduce the American people to such people as John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman. Ehrlichman was the President and Chief of the Domestic Council and Haldeman was the Chief of Staff. Both would be fired in a desperate attempt to save the presidency. The investigation revealed that Nixon
knew about the break-in from the beginning and that he was involved in the cover-up as it progressed.
The scandal was also a major factor in the passage of amendments to the Freedom of Information Act in 1986.the press changed forever because of the Watergate. never before had the press "brought down"
a sitting President of the United States. The Washington Post did this through an FBI source. It was the start of professional journalism and created a whole new genre known as the “investigative reporter". It also created the age of the celebrity journalist, because Woodward and Bernstein are enshrined forever as sterling examples of what to emulate in the world of professional journalism.
The end of the Watergate scandal was when the Supreme Court asked for, "the tapes," which had an 18.5 minute gap. However, the President refused to give them up. The House of Representatives then voted three days later to impeach President Nixon. He resigned and Gerald Ford took over the presidency. Nixon was the only "Watergate conspirator" to not serve any jail time. Because of Nixon's actions, many people lost trust in him and the government.
