Nixon Should Have Been Impeached! essays

Nixon Should Have Been Impeached! essays Had Richard M. Nixon not resigned as President of the United States on August 9th, 1974, he would have been impeached and removed from office. In June of 1972, a group of men hired by Nixon's reelection committee was caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. This break-in and attempted bugging were only part of a series of illegal activities conducted by the Nixon administration and the Committee to Re-Elect the President. The outcome of the Watergate scandal went beyond the public humiliation of Richard Nixon and the conviction and jailing of twenty-six White House officials and aides. The scandal had an extremely negative impact on the political system of the United States during the 1970s. Watergate contributed to a growing loss of faith in the federal government that originally stemmed from the public's opposition to the Vietnam conflict. The Watergate scandal was a major contributor to the downfall of Richard Nixon and his administration, however, there were other factors involved. The news of 3,500 secret bombings in Cambodia authorized by Nixon further discredited him and led to an act of Congress called the War Powers Act. The act limits the president's power over the military by forcing him to inform Congress of any authorized military action within forty-eight hours. The act also states that Congress would have to approve any military action that lasted more than sixty days. During the trial of the burglars accused of breaking into the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., many questions had arisen. The investigative reporting of two reporters for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, as well as the persistent questioning by United States District Court Judge John J. Sirica showed that a cover-up had concealed the burglar's activities. During the investigation there were indications...