* * * and Republican Richard Nixon 1968 were elected as the 37th president of the United States. In the 38th presidential election of the United States from 65438 to 0972, he won 520 electoral votes (accounting for 97% of the total) and was re-elected as the 38th president of the United States by overwhelming victory over Democratic opponent McGovern. On the second day after the election was announced, Nixon held a celebration banquet at the Hume Hotel in Washington, DC, praising his excellent campaign team and making great contributions to his election as president, making his "last campaign the most successful of all campaigns" and expressing "thanks". But he didn't expect that it was this campaign team that created the Watergate Incident, which allowed him to drill a big loophole and let him fall from the top of the mountain into the abyss. After an unprecedented victory, he was completely destroyed. & lt/P & gt； & ltP & gt
On the night of June 1972 and 17, McChord, the security consultant of Nixon's re-election committee headquarters, and five Cuban-Americans, including Buck, Martinez, Stigs and Gonzalez, who had been spies for the CIA, sneaked into the Watergate Building where the Democratic Party headquarters was located, carrying surgical gloves, cameras, electronic bugs and radio dialogue machines, and secretly filmed documents of the Democratic Party. And installed an electronic bug in the dark, ready to eavesdrop on the conversation of Democratic leaders studying the campaign strategy of this presidential election, so as to draw up countermeasures for Nixon's presidential campaign. & lt/P & gt； & ltP & gt
However, their activities were discovered by the guards of Watergate Building. The guards arrested them on the spot. Liddy and Hunter, who were watching McChord and others outside the building, saw a warm smile and ran away immediately, but they were also arrested three months later. & lt/P & gt； & ltP & gt
McChord and others confessed that they were ordered by Nixon's presidential campaign team to sneak into the Watergate Building to steal information about the Democratic Party's campaign strategy. 17 days ago, on May 30th, they sneaked into the Watergate Building and installed a bug in the Democratic Party headquarters. Because the overheard information is of little value and the bug is not in the right place, I decided to go again. The main purpose of their visit is to put a bug in the telephone of O 'Brien's office, chairman of the Democratic Party in Watergate Building, in order to obtain important information of Nixon's rivals, Senators McGovern and Kennedy. & lt/P & gt； & ltP & gt
1973 65438+ 10, when Watergate was tried in Washington District Court, all seven defendants pleaded guilty, but kept silent about the case itself. With the passage of time and the deepening of the investigation, the truth of Watergate finally gradually revealed its original shape. On March 20th, McChord wrote to Judge Sirica, explaining that he and several victims were under political pressure, asking them to take the blame and keep silent. He expressed his willingness to provide clues to the case, but he was afraid of retaliation and asked for secret information. In the following secret trial, McChord confessed Watergate and senior officials who tried to cover up the truth, including Mitchell, White House legal adviser Dean and magruder, which made a breakthrough in the case. Later, McChord further confessed that he participated in Watergate because "this work was initiated by the Attorney General, the White House and the President himself." After in-depth investigation, the court found that in addition to the above-mentioned personnel, there were White House assistants Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Lalu, former Commerce Secretary stans who participated in Nixon's presidential campaign, former Attorney General Colin Dienst, Acting Director of the FBI Gray, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Walters, and presidential campaign committee staff Caulfield, Potter and Madyan. & lt/P & gt； & ltP & gt
Watergate had a great influence. After the incident, the U.S. government, judicial department and Congress successively formed more than 10 institutions to investigate and hear the Watergate incident. 1973, 101On October 23rd, the US House of Representatives decided that the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives would be responsible for collecting and investigating Nixon's crimes and preparing for impeaching the President. During the investigation and trial, many illegal activities of secret donations for the presidential campaign were discovered, and a large amount of campaign funds were misappropriated to cover up the Watergate incident, and the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency engaged in espionage activities such as eavesdropping on telephones under the pretext of "national security". After grasping conclusive evidence, the judicial authorities requested to summon White House personnel, and Nixon himself testified in court. & lt/P & gt； & ltP & gt
Before the truth of the incident was completely exposed, President Nixon repeatedly denied that the White House and relevant government personnel were involved in the incident, and also prevented White House personnel from testifying in the investigation Committee on the grounds that the executive, legislative and judicial powers were separated and the president enjoyed administrative privileges. But as the case progressed, he could not stop it, so he had to let them testify and announced that anyone involved in Watergate would be dismissed immediately. 1On May 23, 973, Nixon issued a statement, admitting that he had nothing to do with Watergate, but admitted that he restricted the investigation.
In mid-July, butterfield, assistant to the White House and director of the Federal Aviation Administration, testified in the Senate that Nixon had ordered the installation of complex electronic eavesdropping devices in his Oval Office since 1970, and recorded his conversations with subordinates, including his conversations with White House personnel about covering up the Watergate incident. Later, Owen, Chairman of the Senate Special Investigation Committee, and Cox, Special Prosecutor, both issued subpoenas, demanding Nixon to hand over the tapes about Watergate. But Nixon refused to hand over these tapes on the grounds that they involved national security and state secrets. In this way, the problem of tapes has become the new focus of Watergate.
1On June 25th, 974, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives decided to release all the evidence related to the impeachment of Nixon. At the end of July, the Judicial Committee passed three articles to impeach Nixon.
On August 5th, Richard Nixon was forced to hand over three tapes about Watergate, which recorded his conversation with Haldeman on June 23rd, 972 (that is, the seventh day after Watergate) about obstructing the investigation. In the case that the truth of the incident has been clear and there is no concealment, even in * * * and the party, there has been a wave of demands for Nixon to step down. On August 7th, Nixon held talks with congressional leaders goldwater, Most and Rhodes. After negotiations, Nixon decided to resign as president. On the morning of August 8th 1 1, Vice President Ford went to the White House to meet Nixon, who told him that he decided to resign today. At 9 o'clock on the evening of August 8, Nixon made a televised speech in the Oval Office of the White House and announced his resignation to the whole country. On the morning of August 9, Nixon left the White House and flew to California by presidential plane "Air Force One". When leaving the White House, General Haig, the White House Chief of Staff, handed Kissinger a letter about Nixon's resignation, which read: "Dear Secretary of State, I want to resign as President of the United States. Richard Nixon. " Less than two hours after Nixon left the White House, Ford was sworn in as President of the United States. After Ford became president, he issued a presidential decree to pardon Nixon's crimes according to the relevant provisions of the US Constitution. At this point, the Watergate scandal of the US presidential election ended with the downfall of US President Nixon.