Watergate

THE WATERGATE SCANDEL
US History Since 1877
Teiawanna Grant
September 20, 2010

    The story began with the former defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who was disappointed with
the progress of the Vietnam War.  He believed that the public should know about the facts of the
Vietnam War.  Daniel Ellsberg, therefore, handed over the Pentagon papers to the Washington
Post, who refused to publish the content of the document? Watergate scandal started when five
men were arrested for burglary when they tried to break into the Democratic National Committee
headquarters of Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. These men were the "Plumbers", former
members of secret agencies. The story began much earlier when President Nixon tried to
discredit the former Defense analyst Daniel Ellesberg who had handed over the pentagon papers
to be published with the New York Times. The secret organization who worked against
Ellensburg was given another charge during the next year to derail the Democratic ticket.
    Inquiry by the FBI brought to light the role of Nixon's staff in the break-in. The men who
were involved were associated with the Nixon's committee to Re-elect the President.
During the congressional investigation, it was revealed that white house had hand in the matter.
It was found that listening devices were fixed in the oval office. John Mitchell was the Attorney
General and later in 1972 was appointed as the Director of the Committee to Re-elect the
President (CREEP). Gordon Liddy, the member of the Special Investigation group (SIG)
presented an action plan to Mitchell known as the Operation Gemstone. They decided to fix
listening devices at the office of the Democratic Party. Mitchell resigned from CREEP in 1972 as
a result of the Watergate Scandal. During the Operation Gemstone, Gordon Liddy wanted to
place listening devices of the Democratic campaign offices in order to tap the phone calls of the
Chairman, Larry O'Brien. Liddy...