Richard Nixon called the Watergate break-in, of the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., a “third-rate burglary” and “a crappy little thing that didn’t work.” Despite the relatively small scale of the incident, Nixon and his advisors worked assiduously to cover up any ties between the burglars and the White House, and it became a scandal so big that it destroyed his presidency. Nowadays the conventional wisdom that many people take away from the Watergate Scandal is that “the cover up is always worse than the crime.” Would you agree or disagree with this statement? Use the relevant primary and secondary source readings to support your argument as you consider the following issues. Would Nixon have been impeached had he immediately accepted that the White House had some degree of responsibility for the break-in, or was it his subsequent attempt to obstruct the investigation the “crime” that lost him the support of the public and Congress? How did factors like LBJ’s lack of transparency during the Vietnam escalation, a public and press increasingly doubtful of the veracity of its leaders, etc., influence the course of the Watergate investigation and scandal, and to what extent do you think the press acted responsibly in its investigation?
