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Definition: Watergate affair from Philip's Encyclopedia

(1972-74) US political scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. It arose from an attempted burglary of the Democratic Party's headquarters in the Watergate building, Washington D.C., organized by members of Nixon's re-election committee. Evidence of the administration's involvement provoked investigations by the Senate and the Justice Department, which implicated Nixon. He was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, but his close advisers (Halderman, Erlichman and Mitchell) were convicted.


Watergate

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Watergate refers to the political scandal that broke in 1972 and forced Richard M. Nixon to resign the presidency two years later. On June 17, 1972, Washington, D.C., police arrested five men who had burglarized the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate apartment and office complex. From then until August 9, 1974, when President Nixon resigned, journalistic, congressional, and judicial investigations progressively revealed illegal campaign practices, dirty tricks in campaigning, presidential abuses of power in the use of illegal wire-tapping, Internal Revenue Service pressure and other harassments of alleged political enemies, as well as the presidentially directed cover-up of these and other acts. During these years the Watergate scandal preoccupied Nixon, his closest aides, and ultimately the Congress, the courts, the press, and the public. It precipitated several showdowns between the executive and the other branches of government and is therefore regarded as…
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Full text Article Watergate

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Select Watergate Senate Committee...
The Watergate political scandal that lasted from 1972 to 1974 destroyed the presidency of President Richard M. Nixon and led to the criminal prosecution of many executive branch officials. In addition, the scandal tainted the political process and contributed to a long decline in respect for…
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Full text Article Watergate

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
An incident in the presidency of Richard Nixon that led to his resignation. In June 1972, burglars in the pay of Nixon's campaign committee broke into offices of the Democratic party . In a complex chain of events, high officials on Nixon's staff who had been connected to the burglary used illegal…
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Full text Article Watergate

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
Series of political scandals involving President Richard M. Nixon and his administration, resulting in Nixon's resignation in 1974. On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate apartment and office complex in Washington, D.C. The…
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Full text Article Watergate affair

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
in U.S. history, series of scandals involving the administration of President Richard M. Nixon ; more specifically, the burglarizing of the Democratic party national headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C. On June 17, 1972, police apprehended five men attempting to break…
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Full text Article Watergate affair

From Philip's Encyclopedia
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Full text Article Watergate

From Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies
Scene of one of history's most famous break-ins, and source of one of modern history's most dramatic scandals that eventually led to the resignation of the US president. The apartment block called Watergate in Washington DC was the 1972 election campaign headquarters of the National Committee of the…
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US Republican politician and 37th President (1969-74). He resigned under threat of impeachment after the implication of leading members of his government in the Watergate affair. As President, he sought to end the Vietnam War and had diplomatic success with China and the USSR. I don’t believe that I…
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Full text Article Inouye, Daniel Ken

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(ĭn'Әwā´´, ĭnō'wā), 1924–2012, U.S. politician, b. Honolulu, grad. Univ. of Hawaii (1950) and George Washington Univ. Law School (1952). A World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient, he lost an arm in European combat. Inouye was elected to the the House of Representatives as a Democrat when…
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Full text Article Anderson, Jack

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(Jackson Northman Anderson), 1922–2005, American newspaper columnist, b. Long Beach, Calif. After serving as a Mormon missionary (1941–44) and a term as a war correspondent during 1945, he was hired by Drew Pearson for the staff of his column, “Washington Merry-Go-Round.” Anderson and Pearson later…
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Full text Article independent counsel

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
in U.S. law, a judicially appointed investigator of charges of misdeeds by high government officials. Originally termed “special prosecutor,” the position was first created by the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. Prompted by the Watergate affair , the purpose of the law was to avoid the conflict of…
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