Poltical Theory

The face of American political culture has changed throughout the course of the country 's legacy from the Revolutionary War to President Clinton 's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky . While magnanimous events may redefine the public perception of democracy in the United States , the nature of politics , as defined by philosopher 's centuries ago , remains constant . More specifically , the dynamics of American politics remains true to a democracy , but has had symptoms of other governmental entity types , such as authoritarianism . This will analyze the repercussions of the Watergate scandal , in

an effort to provide a meaningful definition of the American political culture , and elements that embody this schema . More importantly , this will support concept of an American government that relies heavily on its institutions to maintain a balance and continuity within democracy

The Watergate affair was a series of controversial events that occurred from 1972-1974 . The Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel was broken into in May of 1972 , in a successful effort to tap telephone lines of President Nixon 's rival . Initially , no culprits were apprehended . On June 17 , 1972 , however , a second break-in occurred , and Bernard Barker , Virgilio Gonzalez , Eugenio Martinez , James McCord and Frank Sturgis were arrested (Watergateinfo .com ) In September of 1972 the culprits were indicted and pleaded guilty at their January 1973 court hearing . In May of 1973 , the Senate Watergate Committee was established and began conducting investigative hearings on the Watergate affair , specifically perusing evidence that may lead to the involvement of President Richard Nixon and his administration

Through the investigative efforts of two journalists at the Washington Post and the cooperation of President 's Council John Dean , the Watergate affair was revealed to be directly linked to President Nixon 's `hit list ' of political enemies . President Nixon would continue to deny any involvement with Watergate , and attempted to flex executive power when congressional and judicial entities attempted to extract tape-recorded conversations from the Oval Office . Through the investigative committees , a Supreme Court and mounting public pressure President Nixon 's tapes were revealed and provided evidence that President Nixon was in fact , one of the primary point men behind the Watergate affairs

The remaining two years of President Nixon 's tenure in the Oval Office would be marked by mass media scrutiny , public paranoia and the emergence of new Congressional systems of checks and balances . The insurmountable pressure from the betrayed public , wary congressional and judiciary leadership , forced President Nixon to resign prior to his impeachment (Watergateinfo .com ) The Watergate affair , coupled with the prior decades scare from the Pentagon s , had created an American political culture of hysteria , paranoia , distrust and corruption

Events such as the Watergate affair have been the catalyst for developing a stigma that all political leaders in the United States are power-hungry , dishonest cavaliers . Moreover , Watergate defined the presidency as a position that would need to be scrutinized via congressional committees and judiciary s . Leadership , it had seemed , was betraying the public , and the...