What impact did the Watergate Scandal have in terms of undermining confidence in the American political system?
Peter Dixon - AM-251
The Watergate Scandal has been called the ‘most serious Constitutional crisis since the Civil War’. 1 The scandal had a seismic effect on the moral and political foundations of the United States, and in this essay, I shall examine the ways in which public opinion towards its government morphed over the years, and what the effects of these changes in perceptions were. I shall structure my argument in three stages. Firstly, even before the Watergate Scandal in its totality emerged to the public, deceitful machinations and actions with ulterior motives were being committed by those in the upper echelons of government, particularly regarding the Vietnam War. I shall explore Rudalevige’s notion that an ‘Imperial Presidency’ had taken root in the government, and what role presidents such as LBJ played in perpetuating an atmosphere of deceit and political espionage. I aim to posit the view that even before Nixon took office, and the events of Watergate were made known to the public, there existed an undercurrent of malevolency in the executive branch of government. Secondly, I shall examine the ubiquity of paranoia that came to characterise Nixon’s government, with attention placed on his own mistrust towards his peers and enemies. The fear that pervaded Nixon and his administration will be examined here also, and how this paranoia planted the seeds for the ensuing fallout from the Watergate scandal. I shall also examine the effects resulting from the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, and how the public’s traditional perceptions of the Presidency were changed for the worst. People began to see for the first time, the full extent of the artifice that had taken control of the country’s highest office. I shall end by examining the various arguments put forward by authors who suggest that Watergate and its conclusion actually had a beneficial effect on the public, as it proved that the American political system was able to survive times of constitutional crisis. Indeed, one could view the conclusion to Watergate as a time for recuperation and rebuilding of American institutional trust. Despite these arguments however, the pardoning of Nixon had an effect that was almost catastrophic on the psyche of the American people, who came to understand that in place of traditional presidential virtue,
1 James Cannon, Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life, (University of Michigan State Press, 2014), p. 4.
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