History 17B Paper/Project Prompt

The Watergate scandal had many troubling facets, from the original 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex to the attempts to cover up the connections between the men who participated in the break-in, the president's re-election campaign, and the White House itself, to the White House's attempts to obstruct resulting investigations by the FBI and Department of Justice.

Consider the following in your paper...

1. On its own, was the initial break-in enough to disqualify Richard Nixon from continuing to serve as the president of the United States? Why or why not? At the end of the day, what were the reasons why Congress and the American people ultimately sought to remove him from office? In short, what element of the scandal was the biggest legal and Constitutional transgression (hint: obstruction of justice)?
2. Were things really bad enough that Nixon had to resign? What do you think he should he have done to legally and honestly "fix" his problems (including backtracking all the way back to his reactions to the initial break-in in 1972), and how does your way differ from his actual approach? What could have ultimately happened to him had he not resigned (impeachment proceedings were prepared, but Nixon resigned from office before they could officially commence)? What could have happened to him if his successor, Gerald Ford, had not immediately pardoned him after resignation?
3. What changes in American attitudes and policies occurred in response to the "corruption" of the Nixon administration? Were the FBI's and Congress' responses to the scandal examples of a healthy system of governmental checks and balances on presidential power? Did the system "work" in response to the Nixon administration's attempt to "overreach" its Constitutional powers?
4. What similarities, and differences, exist between the Watergate scandal and the current scandal concerning the Trump administration and its connections to Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election? Is Trump as close to Russian interference as Nixon was to the guys who masterminded and broke into the DNC offices at the Watergate? Is the "Saturday Night Massacre" like Trump's decision to fire FBI director Jim Comey?
5. Do you think that Americans, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and Congress are reacting to the current scandal in a way that is comparable to the way they reacted during the Watergate scandal? What's the same, and what's NOT the same? Are recent and current responses to the Trump-Russia scandal by the FBI, Congress, and other elements of government representative of a healthy, balanced set of institutions? Consider especially the actions and roles of individuals involved in positions of investigative authority and oversight, such as former FBI director James Comey, Current Special Counsel Mueller, Attorney General Sessions, Associate Attorney General Rosenstein, and members of relevant oversight committees in Congress like House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Burr and Ranking Member Warner. Bear in mind that this is not an exhaustive list.
6. What role has the press and journalistic reporting played in shaping public and governmental responses to the developing stories (All the President's Men is a good introduction to the work of Washington Post journalists Woodward & Bernstein in breaking important elements of the Watergate story)?
7. What do you think will be the ultimate result of the Trump-Russia scandal? Will the results be comparable to the Watergate result?

Basic instructions:

• Papers MUST be typed, double-spaced, and 1200 words or longer. You are welcome to write more - I'll read it all!
• Use 1” margins and a standard 12 point font. Do not use headers or title pages.
• You may use any standard citation model you wish, but be consistent! MLA is the easiest.
• Don't overquote or fact dump. Limit quotations to three lines or less. Avoid long historical summaries. Use every bit of your paper to analyze the questions and ideas introduced in the prompt above.
• Use at least five well-respected sources of integrity. No Wikipedia or overly-biased "junk" sources. Check with me if you're unsure.
• The paper will be submitted to me via the Turnitin.com website at the end of the Summer session, no later than 11:58pm on July 21. Each student will need to register him or herself in the Turnitin.com system via his or her official Delta College email address. See your syllabus for information on using Turnitin.com.

Getting started with your research:

• Nixon Presidential Library & Museum online - Excellent materials relating to Watergate, including selected recordings of Watergate-related discussions at the White House. This includes the famous "smoking gun" conversation between Nixon and HR Haldeman on June 23, 1972.
• Major news outlets like the Washington Post (both their 1970s Watergate coverage and their Trump-Russia coverage today) and New York Times are reliable resources of information on both scandals, then and now. Avoid potentially very biased reporting from resources on the left or right (Breitbart, Huffington Post, &c.). You may use mainstream opinion pieces to help you, but be wary of the biases of those who have written them.
• All the President's Men, a book and film documenting the experiences of Washington Post writers Woodward and Bernstein in covering Watergate, is a great introduction to the role of the press in bringing to light key information about scandals like Watergate and Trump Russia. Their interviews with FBI associate director W. Mark Felt (AKA "Deep Throat") formed the basis of their investigative reporting on the scandal. Felt represents the potentially important role of "leaks" in forcing key information to light and in turn, forcing the appropriate branches of government to take action. We'll watch the film version in class toward the end of the Summer session.
• John W. Dean, White House Counsel during the Watergate scandal, is a fascinating resource for considering and comparing both scandals. He was implicated in the Watergate obstruction conspiracy, subsequently cooperated with investigators, testified before the Senate Watergate committee, and ended up doing jail time for his role in the scandal. You can learn more about him by searching interviews and thinkpieces he's written about Watergate, Trump-Russia, and other situations involving presidential overreach. His experiences as an attorney and as a legal scholar make him a good resource, and his firsthand experience at the center of the Watergate "coverup" gives his analyses and advice weight. He was there!
• Watergate prosecutors Jill Wine-Banks and Nick Akerman also have interesting perspectives on Trump-Russia given their Watergate experiences. Non-Watergate-involved lawyers Ari Melber (also an NBC journalist) and former George W. Bush Ethics lawyer Richard Painter also have interesting takes on both Watergate and Trump-Russia.