The Lasting Impact of the Watergate Scandal
The American people trusted the government, especially the president. However, when the pentagon papers were leaked and the Vietnam War tarnished the support and trust of the people, the Watergate Scandal justified this cynicism. This gave the people more reasons as to why the government can't be trusted and that the president holds too much power. Certain laws and reforms were passed due to the scandal, Nixon became the first president to ever resign from office with a pardon from former President Ford. The public's distrust of the government continues to grow today, as the government uses federal agencies to keep an eye on people as well as control the amount of information the media shares. We have a system that limits the information the people receive but on the other hand, all their information can be accessed by the government.
"As a result of the Watergate Scandal, Congress passed a series of laws sharply limiting a president's power, including the Freedom Information Act, limiting the president's power to wage undeclared war, and laws surrounding financial disclosure". Examples of these acts are as follows:
National Emergencies Act
"A United States federal law passed to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize the power of Congress to provide certain checks and balances on the emergency powers of the President. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain "procedural formalities" on the President when invoking such powers."
Ethics in Government Act
"A United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It created mandatory, public disclosure of financial and employment history of public officials and their immediate family. It also created restrictions on lobbying efforts by public officials for a set period after leaving public office. Lastly, it created the U.S. Office of Independent Counsel, tasked with investigating government officials."
Freedom of Information Act
"A federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government."
The Sunshine Act
"Required government agencies with exceptions, to conduct all meetings open to the public."
The Presidential Records Act
"Required preservation of all presidential records and documents."
These are just a number of examples in the laws and reforms that were passed due to the Watergate scandal. They are intended to limit the presidential power as well as keep the public informed of the government's actions and agendas that were once private and kept between politicians. But the greatest impact, or rather, damage, was the public's distrust towards the government. "... the biggest impact of the crisis was the loss of the public's faith and trust in politicians and elected officials; cynicism concerning the ethics, behavior, and motives of elected officials would be deep and lasting." People started doubting any politician's promises, pleas and plans. When 9/11 happened, even more people became skeptical and doubted the abilities of the government to protect the country. This led to an increase of power given to federal agencies such as the NSA to ensure public safety from private hackers and any espionage activities. "The NSA is the U.S. government's eavesdropping agency, with an annual budget of $8 billion. It spies on all foreign communications, and it also encodes U.S. government communications." This is quite ironic because the government seems to have worsen the public's trust by establishing laws and agencies to allow further violation of civil liberties as well as widen the gap between the State and the public, increasing secrecy with the people. 9/11 is one of the main reasons that these measures are taken by the government but it also fits that the government is doing this because of the Watergate Scandal and all the other scandals that preceded it. Not everyone in the government informs everyone about everything-- there are always arrangements "under the table" or behind closed doors that if exposed to the public, would cause commotion and questioning. The politicians want all the information they can get to ensure that we are not threatened outside the United States as well as within. The only problem with these programs are the deprivation of the people's civil liberties. Many of our rights are violated and we don't have the power to fight for them as they are protected by the laws that have been passed.
Examples of how the NSA tracks and records information:
Phone Calls "including the telephone number of the phones making and receiving the call, and how long the call lasted."
Email, Facebook posts, and instant messages "for an unknown number of people, via PRISM, which involves the cooperation of at least nine different technology companies. Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others have denied that the NSA has “direct access” to their servers, saying they only release user information in response to a court order. Facebook has revealed that, in the last six months of 2012, they handed over the private data of between 18,000 and 19,000 users to law enforcement of all types -- including local police and federal agencies, such as the FBI, Federal Marshals and the NSA."
Internet activities "The NSA intercepts huge amounts of raw data, and stores billions of communication records per day in its databases. Using the NSA’s XKEYSCORE software, analysts can see “nearly everything a user does on the Internet” including emails, social media posts, web sites you visit, addresses typed into Google Maps, files sent, and more."
National Emergencies Act
"A United States federal law passed to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize the power of Congress to provide certain checks and balances on the emergency powers of the President. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain "procedural formalities" on the President when invoking such powers."
Ethics in Government Act
"A United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It created mandatory, public disclosure of financial and employment history of public officials and their immediate family. It also created restrictions on lobbying efforts by public officials for a set period after leaving public office. Lastly, it created the U.S. Office of Independent Counsel, tasked with investigating government officials."
Freedom of Information Act
"A federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government."
The Sunshine Act
"Required government agencies with exceptions, to conduct all meetings open to the public."
The Presidential Records Act
"Required preservation of all presidential records and documents."
These are just a number of examples in the laws and reforms that were passed due to the Watergate scandal. They are intended to limit the presidential power as well as keep the public informed of the government's actions and agendas that were once private and kept between politicians. But the greatest impact, or rather, damage, was the public's distrust towards the government. "... the biggest impact of the crisis was the loss of the public's faith and trust in politicians and elected officials; cynicism concerning the ethics, behavior, and motives of elected officials would be deep and lasting." People started doubting any politician's promises, pleas and plans. When 9/11 happened, even more people became skeptical and doubted the abilities of the government to protect the country. This led to an increase of power given to federal agencies such as the NSA to ensure public safety from private hackers and any espionage activities. "The NSA is the U.S. government's eavesdropping agency, with an annual budget of $8 billion. It spies on all foreign communications, and it also encodes U.S. government communications." This is quite ironic because the government seems to have worsen the public's trust by establishing laws and agencies to allow further violation of civil liberties as well as widen the gap between the State and the public, increasing secrecy with the people. 9/11 is one of the main reasons that these measures are taken by the government but it also fits that the government is doing this because of the Watergate Scandal and all the other scandals that preceded it. Not everyone in the government informs everyone about everything-- there are always arrangements "under the table" or behind closed doors that if exposed to the public, would cause commotion and questioning. The politicians want all the information they can get to ensure that we are not threatened outside the United States as well as within. The only problem with these programs are the deprivation of the people's civil liberties. Many of our rights are violated and we don't have the power to fight for them as they are protected by the laws that have been passed.
Examples of how the NSA tracks and records information:
Phone Calls "including the telephone number of the phones making and receiving the call, and how long the call lasted."
Email, Facebook posts, and instant messages "for an unknown number of people, via PRISM, which involves the cooperation of at least nine different technology companies. Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others have denied that the NSA has “direct access” to their servers, saying they only release user information in response to a court order. Facebook has revealed that, in the last six months of 2012, they handed over the private data of between 18,000 and 19,000 users to law enforcement of all types -- including local police and federal agencies, such as the FBI, Federal Marshals and the NSA."
Internet activities "The NSA intercepts huge amounts of raw data, and stores billions of communication records per day in its databases. Using the NSA’s XKEYSCORE software, analysts can see “nearly everything a user does on the Internet” including emails, social media posts, web sites you visit, addresses typed into Google Maps, files sent, and more."
This juxtaposition of both Nixon and Obama correlates their "scandals" and the power they hold to be able to escape from serious consequences. This cartoon uses cards that depict certain controversies and factions in the government; it almost shows that politicians are playing games and they are always winning.
Primary Source
"What the findings in this analysis have shown, however, is that many members of the public identify with political leaders become a reference point or reality-- testing mechanism for basic beliefs about people in general. In this sense, then, by their behavior while in office, leaders may unknowingly or indirectly define reality in more ways and for more of the public than has been appreciated... it is now clear that a significant portion of the public responds to media revelations such as Watergate by transforming their pleasure or displeasure at the news content into biased evaluations of the competency and fairness of the messengers of the content." This shows that the most significant impact of Watergate is the trust of the people. A lot more question the motives and the actions of the President and other politicians because the trust have been broken. Everyone knows that the government doesn't always reveal the sole truth, most of the time, we are only given a fraction of information. Adding the surveillance of the NSA fragments their trust even more, as people's privacy are invaded while they are unaware of their leaders' agendas and negotiations. The presidential power have both been limited and expanded while the people's rights have been restricted as privacy and safety has become more crucial in our society. Altogether, this impedes the trust of the people towards the government.
"What the findings in this analysis have shown, however, is that many members of the public identify with political leaders become a reference point or reality-- testing mechanism for basic beliefs about people in general. In this sense, then, by their behavior while in office, leaders may unknowingly or indirectly define reality in more ways and for more of the public than has been appreciated... it is now clear that a significant portion of the public responds to media revelations such as Watergate by transforming their pleasure or displeasure at the news content into biased evaluations of the competency and fairness of the messengers of the content." This shows that the most significant impact of Watergate is the trust of the people. A lot more question the motives and the actions of the President and other politicians because the trust have been broken. Everyone knows that the government doesn't always reveal the sole truth, most of the time, we are only given a fraction of information. Adding the surveillance of the NSA fragments their trust even more, as people's privacy are invaded while they are unaware of their leaders' agendas and negotiations. The presidential power have both been limited and expanded while the people's rights have been restricted as privacy and safety has become more crucial in our society. Altogether, this impedes the trust of the people towards the government.
References
Primary Source
Secondary Sources
Primary Source
Secondary Sources
- "The Effects of Watergate." boundless.com. Creative Commons 3.0. n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.
- History.com Staff. "Watergate Scandal." History.com. 2009. Web. 02 May 2014.
- Finney, Daniel. "Watergate Scandal Changed Political Landscape Forever." usatoday30.usatoday.com. 16 June 2012. Web. 03 May 2014.
- Kingsbury, Alex. "The Secret History of the National Security Agency." usnews.com. 19 June 2009. Web. 03 May 2014.
- Dean, John. "Watergate: Lessons for Today, Nearly 40 Years Today." ohiobar.org. Ohio State Bar Association. n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
- Stray, Jonathan. "FAQ: What You Need to Know About the NSA's Surveillance Programs." propublica.org. 5 August 2013. Web. 29 April 2014.
- "Only Obama can." 29 May 2013. commonsenseevaluation.com. Web. 03 May 2014. (image/cartoon)
- "Watergate Scandal." History.com. 2009. Web. 02 May 2014. (image)