What is the famous Watergate incident in American history?

Watergate incident, from a wiretapping case to a challenge to the authority of the US Constitution, finally impeached the president and became one of the political scandals in American history.

The protagonist of this event is China's old friend, American President Nixon. 1968 Nixon successfully won the American election and became the president of the United States. 1972 visited China, which broke the ice and gradually normalized the relations between the two countries.

During Nixon's administration, his outstanding achievements ended the Vietnam War, freed the United States from the quagmire of war, gave peace to the Vietnamese people, and signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union, which eased the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union and had a positive impact on the world situation.

After he was president for four years, that is, 1972, the United States began a new round of general elections. Nixon hopes to be re-elected. To this end, Nixon's campaign team gave him a bad idea. Dean, his legal adviser, told him that in order to win, it was best to install a bug in the Watergate Building in Washington, DC, the headquarters of the rival Democratic Party, in order to obtain information about the Democratic Party's campaign strategy.

On the evening of June 1972, McChord, the security adviser of Nixon's campaign team, came to Watergate Building with four Cuban illegal immigrants. I don't know whether it's because of lack of funds or because I don't trust people in the system. This kind of thing is actually done by several very unprofessional Cuban immigrants. In the process of installing bugs, these stragglers were caught red-handed by building security guards and patrol officers, and all of them were stolen.

On the other hand, Nixon denied knowing about it. He said that he only read the Watergate incident in the newspaper, and at that time he thought the report was ridiculous and didn't take it seriously. He also swore to the American people that "no one in the White House team and the current government is involved in this ridiculous thing."

Under Nixon's series of performances, the American people also chose to believe in Nixon, and finally Nixon won the election and was re-elected. The Democratic Party, which failed in the general election, decided to dig deep into Watergate, and the Congress led by the Democratic Party set up a special investigation committee. During the investigation, it was found that Nixon was most likely related to this matter. In this case, Nixon had to find the attorney general and the director of the FBI, hoping to stop the investigation of these two departments.

But in the United States, once a case enters the judicial process, it is like a satellite entering orbit. If you want to stop it artificially, it will hinder justice. In the United States, this is very serious, and it is difficult to hide crimes from all sides. Therefore, the Minister of Justice and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are still afraid to cross the bottom line in the face of serious crimes that hinder justice. Us special prosecutor Cox is even more eager to pursue this case.

In private, Nixon's cronies are also contacting witnesses, trying to silence them with money, but the closer they get to the verdict, the more uneasy they are, and it is very difficult for several people to seal up the huge sum without trace, so there is no way to transfer the hush money to their accounts in time.

At the critical moment of sentencing, McChord, who was caught red-handed, recruited Dean, Nixon's White House legal adviser. Dean took the initiative to find the prosecutor and made a confession and exposure for three hours in order to win leniency.

In this case, the Watergate Committee also got a very important message. For the convenience of writing memoirs in the future, Nixon installed recording equipment in the workplace and recorded all his work conversations on the spot. The Committee asked Nixon to hand over the tapes related to Watergate.

Nixon refused to hand over the videotape. He claimed that these tapes contained contents vital to national security and that he enjoyed administrative immunity. Cox disagreed, and he solemnly ordered Nixon to hand over the tape immediately.

Nixon went to Attorney General Richardson and asked him to fire Cox immediately. As attorney general, he should obey the president, but he refused Nixon and resigned immediately. Nixon went to the Deputy Minister of Justice and made the same request. The Deputy Attorney General also rejected Nixon's request and resigned. Nixon continued to find Bok, the No.3 figure in the Ministry of Justice, and appointed him as the Acting Minister before dismissing Special Prosecutor Cox. This is1Saturday, October 20th1973 10!

Overnight, two important officials of the Ministry of Justice were forced to leave their posts, and the special prosecutor was dismissed, causing an uproar. The New York Times's comments appealed to the people: It's time to test whether our country is ruled by man or by law.

In the next few days, Congress received 300,000 protest calls from all over the country, and cars honked their horns on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. The public reaction was like a volcanic eruption, comparing Nixon with Hitler, and impeaching the president became the central topic of discussion in the streets.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon must hand over the relevant tapes. The embattled Nixon had to submit the tapes to the court. The newly appointed special prosecutor found new evidence on the videotape. On the sixth day after Watergate, Nixon instructed his assistant to obstruct the investigation of Watergate, which was the ironclad evidence of Nixon's cover-up.

1On June 25th, 974, the judicial committee decided to release all the evidence related to the impeachment of Nixon. At this time, the critical moment when the American Constitution is facing a severe test has arrived. Theoretically, Nixon was declared a failure. In theory, Congress can impeach the president, but Nixon is still the most authoritative person in the United States and the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces. What should the president do if he resists the impeachment of Congress and orders the armed forces to protect the White House and attack Congress?

Nixon's confidant, the secretary of defense, also thought of sending troops to the White House to protect the president. At this critical moment, Kissinger told Nixon that sitting in the White House surrounded by bayonets could not be the president of the United States.

In this way, eight hours after the Supreme Court ruled, Nixon's lawyer read Nixon's statement: "I respect and accept the Supreme Court's ruling." This simple statement resolved a major constitutional crisis in American history.

1on August 8, 974, Nixon made a televised speech to the whole country and announced his resignation as president before the impeachment was passed. In Watergate, Nixon tried to fundamentally challenge the authority of the American Constitution with his own selfish desires, but in the end, the president could not put himself above the law, thus safeguarding American democracy and separation of powers.