Watergate and the Imperial Presidency

Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject History of Germany - Postwar Period, Cold War, , language: English, abstract: In the first part of this paper, the events of the years from 1972 to 1974 are traced, regarding Bernstein and Woodward’s point of view as well as Nixon’s description of his downfall. According to the reporters from the Washington Post, all their claims had to be confirmed by at least two sources, which seems to make their books reliable. Nevertheless, Watergate has to be seen in the context of a permanent election campaign. In how far have Bernstein and Woodward’s sources been influenced by political attitudes or Watergate hysteria? On the other side of the coin, Nixon’s memoirs may be seen as his protest of innocence, but his book may also contain facts that were simply ignored by his enemies. After all, it seems to be necessary to include both views.The second part of this paper concentrates on Schlesinger’s examination of the Imperial Presidency. According to him, Nixon tried to centralize power in the presidency. Apart from Nixon’s attacks on the authority of Congress, this paper focuses on the actions connected to Watergate.