Watergate

In June 1972, during President Richard Nixon’s campaign for reelection, five men broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The subsequent investigations by the media and Congress ended with Nixon’s [Page 1745]resignation 2 years later, in August 1974. “Watergate” refers to that break-in, Nixon’s abuses of power, and the resulting congressional hearings. The press played a major, though somewhat mythologized, role in bringing to light those abuses. Watergate has been remembered as a watershed for political news coverage and became the namesake for future political scandals. Those scandals, which from the 1970s have had the suffix “-gate” appended, often also involved federal investigations into wrongdoing—for example, “Billygate” in 1980, when Jimmy Carter’s brother was investigated ...