In 1972, the United States was shocked by what came to manifest into historical events the country had never faced before. Facing divisions in the country over the ongoing Vietnam war at a time which to be honest was a harsh political climate, an aggressive campaign looked the best option for president Nixon and his team. One of their tactics would prove to be illegal espionage. In June 1972, as backed by evidence afterwards, the team behind President Nixon’s re-election bid broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at Watergate in a second attempt to tap into the offices’ phones and steal some of the top-secret copies. This attempt did not go to plan as the group were ambushed by policemen, who were tipped off by a security guard about the ongoing activity, at the premises. Investigations into this matter ended when President Nixon, who had successfully been re-elected, resigned on august 8 1974. Various newspapers covered the unfolding of this case and such in case are the Washington Post and The Harvard Crimson. Both newspapers seemed to back up the president’s actions but on completely different grounds.
The Harvard Crimson defended President Nixon in an article written by Dean Burch on May 14, 1974, following an article that had appeared in The Chicago Tribune calling for the president’s resignation. Dean is bemused by the decision by the Chicago Tribune to edit such an embarrassing statement, and especially coming from a respected by all newspaper, including by President Nixon himself. Dean is incensed by the editors’ claim that the Nixon revealed in the transcripts that led to the article is not only secretive, but also less of a man than the Nixon they knew before. Dean claims that all he could see from the transcripts is a Nixon trying to find the truth behind the Watergate scandal while at the same time putting the interests of the nation first, quite unlike how he was being portrayed (Burch, 1974).
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He calls Nixon’s actions as “perseverance through the presidency and the nation itself,” (Burch, 1974), admitting that what the transcripts revealed tainted his presidency. Dean goes ahead to say that The Chicago Tribune should know better than to believe in every word that comes out of a politician’s mouth. He doesn’t see why The Chicago Tribune should demand that the president acts as a saint when the world we live in is a winner takes it all society. A world where survival is the order of the day and in this case, Nixon was trying but to survive. He questions the credibility of these editors by asking why they have not mentioned the good deeds done by Nixon like ending the U.S involvement in a war that had plagued the country for so long. Dean sees President Nixon as a great, moral and courageous leader who is not perfect like all other great presidents and therefore undeserved of impeachment (Burch, 1974).
The article written by the Washington Post on May 1 1973; p A18 supports Nixon’s actions and speech in a press conference that had been held a day before. The article heralds Nixon’s decision to let the case be handled by the courts and for also admitting that the public deserves confidence in its leadership even though it claims that Nixon has not rightly done this. The article also goes ahead to commend the president’s acceptance of the resignation of higher ranking officials in his government as a step towards gaining the public’s confidence. This article also credits him for taking personal responsibility for activities conducted by his subordinates following the Watergate scandal and terms this a step forward in regaining the public’s confidence ("WashingtonPost.com: Editorial: Watergate: The Unfinished Business", 2016).
Given a neutral point of view, a reader, basing on the article by the Dean Burch, would have the perspective that Mr. Nixon is innocent of all that is being labeled against him and that his critics should understand his actions keeping in mind the reality of life. The author depicts him as a natural human being who can also make mistakes and should not be judged upon his actions (Burch, 1974). In the other article by The Washington Post, one would get the idea that as a show of good governance, Nixon had taken a good measure to come out and address the issue hence boosting the public confidence that was waning. The author commends his courage of coming out and even take minor responsibility in the scandal ("WashingtonPost.com: Editorial: Watergate: The Unfinished Business", 2016). Though in support of Mr. Nixon, the two articles do it in two completely different ways where one absolves him of any blemish while the other appreciates his courage to take responsibility hence giving the reader two different ideas to ponder about.
Following the Watergate events, many Americans were filled by distrust towards politics and those involved. Politicians were now the enemy of the people. American citizens could not trust the words of politicians as their confidence in institutionalized politics had been betrayed by the scandal. The people were apprehensive of all activities and actions done by the politicians. The scandal thinned the distinctions that, previously, had set politicians apart from each other. Also in light of these events, the media was refurbished into a public darling. Many people wanted to come into journalism as they also wanted to crack a story just like Bernstein and Woodard had done. Many media houses kept a close eye on the politicians and maintained close scrutiny of national politicians. The media would now probe every politician, just in case they stumbled upon a case of the Watergate magnitude. It’s interesting to see that until today, many media outlets have a penchant for the mega scandals in politics. A case in point is the recently concluded election where Mrs. Clinton was directly linked to an email server at her home that she used to share even classified information. She believes a probe into this case by the FBI was a major contributor to her losing the election.
Imagine the Watergate scandal in 2016, an age in time where advanced technology in the form of social media is the order of the day. A case of such magnitude would have been a welcome occurrence in the hands of the ever-watching media hawks. People everywhere, and not only the media houses, are always watching and ready to pounce on lose political ends. In a world where we have Facebook, twitter and other social entities, such news is bound to spread the world over within minutes of its announcement. Today, people have smartphones all over the place and this are powered by all kinds of social connectivity apps. Mr. Nixon would not have been able to last in office for as long as he did. In contrast to how the American citizens depended on the Washington Post to follow up with the events taking place, today Nixon would have been at the mercy of the people themselves. The power of social media can be related to the Arab spring which saw three sitting presidents ousted by the people in three different countries as a result of this.
It’s difficult to have seen this case last as long as it did back then if it were to happen today. Nixon was accorded the leverage of a lack of social media and improved accessibility to news which saw him stay in power for as long as two years after the scandal. It’s safe to claim that if at that period the people had had access to such advanced technology, then Nixon would have resigned long before even the re-election. The long back and forth processes in courts would not have been witnessed as the American citizens would have taken matters into their own hands hence bowing to the pressure.
New technology has seen to the fact that news and events are just but a click away. It’s now easy to access news from any corner of the earth without having to go through much hassle. Now, measures have been put in place to see that whatever is being circulated around these social websites is as credible as it appears. Many of the material shared comes from accredited media outlets who have no intention to manipulate or lie about findings. Before sharing, the sources have to come up with reliable evidence that would back up their claims. Current events like terrorism are shared and passed along to people all over the world through the various social connectivity channels. It’s now easy to tell if someone is trying to radicalize you into such groups to perform heinous acts. Now it’s easy to know about things like gay rights and global warming where proven and outsourced information is provided in relation to whichever topic or subject matter one wants to know about.
References
Burch, D. (1974). In Defense of Richard Nixon | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson . Thecrimson.com . Retrieved 18 November 2016, from http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1974/5/14/in-defense-of-richard-nixon-pithe/?page=2
WashingtonPost.com: Editorial: Watergate: The Unfinished Business . (2016). Washingtonpost.com . Retrieved 18 November 2016, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/050173-2.htm
