Anglais Myth & Heroes Watergate Scandal

Notion : Places and Forms of power

The Watergate Scandal in USA

Today I’m going to speak about the notion places and forms of power. But first of all, I would like

to give a definition of the terms. The power is the ability to exercise control or authority over others.

Power affects more than personal relationships, it shapes larger dynamics like social group,

professional organizations, and governments. There can be good or bad types of power. To illustrate  

this notion i have chosen to speak about the Watergate scandalin USA and i will answer to this

question : To what extent the watergate scandal influence the American politic system and the press

who represent a counterpower ? First i will speak about this counterpower, secondly about the

respect of the democracy and the freedom of the press in this scandal and finally about the results of

the Watergate scandal.

-The Watergate Scandal happened in the 1970's in America. On June 17th 1972 a break-in at the

Democratic National Committee was reported in the USA by two journalists from the Washington

Post named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who worked and investigated on this scandal.

President Nixon was directly accused of covering-up this scandal and also that he organized this

break-in in order to win his political campaign. The investigation was led by the US Supreme Court

which represent the judiciary power. This investigation revealed multiple abuse of power.

-This revelations was made possible thanks to these 2 journalists. and lead to an impeachment

process against President Nixon. It was the first in the USA history and it ended up in the final

resignation of the president Nixon on August 9th 1974 in a declaration of the President Nixon which

he said 'I have never been a quitter but still I have to leave presidency'. Since this event, the press

has been considered as the fourth power who follows checks and balances. Checks and Balances

refers to the system that the US Constitution set up to ensure that no one branch of government

would become too powerful. Thanks to this system, the democracy can run and still the press as the

fourth power.

-After the scandal Americans didn't trust politicians anymore. The following president Gerald Ford

forgave Nixon fault on September 8th 1974. This affaire showed how powerful the Supreme Court is

because it ended up Nixon's presidency. After the Watergate scandal the suffix -gate is often added

by the media to create the name used to designate illegal actions, lies or scandals stifled by a

government authority.

In conclusion we can say that the Watergate was the biggest scandal that happened in USA against

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