Download Watergate cartoon

Name ___Duyen Nguyen________ Class __American History 2___ Date _05/06/10_____
AMERICAN HISTORY POLITICAL CARTOONS
Watergate
UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL
CARTOONS
Study the political cartoon, and then
answer the questions that follow.
1. What do the tapes refer to?
The tapes of White House meetings
2. What do the words on the tapes refer to?
The words on the tapes refer to Nixon’s speech in which he maintained that he was not a crook.
3. How does the cartoonist portray Nixon’s attempt to deal with the Watergate scandal?
The cartoonist portray Nixon’s attempt to deal with the Watergate scandal by the slice in tape
symbolizes Nixon’s attempt to cover up his involvement
ACTIVITY
This cartoon was published just a few days after a judge ordered President Nixon to turn
over the additional tapes that he had refused to release. Imagine that you are a journalism
intern at the Washington Post assigned to help Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Write a
brief “side-bar” article outlining the basic events of the Watergate scandal.
CARTOON
From Herblock: ACartoonist’ s Life (Macmillan, 1993).
58 American History Political Cartoons
HRW material copyrighted under notice appearing earlier in this work.
Discussion Guide
In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, five men—including E. Howard Hunt, Jr., a
former White House aide, and G. Gordon Liddy, general counsel for the Committee for the
Re-election of the President (CREEP)—were arrested for breaking into the headquarters of
the Democratic National Committee.
In no small part because of the work of two Washington Post reporters, Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein, what unraveled over the next two years was the most
profound scandal to shake the foundations of the U.S. presidency.
In spring of 1973, the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities began
televised public proceedings, which became known as the Senate Watergate hearings.
The hearings were one of the most widely watched television events in U.S. history.
Investigations revealed that though Nixon had denied knowing anything about the breakin
at Watergate—stating in a November 1973 press conference “I am not a crook”—it later
became clear that Nixon not only knew about the break-in, but he had instructed his aides
to block the subsequent investigation.
In July 1973 a White House staff member revealed to the Committee that conversations
at the president’s office had been secretly taped. When the Senate committee asked
for tapes of conversations that might pertain to the Watergate break-in, Nixon refused.
Nixon released the tapes only after a federal court ruled in the Committee’s favor. When
the White House finally released the tapes, they turned over to the officials only seven of
the nine originally specified, and one of the tapes contained a suspicious gap.
The House Judiciary Committee began an impeachment inquiry. On July 24, 1974,
the Supreme Court ruled that President Nixon had to release the tapes. On August 5, 1974,
Nixon released transcripts of three tapes which clearly implicated him in the cover up. On
August 8, Nixon announced his resignation. He became the first president to ever resign
from office. Although the Watergate scandal undermined the nation’s confidence, it nevertheless
renewed confidence in the power of the judicial and legislative branches of the
U.S. government.