The All American Heros

Robert Streitmatter once again goes into political corruption with his chapter on the Watergate scandal which showed  that even the most powerful figure in our government, the President, can even be corrupt. Woodstein, the combo that brought down political corruption due to their efforts to find the truth. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward may be two of the best reporters that journalism has ever seen. They were  able to uncover the truth even when the most powerful figure, the President of the United States was corrupt. Bob Woodward, a Yale graduate and a veteran from the Navy started to pursue journalism at the young age of 29. His parter in crime Carl Bernstein who was 28 years old at the time had a job with the Washington Star being a copy boy and eventually stopped going to school at the University of Maryland to take a job with the Washington Post. The two got into the Watergate scandal after Woodward attended the arraignment of the people who broke into the Democratic National Committee Offices which is in the Capital. Woodward had front row seats to the arraignment and witnessed the first defendant say he worked for the CIA. His name was James McCord and I think it is ironic that he was actually caught to begin with because he was a CIA agent. But besides that fact, Woodward and Bernstein saw that this break in was more then just a burglary attempt and there was a lot more going on.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Watergate&view=detail&id=37221FB5A2FAEFE7733C720427F20A23713AB3FA&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR 

Bernstein is on the Left, Woodward the right

The Watergate Scandal 

June 17, 1972 was a Saturday. At 2:30am that day three police officers found men inside of the Democratic National Committee Offices. There were five individuals who were not authorized to be there. It turns out they were planting devices that would be able to record what was said inside these buildings. The men were not dressed in street clothes or any type of clothing that would try to hide their identity. They wore business attire just as if a business person was going to work however they had on rubber gloves. It turns out these men were not random burglars that were just trying to have some fun and break into the Democratic building but they were actually employees of the government. So for some reason these government officials broke into this building for some odd reason and wanted to see what the Democratic party was up to.  It turns out President Nixon was behind the whole operation which resulted in him resigning. 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/history/bs-nixon-resigns,0,51101.photo 

So how was Nixon's corruption uncovered? Thanks to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein their investigations were able to uncover the truth. Once again the fourth estate prevailed and was able to work with all three branches of the government to discover what happened. The way that Woodstein (Woodward and Bernstein's nickname) was able to uncover this truth was by just slowly taking hacks at Nixon. They were finding out more and more information and would publish it. For example, the two discovered that the burglars were paid with the funds that were put towards Nixon's campaign so they published that. They found out that Nixon's plan to get reelected had to do with Nixon making up false information about his opponents to go public with it. The duo also found out that Nixon's Chief of Staff had the authority of overlooking the money that was Nixon's private campaigning account. All Woodward and Bernstein had to do was just find out a little information against Nixon and they reported it which slowly chipped away at Nixon. One of their strongest sources though came from an anonymous man who was nick named "Deep Throat". The nick name came from a pornographic film that was played during this time period. This anonymous source was actually second in command for the FBI. He heard everything that went on inside the White House wether it was good or bad. This source was actually a friend of Woodward and he never gave them information but he confirmed if what Woodward had found was true or false. The man had all the answers and his name was W. Mark Felt. Felt had remained anonymous until 2005 when he then revealed himself as the man who helped Woodward. Having an inside source was a key to Woodsteins investigations as they were able to clarify information and publish it. 

What can we take from Watergate??????? 

The fourth estate can be more powerful then the government. Having the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press can overrule the voice of the government because when the government is corrupt and the press publishes the truth, society will follow the press. We also see that some of our own government officials can be corrupt. Who would of thought that five burglars would have been linked to the President of the United States? No one probably thought it but because of good reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, they were able to find the truth and publish it in a professional way that slowly chipped away at corruption.