Watergate and American Foreign Policy

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the Watergate break-in scandal in 1972. The author discusses the political motive behind the act, the figures involved in the scandal, and attempts to understand why President Nixon would authorize the illegal act and jeopardize his future.

From the Paper:

"The cause of the Watergate scandal lays in the split between the containment and new world order factions within the Nixon administration. Through 1972, Richard Nixon's presidency had been a successful one. He had begun to remove the United States from Vietnam , opened relations to China , achieved detente with the Soviets, and brought the allies back under tighter control through higher energy prices, all of which helped strengthen containment. Henry Kissinger and the other members of the Rockefeller establishment needed to find some way to gain leverage over Nixon in order to promote their new world order agenda. Watergate would become their tool for wresting power from Nixon and changing the grand strategy of American foreign policy."

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