Election of 1972 - Second Term and Watergate Scandal

The time had come for another Presidential election and Nixon had decided upon campaigning for re-elections with his original running mate and Vice president, Spiro Agnew. His Democratic opponent this time around was a man named George S. McGovern. Regrettably Nixon's campaign was ripe with the stench of Scandal, the Watergate scandal to be exact. Nixon continued focusing in favor of desegregation but still opposed means such as busing. Although what Nixon truly focused upon in this election was keeping tabs vigorously on his opponents. Even though Nixon was the favored candidate and the current president re-elect he was overwhelmed with paranoia about losing the election. So when the Democratic National Committee headquarters was broken into on June 17, 1972 all eyes were on Nixon. Although it was his campaign aids who broke in and committed the burglary of the Democratic party information, Nixon inevitably took the fall. On the other hand McGovern's campaign wasn't running as smoothly as it should have. This opportunity would have been a prime chance for McGovern to undermine Nixon and steal the presidency right out from underneath him, but this wasn't the case. McGovern's issues composed of ending the Vietnam war, and guaranteeing minimum incomes for the poor, but his major downfall came when his running mate was involved in a controversial electro-shock therapy which portrayed him as a crazy radical which drastically caused his campaign to suffer. When the election results came in, Nixon had almost unanimously beat McGovern although his involvement in the Watergate burglary would result in his shameful resignation.

End of Presidency:

On May 9th 1974, the impeachment hears controlled by the Democrats began. The secret recordings that revealed that Nixon knew of the cover-up from the beginning were released 1974. These tapes went on to be called the "Smoking Gun tapes" which suggested that Nixon had tried to stop the FBI's investigation of Watergate. Nixon resigned office as the United states president on August 9th 1974 to avoid being kick out of office. Nixon left office saying "I see clearly now... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate" and "I am not a crook". So when it was time to choose a successor for Nixon Spiro Agnew was not an option because he was forced to resign earlier on in October 19th of 1973 as a result of a no-contest plea to criminal charges dealing with tax evasion and money laundering. Therefore the Republicans assigned Gerald Ford to succeed Nixon as President. Shortly after Ford gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes that he may have commited during his presidency and issued a formal apology on Television on Nixon's behalf to the people of the United States.

Smoking Gun Tape Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE1PyGzTr54