Water Gate Scandal and Frost Nixon - Research Paper Example

?Water gate scandal and Frost Nixon: Introduction: Very few events can be traced to have left an impact that even four decades after its occurrence they are being remembered. One similar event of similar magnitude was that of Water gate scandal. This took place in the American corridors of the power and shook the state pillars, the nation itself and other elements in every way possible. While other kinds of scandals are often heard of and people come across them, this was one of its kind and a political scandal that put the good office of presidency in doubt and brought it under the dark cloud of suspicion and stigma of mistrust. Impact: This epoch in the history of American politics is termed as one of the most disturbing, unwarranted and un afforded one which cost all the members involved in it heavily. The impact of the overall episode was so intense that it led to the resignation of an elected President and which had never happened in history before as in case of a similar political scandal. Frost Nixon interviews: Frost Nixon interviews were part of the entire script and they were conducted by British members, after the incumbent president had taken refuge in his private life, he devoted considerable amount of time to this series and hence this series is named as frost Nixon interviews series. This series is not just limited to the interviews, rather even three decades after it took place, it took to the silver screen and a movie has been created on same topic as well. The choice of David Frost came as an utter surprise to many as a anchor person chosen by the president to conduct his interview. Other parts of the paper include the response and how the newspapers and journalistic community took to it and how did they mock it in form of the cartoon segments, while some went too blatant, others practiced discretion and did not confront the people directly, although no newspaper at that time could be found missing not to talk of this dark story yet the choice of expression and the choice of content presented by each of them varied. Some vehemently went about exposing the individuals, others looked at it from a different perspective and looked into the possible reasons that may have stirred it, its possible repercussions on the American political scene and the future as to how could such episodes be avoided. The Newspapers response: The notable newspapers took this story by its horns and both the editorials, cartoonists, columnists and every person who could contribute contributed in their own way to discuss this topic in every way possible. Some of them went quite far in extent to criticizing the overall debacle and directly termed the parties involved as guilty. This incident was noticed in case of publication by Donnesbury comic strip which directly pointed finger at the then Attorney General John N. Mitchell. To some newspapers this was quite harsh and blunt and decided not to display this directly nor point finger directly by terming them guilty in open words. Washington post was one of the newspapers that decided to practice discretion and not to go all fronts war and open against the people involved in the murky episode that had frosted the political setup of the country. To some critiques, severe rules and norms of ethical codes and conduct would be violated and in fact were violated by displaying cartoons that directly pointed at individuals. Washington post was one of the newspapers that took this matter into account and decided not to publish content indiscriminately. Los Angeles times and Newsday were two other newspapers that took into account the matter of ethical codes and conduct consideration and decided not to publish everything that may come to hand. The one post that caused stir all over was the one in which attorney general was termed guilty, however since he was not proven as one as the entire case was on trial therefore most of the newspapers took back the cartoon section and decided not to publish it(Lemann, nicholas).While the cartoon did gain a lot of interest and attention, yet the newspapers agencies and administrative entities had to back out from it based on ethical and legal considerations Newspapers alarm and alert prior to the occurrence of the event: Washington post had expressed its concern way back and as earlier as in 1970 over the excessive powers being used by the incumbent government which could possibly infringe the privacy of people’s life and other security related matters as not permitted by the law and book. This was presented in form of the cartoon caricature on Jan 18 1970(unknown). Washington post was the severe critique of the overall happenings, and one of the cartoon that was part of the publication on the date Aug 8, 1972, reads as “Now, as I was saying four years ago”, indicating that they had warned in prior over the intentions and actions of the government and their possible actions which could lead to something as big as the Watergate scandal that actually took place four years later. The April 4th 1974 newspaper cartoon was a more severe one which depicted the President and a dummy body holding a card reading “ I am not a crook”, this was in response to the recently given statement by Richard Nixon over his statement that he had never done anything wrong as in terms of financial embezzlement. Apart from the cartoons following, the columnists and analysts were bitterer in the choice of the words. For example Carl Bernstein and Woodrow were quoted as saying that “Nixon was worse than we thought”. It was something as heavy that even four decades after it newspapers from across the world can be seen to discuss and quote its reference once in a while in their publications. The aftermath: The things did not end here, many dozen members of the governmental office were deprived of their ranks, various others imprisoned, thorough investigation stemmed in and at the end of it a lot was disclosed which none of the involved parties would have ever desired coming out to front. The country had not completely forgotten the bitter experience of Vietnam war which to many critiques was a misadventure and it did not work out as expected and would be desired, the standings went further sore in form of this scandal in the name of memo gate scandal. An important part associated with it was the Frost Nixon series of interviews that took place in a series of episodes and later on converted into movie version too. This paper reflects on the movie that was based, the interview series, how the president reacted to all of it, how it was taken up by people and all other angles relevant. The movie: The movie was based on same theme which showed the famous British talk show host and his interaction with the then deposed president. Through the interviews, they tried reflecting on the different angles of the entire story, tried expressing and bringing the facts to the people from an angle that might not have been presented earlier. Another factor as to why President Nixon agreed to the interviews series was the fact that his monitory status and standing had gone down considerably after being deposed, thereby he thought he could balance some of his account standings through these interviews. From President Nixon’s view point, the aim was to save the face in whatever way possible after the humiliation that he and his entire team had suffered couple of years ago. Peter Morgan has tried to cover all the necessary aspects of the entire episode and has presented the whole scheme in a very crafty manner. To some critiques the overall maneuver was based on making up cash since some reports suggest that there was a silent and concealed agreement between the two parties over the profits to be shared, and more so not all of it would be about water gate scandal, rather part of it would include a glimpse and insight into his achievements, his role as the president, his aims and objectives, how well he managed the foreign policy in the backdrop of recently concluded Vietnam war which in the history of American politicians goes as a blemish since a minnow of a state gave such a giant power such a heavy rumble. As it happened: For first two and a half years there was a total lull in the activities and people might well have thought that they heard last from their previous and disgraced President, however he had other ideas and he decided to break his silence in form of series of interviews in the name of Frost Nixon interviews. Since then it has been a focus of attention for people of media, students all over the world, the media students study this, even cases of similar leaks in political domain in other countries are named as memo gate leaks and memo gate tales. Eventually the president had to give up on his defiance and had to succumb to the Supreme Court’s order of releasing the tapes. All the president’s men: This movie and novel was another attempt at digging out the facts that might not have come to forth as yet by the two local journalists from the American journalism field. Two reporters named Woodward and Bernstein took up the task of exploring the possible dimensions that might not have been explored as yet. Summary: An event that begin with a mere set of tapes eventually subsided but not before subsiding the most important pillar and that in form of the People’s elected President. What started off as a mere speculation by the security guard was something that would become a Hydra in longer run and would not extinguish until it took along with it the high ups of the day. Never in the history of American politics had anything as this grim and this dim come to forth before and once it came to forth it opened a Pandora box and it left a deep impact on overall political scene and led to the rolling up of the entire crew of the Richard Nixon government. The impact was a severe one, people’s faith had been washed away, no blind trust could be practiced after this and unwontedly it became a legacy in its own for all the negative and unwanted reasons and now anything of similar sort that takes place is termed as memo scandal. References: Lemann, Nicholas," Globe, Post Cancel “Doonesbury” Strip. “2013. Web. 11 Apr 2013. , Unknown.”Herblock’s History Political Cartoons from Crash to the Millenium.”2013.Web.11 Apr 2013. Read More