The four men involved fired their attorney and changed their pleas to "guilty." (Bernstein and Woodward, p.233). The judge clearly did not believe that they had not been bribed or that they did not know the source of the money they received. (Bernstein and Woodward, p. 233-235).
Even though there is still a considerable amount of mystery regarding Watergate and the surrounding events, what is certain is the impact that the Watergate scandal had on the face of American politics. All presidencies following Nixon's have been tainted by the lingering impact of Watergate. The direct result of Nixon's actions was that "presidents not only would be subject to doubt and second guessing, they would be suspected of outright criminality. Nixon's tapes of his office and telephone conversations left an irrefutable historical record that the president abused government power for political purposes, obstructed justice, and ordered his aides to do so as well." (Woodward, p.i). In fact, the presidents who followed him may not have understood the depth of the American distrust towards the presidency and politicians, which resulted from the Watergate scandal.
Ford's appearance of unethical behavior began while he was still Vice-President and actually played a role in the perception of dishonesty and unethical behavior surrounding Watergate. One of Nixon's men, Alexander Haig, spoke to Ford about Nixon's options for resignation and pardon. Haig explicitly suggested that Nixon would step down and give Ford the presidency in return for Ford's agreement to pardon him. (Woodward, p.7).
Ford's advisor Robert Hartmann was horrified that Ford even engaged in such a conversation, much less that Ford seemed to be considering pardoning Nixon. (Woodward, p. 8). Hartmann believed that Ford's presidency would be tainted by the mere suggestion that Nixon's resignation was motivated by a promise of a pardon from Ford. (Woodward, p. 8). Of course, Hartmann was correct. While public opinion of Ford's pardon of Nixon has changed somewhat, the fact is that the pardon cost him almost all of his political credibility during his presidency. It certainly cost him his re-election as president. This taint was there despite that fact that it does not appear that Ford ever agreed to pardon Nixon if he resigned, and that his decision to pardon Nixon was not otherwise improperly motivated.
Of course, Ford's presidency was only the first one to suffer the taint of Nixon's exposed illegal dealing. Jimmy Carter, a man renowned for his ethical beliefs, also felt the impact of Watergate. In fact, when Carter began campaigning in 1975, he was an unknown entity for much of the country, so much so that not a single person came to his first official meet and greet. (Woodward, p. 41). Carter began test-marketing campaign concepts. The one that resounded with the American people was his promise of honesty. In fact, Carter's campaign was built on him being the anti-Nixon, a non-lawyer, not a D.C. insider, and he vowed to remain close to the people. (Woodward, p.42). His campaign was not built solely on the scandal of Watergate, but on all political scandals, and he vowed to reveal government corruption when he was the President. When the first big scandal of his presidency hit, Carter had a conversation with Bob Woodward and the editor of the Washington Post, and, though he asked them for notice of when they would publish the story, did not ask them not to publish the story. (Woodward, p. 46-48). However, when they did publish the story, Carter tried to make them seem irresponsible for having done so, going so far as to suggest that they threatened the prospect of peace in the Middle East by doing so. (Woodward, p. 50).
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