watergate scandal

[lesliecruz20]

watergate left a legacy of distrust and suspicion toward government on the part of the american people.

[football21]

Richard Nixon was particularly distrustful & a suspicious character.

[vehelpfulguy]

>watergate left a legacy of distrust and suspicion toward government on the part of the american people.

True

[dundurn]

lesliecruz20 - is this a question or a statement? I think there was always a tendency among Democrats to distrust Republican administrations and vice versa. Historically Republicans have tended to adopt a "small government" position which meant that they viewed any form of Government as a necessary evil rather than as a good thing in itself. The more general disenchantment with politics, politicians and government on both sides of the political divide started in the 60s, long before Watergate. The civil rights movement, race riots, Viet Nam all made various sections of the community 'anti-government' independent of CREEP and Tricky Dickie's Dirty Tricks Dept. For a lot of Americans, Nixon's crime is still seen as getting caught (and thereby tarnishing the office of President, not just for himself but for his successors) rather than what he did or didn't do, or knew or ordered. It was also an example of modern newsgathering and dissemination - real trial by television and newsprint day after day.

football21 - do you mean Richard Nixon was someone who deserved our suspicion and distrust (which would seem to be borne out by events) or someone who was suspicious and distrustful of others (which I think is also true!)?

[jno]

er, yes, it did. As dundurn says, there was already a growing anti-authority streak among young Americans particularly, but Watergate left older Americans disillusioned too. It also greatly deepened the divide between Republicans and Democrats.