Watergate Scandal Lesson Plans
Through learning about the Watergate scandal students can find out how this incident changed how Americans viewed the presidency.
By Debra Karr
On June 17, 1972, five men connected to then President Richard Nixon, broke into the Watergate offices in an attempt to get President Nixon re-elected. Members of the Nixon Administration denied breaking and entering into offices in the Watergate building, although further investigation found tapes that would later incriminate Richard Nixon.
As the Senate investigated President Nixon, they found that he had tried to conceal and cover up the deceitful, illegal acts. Along with his staff, Nixon faced the potential of severe legal ramifications, a Senate conviction, and possible impeachment. To avoid all of those unpleasant, and damaging consequences, Nixon chose to resign on August 9, 1974, making the Watergate scandal something that Nixon would be remembered for.
After the 1970's, several other American governmental scandals took the limelight, including the Iran-Contra affair, and President Clinton's debacle, but Watergate was one of the first to gain such public exposure, consequently tarnishing the reputation of then President Nixon. The next series of lessons will help students understand this historic event more clearly, and will help students to formulate ways to express their opinions and views through written research reports, reflections and essays.
Watergate Scandal of the 1970's
In this lesson students review a video about Richard Nixon, answer questions pertaining to his antics, and then create a descriptive and persuasive essay that details his presidency, his personality and his politics. This lesson reinforces student learning in that it requires students to examine the history of this president and then write about it. Because the history and politics surrounding Richard Nixon are complex, it is important to review students' background knowledge so that they get a better understanding of how this administration has affected politics as we know it today.
Students read a New York Times article and express their views about how ethics in journalism should be handled. As students participate in Internet research that investigates what happened during the Watergate scandal, they develop opinions backed by sound facts, and familiarize themselves with the key players who participated in this widely known incident that took place during the Nixon administration. Please make sure that students are familiar with various terms and vocabulary that is used throughout this lesson. A vocabulary overview may be useful to make certain that no student falls in between the cracks prior to embarking upon the lesson.
"Scandal" is key in this lesson about political controversy in contemporary America. Students use the Internet to explore "Watergate", and "Iran-Contra" (to name two). After in-depth research, through venn diagrams and column divisions, students develop research backed ideas that will fuel their culminating compare/contrast essay that will illustrate how two American scandals are alike and similar. With any political science/history oriented lesson, it is imperative to make sure that students have background knowledge about the structure of government and how it is set up. Without this knowledge, students will not understand the impact of various scandals that have occurred. Activating prior knowledge is essential to a smooth lesson.