The Reagan Administration Had On America And Government

In The Wars of Watergate Stanley Kutler accurately â€Å"described Watergate as ‘the nations most sustained political conflict and severest constitutional crisis since the Great Depression’† (Qtd. in Hillstrom, 2004, p.75). But that incident was just the key that unlocked a worm hole of unlawful activities that Richard Nixon’s administration was involved in. Some claim that the system established by the founders more than two hundred years ago was unequipped to handle the demands of the 20th century (Mosher, 1974, p.16), which may explain it all. When one administration can monopolize power, control other governmental agencies, and commit as much illegal atrocities as Nixon’s did, people start to question the overall design in the system and†¦show more content†¦In the wake of the Watergate scandal, however, that dynamic changed completely. Bob Woodward’s and Carl Berstein’s single-minded pursuit of the real perpetrators of Wat ergate seemingly unlocked a new, aggressive form of journalism, investigative journalism, which completely change the way media interacted with the government (Streissguth, 2006, p.51). In Media Bias, Tom Streissguth (2006) explains that â€Å"before the turn of the twentieth century, political leaders were largely immune from personal attacks† and that â€Å"...their private lives and professional crimes held little interest for newspapers editors† (p. 47). One major revelation that the scandal introduced was how interested the public was in politicians’ transgressions. Shortly after Watergate, Congressmen Wilber Mill was involved in a drunken driving accident and after being torn apart by the media, he had to resign. But no politician got the full brunt of private-life attacks as President Bill Clinton, who narrowly escaped being trialed on â€Å"perjury and obstruction of justice† (Streissguth, 2006, p.53). Because of the Nixon administration, uncovering corrupted lives of officials has become paramount, even when it has little to do with the political agenda. In Watergate and the Resignation of Richard Nixon, Palermo (2006) explains that â€Å"journalist pounce on any scandal no matter