Watergate showed more strengths in our system than weaknesses... The whole country did take part in quite a genuine sense in passing judgment on Richard Nixon.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I contend that, in spite of all that might be said about Watergate, Richard Nixon was good for the poor people of America.
Nixon had been to China. He had been to Russia doing arms negotiation. And so, he was on his way toward what happened in November, which was an electoral win with 49 states. And the sheer unnecessariness of the Watergate break-in is something that must have tormented him and his allies in all of the years that followed.
The great thing about Watergate is, is that the system worked. The American system worked. The press did its job. We did what we were supposed to do.
I believe Watergate shows that the system did work. Particularly the Judiciary and the Congress, and ultimately an independent prosecutor working in the Executive Branch.
Indeed, it was largely the clubbiness of the Washington village press corps that let Nixon get away with Watergate and still win his landslide in 1972.
The institution of the presidency was profoundly affected by Watergate.
It would seem that the Watergate story from beginning to end could be used as a primer on the American political system.
The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied. That he was a criminal.
I can see clearly now... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate.
I believe that President Nixon was right in what he did at Watergate. Lack of respect for authority and things like socialism are turning this into a weak, effeminate country.