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Joe DeArmitt

Speech 1 Outline

Introduction

Everyone has heard of the Watergate Scandal and that President Nixon was involved. But does everybody actually know what happed June 17th 1972?

Thesis: "Watergate" is a general term used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974; this was a time of scandal in the White House and I would like to cover what happened, President Nixon’s reactions, and the public’s reaction. All of these actions led to a lot of different outcomes buy my focus is the third speech.

Credibility: In my history 21 class this fall I wrote my midterm paper on Watergate and the three points I have previously stated.

Preview: The word refers to the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. In addition to the hotel, the Watergate complex houses many business offices. It was here that the office of the Democratic National Committee was broken in on June 17th, 1972 (Watergate.info).

The burglary and subsequent cover-up eventually led to moves to impeach President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned the presidency on August 8th 1974, before his trial (Watergate.info).

Transition: President Nixon delivered 3 speeches relating to the Watergate Scandal, the speech I am going to focus on is the April 29th, 1974 speech when he released partial transcripts of the White House tapes.

1. Events of Watergate

A. Watergate is not only a term used to describe the events of June 17th, 1972 but it is also Washington's finest hotels. This is the place that the Watergate Burglars broke into the Democratic Party's National Committee offices on June 17, 1972 (Watergate.info).

B. "Watergate" refers to a series of events, occurring over the course of two years that began with the Nixon administration's abuse. The ultimate goal was to stop political opposition in the public anti-war movement and the Democratic Party. A White House Special Investigations Unit was established, known as the "Plumbers". This secret group investigated the private lives of Nixon's critics and political enemies and burgled the office in an attempt to discover damaging information. A security guard caught the five burglars breaking into the Democratic Party Headquarters. Some of the burglars had ties to people in the Nixon administration, and President Nixon tried to cover up this link to his administration. The resulting cover-up became known as 'Watergate'. The congressional investigations uncovered many illegal activities by people very close to the president. Due to the mounting scandal and the president's loss of political support, and the evidence of the president involved in the cover-up, Nixon gave a few speeches trying to prove his innocence, but eventually chose to resign the presidency rather than face impeachment.

2. Nixon’s Reaction

A. At first the information was confined within the FBI and the CIA, and there wasn’t enough evidence to directly link Nixon to the scandal, but it was the Washington Post who got the information into the public eye. And they received the information from an FBI agent who leaked the information out.

B. Nixon and his party tried to convince the public of their innocence despite overwhelming evidence that linked himself and the party members to the events of Watergate.

C. Nixon made three major speeches on the Watergate scandal during 1973 and 1974. The first was on April 30, 1974; a more defiant speech was delivered on August 15, 1973. But the most difficult speech was the one on April 29, 1974, in which Nixon released partial transcripts of the White House tapes (Watergate.info). These tapes directly linked Nixon to the events of Watergate.

D. Nixon was sentenced to be impeached but resigned before the trial.

a. Impeachment- to be charged with a crime or misdemeanor, not to be kicked out of office.

3. The White House reaction

A. Fueled mounting suspicions of both parties toward one another.

B. Caused uprisings, Nixon supposedly had a “hate” list.

4. Exigence

A. These main points cause Nixon to give a series of speeches to try to cover up The Watergate Scandal and prove his innocence.

5. Constraints

A. There were many constraints involved in this speech. All of the White house tapes weren’t released; the entire scandal was a cover up of the events that actually happened so the entire time Nixon was withholding information. He still wanted to look good in the eyes of the public.

6. Audience

A. The audience was the entire U.S. government, and anyone who was interested in the public.

7. Conclusion

A. The burglary and subsequent cover-up eventually led to moves to impeach President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned the presidency on 8 August 1974 (Watergate.info).

B. “Watergate" is a general term used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974; this was a time of scandal in the White House and I would like to cover what happened, President Nixon’s reactions, and the public’s reaction. All of these actions led to a lot of different outcomes buy my focus is the third speech.

C. Basically Nixon was afraid he wasn’t doing a great job at the presidency and was trying to find a way to get the upper hand on his opponent. He was trying to insure his victory as president.

D. Most of all, "Watergate" is synonymous with abuse of power (Watergate.info).

Bibliography

Watergate Scandal. 15 Mar. 1997. 3 Feb. 2008 <http://watergate.info/>.

"Impeach." Mirriam-Webster. 2007. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://www.webster.com/dictionary/Impeachment>.

Kornblunt, Anne E. "The White House Is Still Recovering From Watergate." The New York Times 5 June 1974. 5 Feb. 2008 <https://cms.psu.edu/section/default.asp?id=200708SPUP+++RCAS++100C001>.

Feedback

Hey Joe. You said umm a lot, but everytime I've ever done a speech I get crap for doing the same thing, so no biggie. With all the facts and dates you spewed out I was convinced that you thoroughly knew your stuff. Nice.- Nate Scarbrough

Quan,Zou: First you made a clear and nice speech. By hearing it, we all know throughly about what was going on with the scandle. Political topic for a speech is not that easy but you did it well. What you need to pay a little attention for next speech is trying not "pause" too much by saying words like hmm. Overall, good job!

Joe Belack: Your credibility was very good. You used a lot of filler words like "um" and "uh". Overall not too shabby.

Maria Martin: You really made your speech interesting with all the info you presented to us, and it really sounded like you knew what you were talking about with it. It was also nice how you explained certain terms like 'impeachment' that some people might get confused about. You might want to work on using less fillers, but that just comes with practice. Good job on your speech.

Scot Brown: I noticed some repetition throughout, and your voice could use some varying inflection (it was a kinda monotone). Also the conclusion needed more power. You said that Nixon gave other speeches around this time, but did not address what they were about. Some info about them would be useful for us to place this speech in the right context.