"All The President's Men" Questions

Exercise #1:

Carl Bernstein: Washington Post reported assigned to investigate the Watergate scandal
Ben Bradlee: the executive editor for the Washington Post
Patrick Buchanan: Nixon's senior advisor
Archibald Cox: first Watergate special prosecutor
H.R. “Bob” Haldeman: White House Chief of Staff to President Nixon
E. Howard Hunt: President's special investigation unit
Leon Jaworski:  second Watergate special prosecutor
G. Gordon Liddy: organized and directed the burglary of the Democratic National Commitee Headquarters
James McCord: former CIA officer charged with burglary during the Watergate scandal
Bob Woodward: original, young reporter working on the Watergate scandal



Exercise #2:

Background:
1. The date is June 17, 1972.
2. Five men are about to be caught breaking into the Washington DC offices of the Democratic National Committee located in the Watergate building.
3. Their purpose for the break in: to plant bugs in various offices
4. A Republican, Richard Nixon, is president. He was first elected in 1968, and is running for a second term. He wins.
5. Thanks largely to the work of two reporters from the Washington Post newspaper, Nixon's administration is found to be guilty of:
a) unethical and illegal campaign activities
b) the misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars of unaccounted for campaign donations, and
c) a political espionage campaign headed by the Committee to Re-elect the President, and involving the White House, campaign officials, and Justice department.
6. By the time it's all over in the summer of 1974, many White House officials and others are charged and convicted of felonies, and do serious jail time, and faced with impeachment, President Nixon resigns.

Vocabulary:
1. bugging: covert listening device
2. Canuck letter: was a forged letter to the editor of the Manchester Union Leader, published February 24, 1972, two weeks before the New Hampshire primary of the 1972 United States presidential election.
3. Committee to Re-Elect the President: a fundraising organization for President Nixon's administration.
4. cover up: an attempt to prevent people's discovering the truth about a serious mistake or crime
5. covert operations: an operation that is so planned and executed that as to conceal the identity of or permit plausible denial by the sponsor
6. deep background: the status of an interview which must not be quoted in a publication, even without attribution
7. General Accounting Office: the arm of Congress that investigates how the government spends tax dollars
8. on the record: used in reference to making of an official or public statement
9. set up: a scheme intended to deceive someone
10. slush fund: a reserve of money used for illicit purposes
11. verbatim notes: using the exact same words

Essay:
1. He means by that statement that the freedom of the press might be at stake if it our harms the future of our country. However, it could be beneficial if in the end our country ends up not being harmed.
2. It is important to "follow the money" because there were so many media driven myths that they had to follow what they knew was correct.