Watergate Political scandals are not strangers to the UnitedStates. They date back as far as 1830, with the presidentialsex scandal and Thomas Jefferson, and in 1875 with theWhiskey Ring and President Ulysses S. Grant (Time andAgain 1). Today we have the Iran-Contra affair with RonaldReagan and Whitewater with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Evenwith these, it can be argued that Watergate could possibly bethe worst scandal in the history of the United States.

RichardMilihous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States,and the only President to ever resign his office. He was bornthe second of five sons, in Yorba Linda, California. Hisparents were Francis Anthony and Hannah Milhous Nixon.His career started in 1945 when he accepted the candidacyfor a seat in the 12th congressional district which he won. Hewas elected to United States Congress in 1946, he thenentered into the Senate as the youngest member ever in1951. Only a short two years later he became the secondyoungest vice-president in history at the age of thirty nine. Heserved two terms as vice President under President Dwight D.

Eisenhower. In 1969 he won his bid for thePresidency(Kinsella 3). The Iran-contra affair was more of aU.S. foreign policy affair. This scandal came about inNovember of 1986 when President Ronald Reagan admittedto the selling of arms to Iran. The overall goal was to improverelations with Iran, but it soon came to light that it was more ofa trade of arms for hostages deal.

Later it was found thatsome of the profits from the sale of the arms to Iran went tothe Nicaraguan "contra" rebels. On Dec.24, 1992, PresidentGeorge Bush pardoned all the people involved with thescandal and no charges were filed against Ronald Reagan(Iran-contra 1).

The latest of all scandals is the Whitewateraffair. The Whitewater affair is an ongoing investigation into abad Arkansas real-estate adventure in the late 1970, and itsconnection with the now defunct Arkansas savings and loancompany, and with President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.The Whitewater development company started in 1979 andhad the investors Bill Clinton, the Governor of Arkansas, hiswife Hillary Rodham Clinton, a attorney for the Rose law firm,James B. McDougal the owner of the Madison Guaranty.