Who Is President Nixon's Power To Executive Privacy?

Thanks to his previous domestic policies and foreign policy successes, Richard Nixon won a landslide victory in the presidential election 1972. Viewing difference of opinion and critic as a threat to national security, Nixon “developed an ‘enemies list’ that included reporters, politicians, and celebrities unfriendly to the administration.” (1) In June 1972, five men, who were later proved to be former employees of Nixon’s reelection committee, were caught for breaking into Democratic party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C. Initially promoted by the media, political investigations of the Watergate began in 1973 as a Committee was established by the Senate. While it’s uncertain whether or not Nixon knew about

The supreme court had ordered Nixon to release more tapes only further incriminating him.

“The accumulation of all powers..in the same hands, whether of one or many (is) the very definition of tyranny.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47, 1788) ( Background Essay) This quote explains the reasoning for one of the framers, (B) Separation of Powers. The framers of the constitution were created to prevent tyranny and create a stronger government that would hold the nation together. Tyranny ultimately means harsh, absolute power in the hands of one individual-- like a king or dictator. The constitution guarded against tyranny in 4 ways: (A)Federalism, (B)Separation of Powers, (C)Checks & Balances, and (D)Small State-Large State.

Although it is debateable whether or not Nixon knew of the break-ins, he did behave very suspiciously. He became very secretive, resentful, and defensive towards his critics, even going so far as to make

1. The Watergate Scandal in 1972 revealed many ethical dilemmas in President Richard Nixon and his administration. President Nixon proves to be a teleological egoist as he determines what is right is what will benefit himself the most. Additionally, he has a subjective theory of the good because what is good is determined by how he feels about it. When deciding to break in to the Democratic National Headquarters, both Nixon and the five agents of the Committee to Reelect the President lacked prudence because they did not act wisely.

United States v. Nixon and Clinton v. Jones should have had the same outcome from the Supreme Court. Both, former President 's violated the law and wanted to use presidential privileges to dismiss their cases. In the United States v. Nixon, the Court had the right to order the President to relinquish the tapes to Congress to use as evidence for the trial against the seven members held accountable. Those accused were owed a duty by the Court to be given a fair and speedy trial. In the Clinton v. Jones case, the Court should have not granted the former President Clinton immunity because the general public needs to realize that not even the President can violate the law and get away with it.

The US Constitution allows the President the ability to use executive privilege. Example: President George Washington used executive privilege to prevent Congress to receiving paperwork from the U.S. Army loss to the American Indians at the Battle of Wabash. To withhold information, is the President’s absolute power to preserve national security interests.

When a president is put on trial for anything, it will be seen by the Senate and no lower court. The senate demands tape recordings for evidence and with Nixon's stubbornness and longing procrastination the senate must resort to a subpoena. Nixon in retaliation then

The use of these powers determine if the president is going beyond the limits of the office. Many argue that the president has abused these powers with the use of the Unitary Executive Theory, which states that the Constitution puts the president in charge of executing the laws, and that nobody can limit the president’s power when it comes to executive powers. It therefore tips authority from Congress to the presidency, upsetting the power of checks and balances.

In this situation, the executive privilege merely served as the amulet of the president to cover up his personal interest toward reelection, moreover, the investigation has been disrupted many times during the process and led to protest from many justice officials toward Nixon. It is clear that without supervision and regulation, the executive privilege did not serve its true purpose to protect the country and became a super untouchable protection for the president. Although after the protest, Nixon turned over some of the tapes rather than all of them, but the issue on properly use of executive privilege remains the

I agree with your post because I do think that our founding father would not agree on the expansion of powers of the president. The three branches of our government was created by our founding father in order to balance out the power of the president, so that neither one branch can have too much power over the nation. When they crafted this idea they had seen other country where there is only one prime minister (North Korea and Russia for example) that overseen every action of a nation which the power was too powerful and decision making can be challenging for the citizens when they cannot vote on new law and regulation.

The 1966 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was drafted in response to demands from leaders in the press and key individuals within Congress for greater access to government information in order to strengthen accountability in its personnel practices, domestic and foreign intelligence gathering efforts, foreign policy decisions, and other activities. The FOIA serves as a mechanism for the public?s right to know which in effect threatens the government?s right to protect state secrets and other privileged information. As a result, the process of implementing, interpreting, and applying the FOIA over time has been shaped by these competing interests. This article begins with a brief history of the origins of the act, followed by a description

In recent years there has been debate on whether or not the president has too much power. The president 's power has increased over the years, I believe that this increase has given the president way too much power. The amount of power that the president has, can cause total destruction and can manipulate people into doing things that they do not actually believe in. A president should not have some of the powers that he possess, but they are given to him simply because he is the leader of the country. In my opinion the president should be allowed certain powers in order to run the country properly, he is also the leader of the country which grants him the right to have certain powers according to the constitution.

He had amassed a collection of government fills, tape records, and intelligence on the common people in the Watergate building. After it was broken into, files were stolen and released to the public. It was the first real time that the general public learned just how paranoid Nixon was, but also how much he wanted to keep the power he already had. As these precious documents surfaced, one could see in full light that Nixon exhibited all the symptoms of Paranoid Personality Disorder. He was always distrustful of people, he recorded every encounter he had, so that one could twist his words against him.

But how much power does he actually have? The president has a number of specific powers. He can issue executive orders and he can extend pardons for federal crimes. He has the power to sign legislation into law, or veto bills enacted by Congress.