During the course Watergate scandal, the American people watched televised investigations by Congress into a series of misconducts and cover-ups committed by President Richard Nixon and his administration’s close advisors. The investigation outcome by Congress found out they spied on and harassed political rivals, solicited and accepted campaign contributions threat were illegal, and committed a cover-up of their misdeeds.
In 1974, President Nixon resigned to shield himself from the probable impeachment by Congress. His aides in the White House, leaders of the Republican Party, and former cabinet members were disgraced, indicted, and some were sentenced to short term imprisonment. This paper review the literature related to how the Watergate Scandal changed the world in terms of its influences on human rights violations (Jenkins, 48).
How did the Watergate Scandal Influence Policy on World Human Rights?
The Watergate Scandal investigations expanded the influence of American in both domestic and foreign affairs influence. Through these hearings, Congress had demonstrated its strength in the domestic arena. Consequently, it extended its challenge to the administration in the international arena as well. The Watergate Scandal hearing’s success enabled Congress to extend its influence over world affairs.
For instance, at the end of the hearings, Congress redoubled its challenge to the administration in the global arena. In August 1973, Congress set motion quietly as the Subcommittee of the House on International Organizations and Movements commenced four months of hearings on the protection of human rights internationally. The purposes of the hearings were to strengthen the United Nations machinery capability for the protection of human rights, and through legislation, to prioritize human rights in the United States foreign policy.
The Subcommittee had hearings on the US and UN responses to specific human rights violations in a number of countries, as well as on the themes of human rights on armed conflicts, human rights and racial discrimination, human rights and the status of women, human rights and the inter-American system, the role of non-governmental organizations in the international protection of human rights in U.S. policy decision making (Cassese, 111).
The human rights advocates who consisted of a broad assortment of individuals and groups were provided a forum by the Congressional hearings. They included; international lawyers, delegates from the U.S to international organizations, international and national human rights agencies representatives, women’s organizations, religious groups, labor organizations, and legislators from other nations.
The deliberations provided a strong indication of the need for more united actions in regard to human rights issues that had badly deteriorated to which no country or organization had adequately responded to. Human rights abuses at the time included; the persecution of Jews by the Soviets, mass murder of peasants in Bangladesh, denial of civil liberties in Northern Ireland, issues of torture and abuses in Chile and Brazil, apartheid in South Africa, and others (Cassese, 112).
The content of the hearings enabled the Congress subcommittee to publish a far-reaching report: “Human Rights in the World Community: A call for US Leadership”. The report cited gross abuse of human rights in the world that required decisive action from both the United States and the world community. In the report’s recommendations, United States was urged to offer greater support to the United Nations and other international agencies.
It was also urged to ratify the United Nations human rights covenants which had been long ignored. Other recommendations were about special requests to the State Department to strengthen its own organization in the human rights department by creating an office of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and posting human rights officials to the Department’s regional bureaus (Cassese, 112).
The events that were happening in other parts of the world provided the human rights hearings a huge impact and gave the US congress an impetus to take action. For instance, before the second session of the Congress Committee on September 11, 1973, there was a violent coup that overthrew the elected socialist government of Chile. The Chilean President, Salvador Allende was murdered by the generals who seized power, who went ahead and arrested thousands of Chilean officials and citizens suspected to sympathize with the left. This coup in Chile raised public interest in human rights issues, which put the United States government on the defensive.
The ruling military junta brutality was widely documented and publicized throughout the world. Demonstrations were conducted worldwide in a dozen countries in opposition to the Chilean generals and the United States as well. The then US president Richard Nixon and his security advisor Henry Kissinger had advocated and worked towards the destruction of the Chilean government. Gradually in 1974, the American public came to learn the extent to which the US had directly been involved in ousting the Allende government. Hence, the public felt the US also bore a measure of responsibility for the repression that followed in its wake (Cassese, 113).
The US House of Representatives and Senate attempted to extract details about the involvement, as well as what was happening in Chile and how the US official was dealing with the situation. Hearings on Chile were conducted in the Judiciary Subcommittee on Refugees and escapees. The committee urged the US to work nationally and internationally to assist in the resettlement of Chilean refugees. Jack Kubisch, the spokesman for the state department in both houses of Congress, and Harry Shlaudenman were accused of intentionally withholding about and understating the extent of, the human rights violations after the coup.
The state department was also accused of neither offering protection for North American citizens in Chile nor opening the doors of the US embassy for political asylum as did most Latin American and European embassies. The committee also questioned the officials on the generally suddenly generous offers of the US economic and military aid to the junta, and yet the junta had documented brutality. They were also expected to explain the former U.S. aid and credit blockade against the Allende government. Lastly, the two officials were questioned about the clandestine involvement in Chilean politics by the state department and the CIA (Cassese, 114).
During the hearings, there was a demonstration to those involved that the conduct of foreign policy could not easily be made responsive by Congressional direction. The members of Congress were unable to monitor the U.S. diplomatic relations and at the same time, the state department was not informing the relevant Congressional committees on their actions. Therefore, Congress through legislation affecting the budgetary process opted to directly influence foreign policy.
The Congressional subcommittee continued to hold hearings before President Carter took over in 1977. They held hearings on human rights problems in countries such as; Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Timor, India, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, the Middle, Iran, Syria, Africa, and the Soviet Union. It also conducted hearings on human rights and the United Nations and the organization of American States (Cassese, 116).
How did Watergate Scandal Influence World democratic Governance?
The Watergate Scandal changed the face of world democracy. The constitutional crisis of Watergate made many nations of the world envy the extraordinary rebound of the US from the agony. The US emerged from this crisis with its democratic institutions flourishing, expanding economy, vigorous public debates, an intact sense of national pride. Many nations around the world were heartened by this because they knew how important and confident American leadership was.
Transparency in government is an essential characteristic of good governance. Watergate scandal expose made American and world citizens more informed and meaningfully play an important role in dialoguing with their governments. The influence of the Watergate scandal has been effective in the international movement against corruption. The globe has witnessed mass mobilizations in many countries of the world, for instance, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Brazil, China, Venezuela, and others showing people around the world were not ready to tolerate corrupt leaders. Governments were no longer in denial and were openly expected to openly address corruption openly and systematically in open programs.
However, the fiasco did not immediately send a message to countries of the world about the strength of American democracy. Instead, it continued a pattern of slide in the perceived strength and trustworthiness of America (Bilhartz, 225).
In summary, from 1973 to 1976 Congress enacted laws on human rights to force the administration to modify its policies towards specific countries and to conduct its diplomacy in a generally open manner with more humanitarian intend. In doing this, Congress aggressively asserted its own authority in the foreign policy realm. This influenced and improved human rights protection among nations of the world. Additionally, Watergate was a turning point in the world politics of scandals.
The scandal reflected symptomatic abuses of power by leaders in many nations of the world. The scandal marked a major success for the crusaders seeking to make the leaders accountable to higher ethical standards. The activities of President Nixon provided the world ample evidence for the need for stronger laws for enforcing ethical behavior among public leaders.
Works Cited
Bilhartz, Eliot. Currents in American History. New York: M. E Sharp, 2007.
Cassese, A. Parliamentary Control Over Foreign Policy. Amsterdam: Brill, 1980.
Jenkins, P. Decade of Nightmares. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.