The Watergate hotel is where public knowledge of White House abuses of power started.
A history project on the Watergate scandal allows for a number of different options when it comes to possible perspectives. The players involved in this political disgrace that resulted in the only resignation of a U.S. President range from that figure, to the investigative reporters who cracked the case wide open, to a low-paid night security guard who started the unraveling process for the administration of President Richard M. Nixon. Project media options include shooting a video documentary, writing a paper, board exhibits and doing a performance.
Board Exhibit: Timeline
A common type of history project is the three-sided exhibition board. This medium is well-suited to a project that presents a timeline of the Watergate scandal. Other options are available for a timeline project as well. You could create one that follows the scandal in direct chronological order from the election of Pres. Nixon in 1968 to his resignation in 1974. Another way to create a timeline exhibit would be to follow the thread of discovery that shows when aspects of the scandal were revealed rather than placing those revelations according to when they happened.
Performance: Woodward and Bernstein
The investigative reporting of Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward was instrumental in transforming what looked like an amateur break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters into an expansive scandal that nearly brought the nation to a standstill. A project examining Watergate from this perspective is a good idea for a performance. Two students could take the parts of Woodward and Bernstein and write a short play that shows how important Freedom of the Press really is in keeping America safe from the excesses and abuses of its elected political leaders.
Paper: Comparing White House Scandals
A project for a paper that provides more than enough material is to compare the Watergate scandal to other Presidential scandals. Prior to Watergate, the most infamous White House scandal was the Teapot Dome affair that took place under President Warren G. Harding in the 1920s. You could also go forward in time by comparing the abuse of Executive Privilege under the Nixon administration to the abuse of Executive Privilege under the George W. Bush administration in the early 2000s.
Documentary: Frank Wills
A Watergate project that focuses on the importance of the average American could be put in the form of a video documentary. Frank Wills was a security guard working the night shift at the Watergate hotel in 1972. His discovery of evidence of what appeared to be a burglary and subsequent call to the police was so instrumental in making the original crimes and resulting cover-up public that they may never have been uncovered without him. A documentary on this subject should focus on the specific character of Wills and then expand outward to show how vital the role of the average man is to the process of keeping governments in check. Another effective addition to the documentary would be to interview people who were alive during the time that the scandal was going on and see how many of them can identify the name of Frank Wills and his importance to the story.
Tags: Frank Wills, Watergate scandal, White House, abuse Executive, abuse Executive Privilege, Executive Privilege
