Perhaps the biggest question of all is the motivation behind President Nixon’s 1974 resignation (via CNN). As evidence of the Watergate scandal made national headlines thanks to hard and fast reporting from Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, distrust of the national government grew (via The Guardian).
With the help of an anonymous government source, code named “Deep Throat” and later revealed to be FBI informant William Mark Felt, the president’s involvement in the Watergate scandal was brought to light. With this, other aspects of political corruption, like the existence of the Huston Plan, also drew national attention. If things had continued this way, the American people would have been well within their right to keep probing for more information, perhaps uncovering even more unscrupulous corruption along the way. Nixon’s resignation nixed that possibility, leaving behind a wealth of unanswered questions, unreleased footage, and sealed documentation. Coincidences this convenient are almost always met with a level of justified skepticism.
