Whatever the deficiencies of the American system of government—and there are many—it seemed to work well enough in the case of Richard Nixon. The Watergate scandal had uncovered widespread abuse of power and criminal acts at the highest level of the executive. Despite desperate attempts by Nixon and his acolytes to put a lid on the affair, the sordid secrets of his attempts to subvert the law came to light, exposing the president as a criminal.
Despite widespread media coverage of the Watergate scandal, it was the political system rather than the media that eventually forced Nixon from office. If the relevant checks and balances had not been in place it's likely that he would've tried to tough it out, hoping for the storm to blow over. That Nixon was unable to do that is because the American governmental system had the provisions in place to force him out of office.
Nixon only resigned because he knew that Congress would vote to impeach him and have him removed from office. Such a...
(The entire section contains 7 answers and 826 words.)
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