Before Watergate
President Nixon was elected in 1968 on a promise that he would end the Vietnam War. In 1971, about 3 years after his election, some important documents of the Defense Department, regarding the involvement of America in the Vietnam War, were leaked to the public press. The documents were leaked by a Defense Department official named, Dr. Daniel Ellsburg. The documents were called the "Pentagon Papers". President Nixon fought against publication and the case was tried and lost in the Supreme Court, eventually the "Pentagon Papers" were published. These events led to the formation of the "White House Plumbers", officially known as the White House Special Investigations Unit. This group monitored the activities and lives of Nixon's political enemies. Weeks before the Watergate Scandal blew up in the nation, Richard M. Nixon was sworn in for his second term on January 20, 1973.
During Watergate
Many things were happening in the United States around the time of the Scandal, that left the U.S. government weakened and vulnerable. The Vietnam War, not only affected the United States as a nation, but also greatly influenced the occurrence of the Watergate Scandal. The war was an indirect reason for the creation of the "White House Plumbers", who orchestrated the first attempt of Watergate. Other factors that affected the nation during this time were the strengthening of the civil rights movements and anti-war protests. Also, the Watergate Scandal occurred during the 1972 election campaign; this fact led many to believe that the break-in was an attempt to discover things that would assist the President in winning the election.