All the President’s Men: The Uncovering of Political Corruption in Our Society
The movie I chose to write my paper on might be viewed as an easy topic, but while it might be obvious to some I chose the classic “All The President’s Men” because of it’s social importance and the impact the very topic had on society as we know today.
“All The President’s Men” encapsulates several social problems that under we learned during the first week of class. The movie itself details the struggles of Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward in uncovering the truth behind the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters. Their reporting reporting on the subject eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and a new respect for journalism in society.
The Watergate issue definetly meets the criteria of a social problem. First of all the act alone of one political party, such as the Republicans, breaking into the offices of the opposition is something that just in concept alone should be viewed as harmful to society. The idea of politicians approving the breaking of laws to further their individuals causes is disturbing. These are the people who we elect as a society to represent us and act appropriately while doing so. This is very act is harmful to society. The president of the United States put his own interests ahead of the very people who overwhelming elected him.
The matter of Watergate and everything that happened as a result of the break-in at Democratic headquarters also meets the definition of a social problem because there is a vast difference between the overriding ideals that govern our society and the illegal activity that the president and those around him were involved with. What the president was doing amounts to nothing more than a fancy and elaborate version of white collar crime.
The problem in what happened with Watergate is that it took those in charge at the Washington Post and many in society a while to believe that the president was indeed doing something illegal. Once it was discovered that the president was indeed acting inappropriately society took action, the resulting pressure led to a disgraced Nixon resigning. Much like with the civil rights movement the news media played a valuable part in uncovering government corruption, which many knew had existed prior to Watergate. This time around, though, the belief of freedom of the press, freedom of speech held true in our country. The media actuallly played out its role in informing society on the wrong doings of the most important political figure in the country and than letting the people make their own decisions.
The issue of Watergate itself was resolved with the resignation of President Nixon and the jailing of such people as G. Gordon Liddy. What resulted from Watergate, though, was an increased awareness of what our politicians are doing. What “All The President’s Men” embodies is a constant social movement that is still in play today. What I am trying to say is that the work of Woodward and Bernstein put the public’s faith back into journalism and made us all feel as if we have a say or outcome in our world.
While some may argue that the opposition, “dirty politicians” as an example, still prevail today. But today we can identify them, we can put a face to the “bad guy.” A lot of what is in “All The President’s Men” is discussed in chapter five of our book. I suppose the pluralists and structuralists theories of government come into play in my movie. Government still protects the privileged as identified by a structuarlist theory, but we now have a pluralists type of society where movements are allowed to form to support ideals.
In the end, what Woodward and Bernstein did was give us as a society a way to govern those who are supposed to govern us. The Washington Post gave us one of the greatest gifts a society can have-the ability to inform the public about what is going on in its society and allow the people to be able to think and make decisions for themselves. That doesn’t sound too bad for the outcome of a social movement that is still going today.
