Chapter 10 and 11 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 10 and 11 - Assignment Example Actually, Wilson invoked the principle of confidentiality and sought to use it against the mandate of the rule of law.   Particularly, Nixon sought to exploit the idea that the principle of confidentiality was abstract enough to conflict the rule of law.   Thus, to defend his decision not to hand over the documents, Nixon argued that the right to confidentiality was the most paramount legal term. It is a fact that by 1972, Nixon’s appeal had started to wane. This follows the fact that he had been elected in 1968 mainly because of his â€Å"Nixon Secret Plan† that would have seen him stop the Vietnam War immediately he became president. Because Americans were decisively against the Vietnam War, Nixon secured the largest victory in 1968. However, four years later, he had not yet stopped this war. Growing nationwide antiwar protests and demonstrations which Nixon described as ‘a tiny but vociferous’ minority was an indicator of this waning popularity. To counter this unpromising development, Nixon controversially stated that there was a silent majority that understood the need for his administration to keep the war going, as an end to peace and honor (Chafe, 2009). The recession that raised inflation and interest rates to double digits also helped puncture Nixon’s popularity. The Watergate scandal also serves as a clear testimony that Nixon himself seriously considered his waning popularity a reality. At the time, there was a serious economic recession that caused interest rates and the rate of inflation to soar. The situation was deplorable to an extent that even Nixon’s imposition of price and wage controls miserably failed. High rates of unemployment, the falling supply of oil that made oil became subsequently expensive and an array of environmental crises and serious catastrophes such as the 1979 Three-Mile Island Nuclear Accident aggravated this feeling of helplessness in America.    It was also at this time that the War in