Resurgence Of Congressional Power In The1970s Fueled By The Watergate Scandal

A history of America is a history of expanding presidential power. At the timewhen American Constitution was first enacted, Congress took an upper hand over theexecutive branch in such fields as war power, foreign policy and budget-making, etc.With the expansion of domestic and foreign affairs of the United States over history,the president and the executive branch shoulder growing responsibilities, and thusgaining increasing power. Presidential power reached its peak in the Johnson andNixon administration during which rampant abuse of power gave rise to the ruthlessescalation of Vietnam War and the notorious Watergate Scandal.Tensions between the President and Congress were especially fueled by theWatergate Scandal from1972to1973, during which Congress rose up to thwartNixon’s abuses of presidential power and force President Nixon to resign byexercising its power of impeachment. Alerted by the Watergate Scandal, members ofCongress asserted themselves decisively against the executive branch in themid-1970s and continued the efforts to restrain unilateral presidency in a variety ofareas aggressively. At the end of the1970s, the new presidential-congressionalrelation was established in favor of the Congress, from war powers to budgeting togovernment ethics to executive secrecy. My basic purpose is to analyze howCongress restored congressional supremacy against strong presidency in a powerstruggle initiated by Watergate and extended through the1970s.