All the President's Men

How did the Watergate affair impact the Nixon Administration? How did policy change? How did the White House react to the accusations? What were the strengths and weaknesses of its reaction?

Why was Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting so successful? Of all the reporters working on Watergate stories, why do we remember Woodward and Bernstein but not the others? What made their stories special? Was it style? Sources? Persistence? Dumb luck? Weigh your choice against the others.

What is the legacy of Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting? How did their reporting on Watergate change the United States? Was it for the better or for the worse?

How was journalism practiced in the 1970s and how is that practice different today? What are the similarities? Today many people criticize contemporary media for failing to live up to the standards of the past, but is this kind of investigatory journalism possible in the modern era? Explain your answer.

As Woodward and Bernstein publish more stories on Watergate, their fame grows in proportion. How does their fame affect their ability to work with sources and investigate? Is it better for a journalist to remain unknown or is fame a kind of asset?

Would Woodward and Bernstein be able to write these stories today? How would modern technology change the way these stories were uncovered and reported? Has Twitter made long-term investigative stories harder or easier?

Some historians have suggested that Woodward and Bernstein played the decisive role in bringing down Richard Nixon. Others have argued that their reporting was secondary to Judge Sirica and the Senate’s investigations. How would you weight those claims? Was Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting decisive or an accessory to more important revelations elsewhere?

How did the Washington Post react as an institution and a business to the Watergate stories? What is the role of business in journalism? How was the Post as an institution attacked? How did it defend itself?