- Research a famous whistleblower not mentioned in this lesson. Summarize briefly who this person was and why this person was a whistleblower. Compare and contrast this person to the whistleblower from Enemy of the People, Dr. Stockmann.
A whistleblower is somebody who leaks information about a past or present illegal activity that has taken place in an organization. One of the largest whistleblowers in the U.S. history was Richard Nixon and the revealing of the "Watergate" Scandal. Nominated for President in 1968, he defeated vice president Hubert H. Humphrey to become America's leader for four years. In 1972, there was a break-in in the offices of the Democratic Committee in which were traced back to the people of the Nixon administration.
On April 30, 1973, President Nixon sat down with a reporter named Robert Frost to have an interview on national television about the entire "Watergate" scandal. He stated exactly what happened, yet still objected the fact that he was a part of this illegal activity. In turn, Richard Nixon went into history as a whistleblower and as a disgrace to the American people. He reported the wrong - doing much after his resignation from office which can be compared to the activities and actions that occurred with Dr. Stockmann in Enemy of the People. Richard Nixon and Dr. Stockmann each kept a secret away from their people that could have hurt or killed many citizens. Nixon seemed to try and cover up the entire scandal without telling anybody until the media started to catch on. This contrasts with Dr. Stockmann's situation because he was determined to figure out a way to let the people know what the town's issue was. He did not want to "cover up" the situation; he wanted the citizens to know the truth even if other "leaders" told him not to.
Works Cited
Feinberg, Jonathan. Wordles. 2009. www.wordles.net
Watergate. 1995 - 2009.
I was very interested in how you made President Nixon a whistleblower. When I look at what happened with the President and relate it to the Enemy of the People story I have a hard time relating the two men. Dr. Stockmann was an honest man even if his intentions may have been selfish. However, it wasn’t until the “Watergate” scandal came out and was brought into the media where Nixon spoke out but yet still denied the actual truth. I feel the Nixon wasn’t doing what was right I think he was doing what he was forced to do by his peers and to try to repair his reputation.
ReplyDeleteI think Nixon was a great example as a whistleblower. I believe he relates to Stockmann because they both were trying to do something right but were kinda forced into doing it in the wrong matter. I think you could ave compared and contrasted stockmann and nixon a little more but all in all good post.
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