Though Americans tend to lump Nixon’s violations of civil liberties together under the heading of “Watergate,” much more was involved than the break-in at Democratic Party headquarters and the subsequent cover-up. The participants in those events included the “Plumbers,” a personal secret police established by Nixon and so named because one of their tasks was to eliminate leaks of information that the White House did not want to disclose.
尼克松当局的遗产对于评估布什的业绩尤其具有指导性作用。尽管美国人倾向于将尼克松违反公民权利归结为“水门事件”，但是，其中所包含的东西要远远超过入窃民主党总部以及随后的掩盖行为。那些事件的参与者包括所谓的“管道工”，即由尼克松建立的私人秘密警察。之所以这样命名，因为是他们的其中一项任务是清除泄露白宫所不愿意披露的信息。