Hashtag History

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the second part of the Watergate Scandal. In last week's episode, we left off with the White House Plumbers that Nixon had recruited to serve as his secret task force to stop any potential leaks—not actual plumbing leaks, but leaks like the 7,000 pages of Pentagon Papers that exposed just how much the US Government had been lying to the American people about our involvement in the Vietnam War. Where we left off with last week’s episode was Nixon getting increasingly paranoid about being exposed, about perhaps not getting re-elected to the presidency, and about damaging his reputation. And so he became hell-bent and willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure that did not happen.
In this week’s episode, we are officially going to be discussing Watergate: the details of the actual operation to wiretap the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters, the investigative journalism that exposed this all, the cover up, the federal investigations, the Supreme Court’s involvement, and then, of course, talks of impeachment and Nixon’s official resignation…the only president in American history to ever resign….because you can do that.
Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.
Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!
You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!
You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!
THANKS FOR LISTENING!
- Rachel and Leah
Editor: Alex Perez
Copyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Watergate Scandal. This was an absolutely explosive political scandal that – sadly, pales in comparison to modern-day political scandals – but was truly monumental at the time, and continues to be to this day. That is because this was a political scandal that went all the way up to the top, proving that the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, had people on his team breaking into their opponent’s office – the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington DC, called the Watergate complex – in order to plant listening devices so that they could overhear their political strategies.
It was all exposed by investigative journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post. But even still, Nixon was able to skirt responsibility for a period of time, even winning re-election in 1972. That was before the Senate investigation into Watergate took place, however, which exposed that Nixon was not only involved in the scandal from the onset but that he had also destroyed evidence and fired people that may have implicated him otherwise. Given this unlawful conduct and abuse of presidential power, talks of impeachment began. But before that could happen, Nixon became the first and only president in American history to resign He was succeeded by his Vice President, Gerald Ford, who ultimately – in an extremely controversial move – ended up pardoning Nixon for his actions.
Watergate had significant consequences, leading to 69 people — including two cabinet members – charged with crimes associated with the scandal, it led to massive losses for the Republican party in future elections, and – perhaps one of the greatest legacies in terms of cultural memory and vernacular – it was the scandal that led to us adding “-gate” as a suffix to other scandals throughout history.
Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.
Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!
You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!
You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!
THANKS FOR LISTENING!
- Rachel and Leah
Editor: Alex Perez
Copyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Shirley Chisholm. She was the first Black woman to be elected to the US Congress, she was the first Black candidate for a major-party when she ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, and was a major supporter and advocate for women’s rights, social services, and racial justice.
I think Shirley Chisholm is a very recognizable face but, unless you are a hardcore feminist and/or a history nerd, you may not know very much about her. And that’s what I hope to resolve with this week’s episode. I think we are all going to walk away from this week’s episode with a lot of admiration and hope and pride. And even for those that are not super familiar with Shirley Chisholm, I am confident you will recognize this famous quote of hers – a quote that I genuinely live my life by. I really think it is my motto – and that is: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.
Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!
You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!
You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!
THANKS FOR LISTENING!
- Rachel and Leah
Editor: Alex Perez
Copyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the annexation of Hawaii…otherwise known as the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Because, when Hawaii was annexed to the United States, becoming the fiftieth state to join the union, it was done so via a coup de tat that overthrew the sovereignty of the Hawaiian people, something the vast majority of them were largely against. The US’s motivations were obvious: they had major economic interests in Hawaii from the goods available there (like sugar and pineapple) but also the access to a naval base in the Pacific at Pearl Harbor. Tourism wasn’t much of a thing at the time when this happened in the 1890s, but we know in the long run that the annexation of Hawaii, though not motivated by tourism back in the 1890s, certainly has played a large role in the US’s continued interest in it. Nearly 10 million people visit Hawaii every year, with 7 to 7.5 million of those tourists being from the Mainland.
The US’s annexation of Hawaii was so bad that Congress formally apologized for it in 1993 (the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy), acknowledging that what they had done was morally unethical and that the Hawaiian people had never formally relinquished their lands and sovereignty to the US.
Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.
Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!
You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!
You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!
THANKS FOR LISTENING!
- Rachel and Leah
Editor: Alex Perez
Copyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the very first major US law restricting immigration to the United States of a specific national group. This act made it so that Chinese people could not immigrate to the United States for, initially, ten years. But then, it was renewed, made permanent, and then not officially repealed until…you ready for this? 1943. So, essentially, the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect for more than six decades! Even when the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act passed, it still only allowed 105 Chinese immigrants to come to the US each year. So even though the Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, racist immigration laws were not officially dropped until the 50s and 60s.
Not only did the Act make it so that Chinese people could not immigrate to the United States—it also made it so that Chinese residents already in the United States could not become citizens. We’ll get into a specific case of this later in this episode but, even Chinese American citizens, when they traveled in and out of the country, were often denied re-entry into the country because they were told that they were not American citizens…even though they were.
And again, we’ll of course get into more detail about this in this episode, but…do you have any guesses why the US would finally, officially repeal this Act in 1943? The US was in the midst of World War II during 1943 and, well, we needed China as allies against Japan. As we were actively detaining Japanese Americans in detainment centers here on American soil, we dropped part of our racist laws against the Chinese so that we could get them on our side and help us work against our other enemies.
Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.
Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!
You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!
You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!
THANKS FOR LISTENING!
- Rachel and Leah
Editor: Alex Perez
Copyright: The Hashtag History Podcast