Throughout history societies have practiced shunning as a common punishment for deeds that are deemed as disgraceful or dishonorable to an individual or a society as a whole. To shun means to avoid an individual or group of individuals deliberately and habitually(Webster, 1087). An example of a shunned person would be Hester Prynne, who in "The Scarlet Letter", the famous literary work by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was spurned by her Puritan community because she had committed adultery. Although she is a fictional character who lived in the 1600's, her situation is surprisingly similar to many real individuals who have been shunned in more recent times. One specific person who has a lot in common with her is Former US President Richard Nixon.
Richard Nixon grew up under a Quaker influence, which immediately set him apart from the average American. To the public, he seemed awkward and was often mocked. His peers described him as a "mild and tolerant man, with a shy yet confident disposition"(biography.com, 2). With such an unobtrusive and maladroit personality, it came as a shock to many that Nixon capable of lying and surreptitiously covering scandals that arose during his term as president. What was unknown to the public, but revealed by his lies, was that Nixon had a desire for power; to keep that which he had and to gain more. This desire was unveiled in the most noted event of his career, the Watergate scandal. In which members of his reelection committee broke into the Democratic National Party headquarters in order to find incriminating evidence on a particular person working in that office. Nixon was not directly involved in the break-in; however, he aided the committee members by assisting in the cover up. "It is unlikely that Nixon knew about the break-in itself, but in the end that was unimportant. For it was what Watergate revealed about the Nixon White House that turned the public against him.
