At 02:30 on 17 June 1972 Washington DC police arrested five men inside the sixth-floor offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Office Building. The burglars were equipped with camera equipment, lock-picking tools, eavesdropping devices, and sequentially numbered $100 bills traceable to the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP).
The five burglars were James McCord (CRP security coordinator) and four anti-Castro Cuban exiles recruited through CIA networks. Two organizers — former CIA officer E. Howard Hunt and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy — were arrested over the following weeks.
The cover-up
President Richard Nixon was re-elected on 7 November 1972 by 60.7 percent of the popular vote in a landslide over Senator George McGovern. The burglary appeared to have been contained.
The Washington Post coverage by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — guided by an FBI source known only as “Deep Throat” — continued through 1972-1973 establishing CRP funding of the burglary and progressively higher White House awareness. Deep Throat was revealed in 2005 to be FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt.
The five burglars and Hunt and Liddy were convicted on 30 January 1973. McCord wrote District Court Judge John Sirica on 19 March 1973 claiming that perjury had occurred at the trial and that senior White House officials had ordered the burglary.
The Senate hearings
The Senate Watergate Committee under Senator Sam Ervin opened televised hearings on 17 May 1973. Former White House counsel John Dean testified across 25-29 June 1973 that he had warned Nixon of “a cancer on the presidency” on 21 March 1973 and that Nixon had personally authorized cover-up activities.
Deputy assistant Alexander Butterfield disclosed on 13 July 1973 that Nixon had installed a secret White House taping system. The Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox subpoenaed the tapes. Nixon refused. On 20 October 1973 (“the Saturday Night Massacre”) Nixon ordered Cox fired; Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus both resigned rather than execute the order; Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox.
Resignation
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on 24 July 1974 (United States v. Nixon) that Nixon must release the tapes. The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment on 27-30 July 1974.
The “smoking gun” tape released on 5 August 1974 — recorded 23 June 1972, six days after the burglary — captured Nixon ordering Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman to direct the CIA to stop the FBI investigation. The remaining Republican congressional support collapsed within 72 hours.
Nixon resigned at noon on 9 August 1974 — the only US president to resign the office. Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president. Ford pardoned Nixon on 8 September 1974 for any federal crimes “committed or may have committed” during the presidency.
48 individuals were ultimately convicted of Watergate-related crimes including Attorney General John Mitchell, Chief of Staff Haldeman, and domestic advisor John Ehrlichman.