The Watergate Scandal

By leemar11
  • Period: to

    Nixon's Presidency

  • The Pentagon Papers

    Daniel Ellsberg leaks U.S. study about America’s decision-making and involvement in Vietnam to the New York Times

  • White House Plumbers

    Nixon authorizes creation of a special investigative unit.

  • First Watergate Break-In

    Photographs that were taken determined to be useless and planted devices stop working. Later determined to be Alfred Baldwin.

  • DNC - Watergate Hotel

    Frank Willis, a security guard, noticed tape covering latches on the locks of several stairway doors (He removes them). An hour later he notices they have been covered again. (Calls police). Police arrest 5 burglars with high tech spy equipment, two hotel key rooms, and sequences $100 bills ($2,300) Who are they? What were they looking for?

  • Woodward & Bernstein Investigate

    Reports that James McCord, Nixon’s security coordinator for CREEP (Committee to Re-elect the President) was one of the five burglars involved in the break-in. A search warrant had been executed for the hotel rooms for which the burglars had keys, and that inside one of them were address books that listed Howard Hunt's name or initials, and included the hand-written notation, "WH," for White House. Hunt is identified as a consultant of Charles W. Colson (special counsel to Nixon) Did Nixon order

  • Connection to White House

    Woodward and Bernstein report that a $25,000 check apparently intended as a donation to Nixon’s re-election campaign was deposited in the bank account of a real estate firm owned by Bernard L. Barker, one of the suspected Watergate burglars. On the backs of these check was the official endorsement by the person who had the authority to do so, Committee Bookkeeper and Treasurer, Hugh Sloan. Thus a direct connection between the watergate break-in and CREEP had been established. When confronted wit

  • "Dirty Tricks" Campaign

    The Washington Post reports that the during FBI’s investigation of the Watergate scandal it found evidence of a “dirty tricks campaign” of spying and sabotage against Democrats. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent investigating and trying to discredit major Democratic candidates.

  • Deep Throat

    Woodward and Bernstein's most famous source was an individual they had nicknamed Deep Throat. The identity of Deep Throat was the subject of intense speculation for more than 30 years before he was revealed to be Mark Felt.

  • Dean Plans to Testify

    White House Counsel John Dean told White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman that he planned to testify before the Senate Committee. Haldeman advised against it, saying, “Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s going to be very hard to get it back in.” Dean compiled a list of 15 names, mostly lawyers, who could be indicted in the scandal, and then showed the list to White House counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, John Ehrlichman.

  • The "Slush Fund"

    The New York Times reported that James McCord told the Senate Watergate Committee that the cash payoffs for the burglars came directly from the the Republican Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). When trying to confirm whether or not the "slush fund" continued to operate after the arrests (presumably as payoffs to keep the burglars silent), a CREEP employee exploded over the phone to Bob Woodward. He was apparently emotionally distraught over how the ignorance of former CREEP official Jo

  • Forced Resignations

    H.R. “Bob” Holdeman & John Ehrlichman Forced Resignation “The Berlin Wall”. Nixon left with little choice, Nixon summoned the two men to Camp David and, in what's been described as a very emotional meeting, asked for their resignations. Attorney General Kleindienst also resigned. Nixon also asked for the resignation of White House counsel Dean, whose Senate testimony had, and would continue to be damaging.

  • Senate Hearings Begin

    The televised Senate Watergate Committee hearings begin.

  • Archibald Cox

    Archibald Cox appointed as the prosecutor.

  • John Dean Testifies

    From June 25-29, 1973, former White House Counsel John Dean claimed a cover up. He began with a statement in which he laid out his knowledge of the entire campaign of White House espionage. He also revealed that he believed Nixon had tape-recorded some of the oval office conversations regarding Watergate. Dean's story held up well under cross examination.Ten days later, President Nixon announced that he would not testify before the Senate Watergate Committee, and he would not provide access to W

  • Alexander Butterfield Testifies

    Testified before the Senate Committee that there was an oval office recording system, that it was installed and operated by the Secret Service, and that Nixon probably had it installed to record things for posterity, for the Nixon Library. (A few days later, Nixon ordered that the taping system be turned off). The shocking revelation set off a chain reaction in which samples of these White House tapes were sought by both the Senate Committee and by Independent prosecutor A

  • "Saturday Night Massacre"

    Nixon, looking toward a solution to the tape dispute, offered what later came to known as the Stennis Compromise. U.S. Senator John C. Stennis (D-MS) would independently review the tapes and summarize them for the special prosecutor's office. Cox refused the compromise. The next night, a Saturday, Nixon worked to have Cox removed. He contacted Attorney General Elliot Richardson and ordered him to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned in protest instead. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney Gen

  • "Rose Mary Stretch"

    The White House discloses to Judge Sirica that an 18-minute segment of a subpoenaed tape, a recording of a discussion between President Nixon and H.R. Haldeman, has been erased. Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, in initial testimony about the tape, said, "The buttons said on and off, forward and backward. I caught on to that fairly fast. I don't think I'm so stupid as to erase what's on a tape." Later she tried to explain that she had accidentally re-recorded 5 minutes of the tape, while trans

  • United States v. Nixon

    Supreme Court unanimously decided United States v. Nixon. The President's argument was rejected. Nixon was ordered to turn over the tapes to investigators. He reluctantly complied.

  • Article of Impeachment

    The Committee adopted three articles of impeachment against the president: Obstructing the Watergate investigation, Misuse of power and violating his oath of office, Failure to comply with House subpoenas.

  • "Smoking Gun" Tape

    “Smoking Gun” tape is made public. President Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, discuss the Watergate break-in and plan to instruct CIA director Richard Helms to tell the acting director of the FBI, L. Patrick Gray, that any further investigation will get in the way of CIA operations.

  • Nixon Resigns

    President Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford takes the Oath of Office.