Watergate and its effects

By vtrombetta

  • Watergate break-in

    Five men are arrested during a bungled break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. They are all carrying cash and documents that show them to be employed by the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). They are there to plant listening devices in the phones of Democratic leaders and obtain political documents regarding the Democrats' campaing strategy.
  • Period: to

    Watergate and its effects

  • Nixon wins!

    Nixon crushes Senator George McGovern in a landslide, winning 60.8% of the popular vote and 520 of the 537 electoral votes.

  • Rumors

    The Senate establishes a Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate rumors of wrongdoing, corrupt financing and political dirty tricks committed by the Nixon reelection committee.

  • The letter

    Former CIA agent James W. McCord, one of the seven men convicted in the Watergate burglary, admits in a letter to Judge John Sirica that he and the other defendants have been pressured to remain silent about the case. He names former
    AG John Mitchell as the "overall boss."

  • L. Patrick Gray

    L. Patrick Gray, acting director of the FBI, resigns after admitting he destroyed evidence connected to Watergate, on the advice of the Nixon aides in the White House.

  • Run!

    H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Dean III all resign. Nixon denies any knowledge of a cover-up or White House involvement in the Watergate break-in.

  • Testimony

    John Dean testifies under oath that Nixon was involved in the Watergate cover-up and says that the president authorized payment of "hush money" to the seven men arrested in the
    break-in.

  • More testimony

    White House aide Alexander Butterfield testifies that President Nixon secretly recorded all Oval Office conversations. This can implement the president in the Watergate cover-up.

  • Agnew resigns

    VP Spiro Agnew resigns due to tax evasion charges from his tenure as governor of Maryland. Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald Ford to succeed Agnew under the 25 Amendment.

  • The Saturday Night Massacre

    President Nixon orders AG Elliot Richardson to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who has refused to accept the president's compromise offer to release a synopsis of the Oval Office tapes. Richardson resigns and Cox is fired by Solicitor General Robert Bork. These actions raise a storm of protest in Congress and the House.

  • The train keeps a-rollin'

    Leon Jaworski is appointed special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation. The House Judiciary Committee announces an investigation into impeachment charges against the president.

  • Mischief Night

    When Nixon turns over the Oval Office tapes, investigators learn that two tapes are missing.

  • Hmmmmm?

    Investigators learn that one of the tapes contains a mysterious eighteen-and-a-half minute gap. The White House claims that Nixon's secretary accidentally erased it while transcribing it. In January 1974, analysis of the tape will show that the erasure was deliberate.

  • Happy New Year!

    President Nixon refuses to surrender 500 tapes and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. Nixon claimed he did this through "executive privilege."

  • Trouble is brewing

    Seven former White House staff members, including Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell, are indicted for conspiring to obstruct the investigation of the Watergate break-in.

  • Death and taxes

    Due to the results of a separate congressional committee, Nixon agrees to pay more than $400,000 in back taxes. Using suspect deduction, Nixon paid taxes equivalent to those levied on a salary of $15,000, despite the president's $200,000 salary and other income.

  • A little light reading

    Nixon offers a 1,200-page edited transcript of the tapes subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee and Special Prosecutor Jaworski. Both Jaworski and the committee reject the transcripts.

  • Aftermath

    What did Nixon and his cronies do wrong?
    1. Breaking and Entering
    2. Illegal Contributions
    3. Dirty Tricks
    4. Cover-up/Obstruction of Justice
    5. Miscellaneous Offenses and Revelations
    Nixon would later be rehabilitated and ease his way back into a new role as an elder statesman and foreign policy expert.

  • The law

    The Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tapes requested by the special prosecutor. Eight hours later, the White House announces it will comply with the order.

  • The noose tightens

    The House Judiciary Committee approves two articles of impeachment against Nixon, charging him with obstructing justice and accusing him of repeatedly violating his oath of office. Three days later the committee will recommend a third charge of unconstitutiional defiance of committee aubpeonas.

  • Uh, oh

    Nixon releases transcripts of a conversation with H.R. Haldeman. The transcript shows that six days after the break-in, Nixon ordered a halt to the FBI investigation of the affair. This is the "smoking gun" that everybody has been looking for. Any remaining congressional support disappears.

  • This is the end....

    President Nixon announces his resignation. The decision comes in the wake of his revelation three days earlier, after which Republican congressmen told him he would probably be impeached and convicted.

  • A new day

    President Nixon formally resigns and VP Ford is sworn in as president.

  • Deja vu all over again

    President Ford grants Nixon a "full, free and absolute pardon...for all offenses against the U.S. which he.....has committed or may have committed to taken part in while President."

  • Nixon dies

    Nixon dies.