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At the watergate hotel
Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex. -
The $25,000 check
A $25,000 cashier’s check, earmarked for the Nixon campaign, wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar. -
Watergate break-in stems
FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort. -
Nixon's reelection
Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60 percent of the vote and crushing the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota. -
The conspiracies
Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Five other men plead guilty, but mysteries remain. -
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The coverup
John Dean has told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times. Nixon reportedly orders the White House taping system disconnected. And then Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate committee or the special prosecutor. Nixon then declares, “I’m not a crook,” maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case. -
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The aftermath
The White House released more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes and the Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president’s claims of executive privilege. House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice. Richard Nixon then becomes the first U.S. president to resign.
