Watergate

Transparent tape – The beginning of the fallout

Jun 17, 1972

Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. was the home office for Democratic Party’s Committee. On June 17 Frank Willis, a security guard found tape covering the door latch and contacted authorities. The police arrived to find five men bugging the Democratic Party’s headquarters.

5 Arrested in Burglary

Jun 17, 1972

5 men were arrested around 2:30 AM on suspicion of bugging the Democratic National headquarters. One of the men arrested was an ex- Central Intelligence, the White House refused comments on the incident. Left to right: James McCord, Jr., Virgilio Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez, and Bernard Baker.

The floodgates open on Watergate - Richard Nixon

Period: Jun 17, 1972 to Aug 31, 1974

John Mitchell - Party to Watergate scandal

Jun 19, 1972

Former attorney general Mitchell, the head of the Nixon’s re-election campaign denies any association to the operation.

$25,000 deposited in burglars account

Aug 1, 1972

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward from the Washington Post uncover a $25,000 cashier’s check for Nixon’s re-election campaign was deposited in April to the bank account of, Bernard Barker one of the five men arrested

Nixon's second term

Nov 7, 1972

Richard Nixon won his second term by an astonishing 97% over his Democrat running mate George McGovern with 520 electoral votes and 61% popular vote.

Trial Begins

Jan 1, 1973

Five of the defendants – Hunt, Barker, Sturgis, Martinez and Gonzales – plead guilty but refuse to answer any of Judge Sirica’s questions about what motivated the break-in.

Final two convicted

Jan 30, 1973

Liddy and McCord, are found guilty. Judge Sirica is dissatisfied with the many unanswered questions and state’s his hopes the Senate Committee investigating Watergate will be able to get to the bottom of what happened in this case.

McCord - Cover-up exposed.

Mar 19, 1973

James McCord writes a letter to Judge John Sirica telling of a cover-up of the burglary

Watergate Trial Begins

May 17, 1973

The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, known as the Watergate Committee begins hearings on Watergate. The hearings are broadcast by all three TV networks.

Dean Reports Nixon’s knowledge of watergate

Jun 23, 1973

John W. Dean III of the Watergate cover- President Nixon presence on at least 35 occasions between January and April of this year.

Nixon refuses to turn over tapes

Jul 24, 1973

Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox immediately served a subpoena for the release of tapes

Impeach Nixon

Oct 23, 1973

After the Saturday night massacre members of Congress and the public begin calling for impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. Nixon ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox; he refused and turned in resignation in protest. The deputy attorney general, William Ruckelshaus also refused to fire Cox and resigned.

More faulty tapes

Dec 7, 1973

The White House can't explain an 18 ½-minute gap in one of the subpoenaed tapes. Chief of Staff Alexander Haig claims possibility that someone ordered segments eased.

Court orders Nixon to release tapes

Jul 24, 1974

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

The Final Day- Nixon Resigns

Aug 9, 1974

Nixon delivers his nationally televised resignation speech. Nixon resigns claiming he did not have a strong enough political base in the Congress. President Ford later pardons Nixon.