Watergate & President Nixon

By mercedescaraffa1

  • President Nixon

    Republican President Richard Nixon approves a plan for greatly expanding domestic intelligence-gathering by the FBI, CIA and other agencies. He has second thoughts a few days later and rescinds his approval.

  • New York Times

    The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers -- the Defence Department's secret history of the Vietnam War. The Washington Post will begin publishing the papers later in the week.

  • The White House

    The White House "plumbers" unit - named for their orders to plug leaks in the administration - breaks into a psychiatrist's office to find files on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defence analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers.

  • Democratic National Committee

    Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2.30 am trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex.

  • Republican Party

    A Republican party security aide is among the Watergate burglars, The Washington Post reports. Former attorney general John Mitchell, head of the Nixon re-election campaign, denies any link to the operation.

  • Watergate burglar

    A $25,00 cashier's check, apparently earmarked for the Nixon campaign, ended up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar.

  • John Mitchell

    John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance widespread intelligence-gathering operations against the Democrats,

  • FBI Agents

    FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon re-election effort.

  • Nixon re-elected

    Nixon is re-elected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60% of the vote and crushing the Demorcratics nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.

  • G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. convicted

    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.

  • John Dean fired

    Nixon's top White House staffers, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign over the scandal. White House counsel John Dean is fired.

  • Senate Watergate

    The Senate Watergate committee begins nationally televised hearings into the incidents.

  • John Dean told

    John Dean has told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times

  • watergate prosecutors find a memo

    Watergate prosecutors find a memo addressed to John Ehrlichman describing in detail the plans to break into the office of Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist

  • Alexander Butterfield

    Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary, reveals in congressional testimony that since 1971 Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his offices.

  • Disconnection

    Nixon reportedly orders the White House taping system disconnected.

  • The Presidential Tape

    Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate committee or the special prosecutor.

  • Saturday Night Massacre

    Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon fires Archibald Cox and abolishes the office of the special prosecutor. Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus resign. Pressure for impeachment mounts in Congress.

  • "I'm not a crook"

    Nixon declares, "I'm not a crook," maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case.

  • No Explaination

    The White House can't explain an 18 1/2 -minute gap in one of the subpoenaed tapes. Chief of staff Alexander Haig says one theory is that "some sinister force" erased the segment.

  • Transcript relesed

    The White House releases more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes to the House Judiciary Committee, but the committee insists that the tapes themselves must be turned over.

  • Supreme Court rules unanimously

    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

    House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction

  • Richard Nixon resigns

    Richard Nixon becomes the first US president to resign. Vice President Gerald Ford assumes the office. He will later pardon Nixon of all charges related to the Watergate case.