Watergate Scandal

Nixon Won

Nov 5, 1968

Richard Milhous Nixon, the 55-year-old former vice president who lost the presidency for the Republicans in 1960, reclaimed it by defeating Hubert Humphrey in one of the closest elections in U.S. history.

Watergate Scandal

Period: Nov 5, 1968 to Aug 8, 1974

Inaurgation

Jan 21, 1969

Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th president of the United States.

Domestic Intelligence-Gathering

Jul 23, 1970

Nixon approved a plan for greatly expanding domestic intelligence-gathering by the FBI, CIA and other agencies. He had second thoughts a few days later and rescinded his approval.

Pentagon Papers

Jun 13, 1971

The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers.The Washington Post began publishing the papers later that same week.

"White House Plumbers"

Jul 1, 1971

David Young and Egil Krogh write a memo suggesting the formation of what would later be called the "White House Plumbers" in response to the leak of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg.

Enemies List

Aug 21, 1971

Nixon's Enemies List is started by White House aides.

Burglary

Sep 3, 1971

The White House "plumbers" unit -burglarized a psychiatrist's office to find files on Daniel Ellsberg, the former defense analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers.

Edgar Hoover

May 2, 1972

Edgar Hoover died. L. Patrick Gray was appointed as acting FBI director.

Watergate Burglary

Jun 17, 1972

Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m by an off-duty police officer. They were trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex.

GOP Security Aide

Jun 19, 1972

A GOP security aide is among the Watergate burglars. Former attorney general John Mitchell, head of the Nixon reelection campaign, denied any link to the operation.

Address Book

Jun 20, 1972

Reportedly based on a tip from Deep Throat. Bob Woodward reported in the Washington Post that one of the burglars had E. Howard Hunt in his address book and possessed checks signed by him, and that Hunt was connected to Charles Colson.

Earmarked Check

Aug 1, 1972

A $25,000 cashier's check, apparently earmarked for the Nixon campaign, wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar.

Indicted

Sep 15, 1972

Hunt, Liddy and the Watergate burglars are indicted by a federal grand jury.

Secret Fund

Sep 29, 1972

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

Reelection

Nov 7, 1972

Nixon was 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.

Burglary Trials

Jan 8, 1973

Five defendants pleaded guilty as the burglary trial began. Liddy and McCord were convicted after the trial.

Confirmation Hearings

Feb 28, 1973

Confirmation hearings began for confirming L. Patrick Gray as permanent Director of the FBI. During these hearings, Gray revealled that he had complied with an order from John Dean to provide daily updates on the Watergate investigation, and also that Dean had "probably lied" to FBI investigators.

John Dean

Apr 6, 1973

White House counsel John Dean began cooperating with federal Watergate prosecutors.

Replacement

Apr 27, 1973

L. Patrick Gray resigned after it comes to light that he destroyed files from E. Howard Hunt's safe. William Ruckelshaus was appointed as his replacement.

Resignation

Apr 30, 1973

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

Nationalized Hearings

May 18, 1973

The Senate Watergate Committee began its nationally televised hearings. Attorney General-designate Elliot Richardson taped former solicitor general Archibald Cox as the Justice Department's special prosecutor for Watergate.

Watergate Cover-up

Jun 3, 1973

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

Plans

Jun 13, 1973

Watergate prosecutors found a memo addressed to John Ehrlichman describing in detail the plans to burglarize the office of Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

Disconnection

Jun 18, 1973

Nixon orders White House taping systems to be disconnected.

Alexander Butterfield

Jul 13, 1973

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

Refusal

Jul 23, 1973

Nixon refused to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor

Agnew Resigns

Oct 10, 1973

Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice President of the United States due to corruption while he was the governor of Maryland.

New Vice President

Oct 12, 1973

Gerald Ford was nominated as Vice President under the 25th Amendment.

Saturday Night Massacre

Oct 20, 1973

Nixon fired Archibald Cox and abolished the office of the special prosecutor. Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus resigned. Pressure for impeachment mounted in Congress.

New Special Prosecutor

Nov 1, 1973

Leon Jaworski was appointed the new special prosecutor.

Innocence

Nov 17, 1973

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

"Some sinister force"

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 said one theory is that "some sinister force" erased the segment.

Porter Guilty

Jan 28, 1974

Nixon campaign aide Herbert Porter pleaded guilty to perjury.

Kalmbach Guilty

Feb 25, 1974

Nixon personal counsel Herbert Kalmbach pleaded guilty to two charges of illegal campaign activities.

"Watergate Seven"

Mar 4, 1974

"Watergate Seven" indicted;John N. Mitchell,H. R. Haldeman,John Ehrlichman,Charles Colson,Gordon C. Strachan,Robert Mardian,Kenneth Parkinson.

Dwight Chapin

Apr 5, 1974

Dwight Chapin convicted of lying to a grand jury

Ed Reinecke

Apr 7, 1974

Ed Reinecke, Republican lieutenant governor of California, indicted on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee.

Transcripts

Apr 30, 1974

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

Executive Privilege

Jul 24, 1974

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, and rejected the president's claims of executive privilege.

Impeachment

Jul 27, 1974

House Judiciary Committee passed the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.

Presidential Resignation

Aug 8, 1974

Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign. Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumed the country's highest office. He would later pardon Nixon of all charges related to the Watergate case.