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Reelection Fight
Nixon was worried about the election so his advisors ordered five men to break into the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate complex and steal sensitive campaign information. They were also to place wiretaps on the office cellphones. -
Cover Up
After the break in, the media discovered that one burglar, James McCord, was not only an ex CIA officer but also a member of the committee for the reelection of the president. Reports surfaced that the burglars were paid from a secret CRP fund controlled by the White House. Nixon did not order the break in but he did order a cover up. White House officials destroyed incriminating documents and gave investigators false testimony. -
The Break In
A Washington Post reporter named Bob Woodward was assigned to cover a bizarre incident. Five men had broken into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the city's Watergate apartment office complex. One of the men James McCord was retired from the CIA. So Woodward and another reporter investigated to find out why a former CIA agent was involved in what seemed to be just a burglary. -
Cover Up Unravels
In early 1973, the Watergate burglars went on trial. Under relentless prodding from the federal judge John J. Sirica, McCord agreed to cooperate with the grand jury investigation and to testify before the newly created Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. -
Shocking Testimony
McCord's testimony opened a floodgate of confessions. Presidential counsel John Dean who had testified in June 1973, confessed that former attorney general John Mitchell had ordered the Watergate break in and that Nixon had taken part in the cover up. The Nixon administration strongly denied the charges. The answer appeared on July 16. White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had ordered a taping system installed in the White House. -
The Case of the Tapes
At first Nixon refused to hand over the tapes. Special prosecutor Archibald Cox took Nixon to court in October 1973 to make him give up the tapes. The fall of 1973 proved disastrous Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace after investigators found that he had taken bribes while governor of Maryland and while serving in office in Washington. -
Nixon Resigns
Nixon tried to quell outrage by appointing a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski who also proved determine to obtain the tapes. In July the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to surrender them. Days later the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon, or officially charge him with misconduct. New evidence emerged a tape revealed that Nixon had ordered the CIA to stop the FBI probe into the Watergate burglary. On August 9, 1974 Nixon resigned in disgrace.
