File 014 · 1972–1974 · Political scandal

Watergate

In June 1972 five men were arrested inside the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex. Investigators traced the burglary to President Nixon's re-election campaign and found a White House effort to cover it up.

Background

The Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. housed the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. In the early hours of 17 June 1972 police arrested five men who had broken in carrying cameras, lock-picking tools and bugging equipment. One of them, James McCord, was security coordinator for Nixon's re-election organization, the Committee for the Re-election of the President.

At first the White House called it a 'third-rate burglary'. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post kept following the money, and federal judge John Sirica pressed the defendants to talk. By 1973 a Senate committee chaired by Sam Ervin was holding televised hearings, and one disclosure changed everything: Nixon had secretly recorded conversations in the White House.

What the record shows

• Dozens of people, including senior White House and campaign officials, were charged or convicted of crimes connected to the burglary, the cover-up and related abuses.
• The White House tapes, released under court order, recorded the president discussing hush money and obstruction of the FBI investigation.
• In July 1974 the House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment: obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress.
• One tape contains a gap of about 18 and a half minutes that Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods could not satisfactorily explain; experts later found it was caused by multiple deliberate erasures.
• In 2005 former FBI deputy director Mark Felt revealed that he had been 'Deep Throat', the anonymous source Woodward used.

Timeline

• 17 Jun 1972 Five burglars are arrested at the Watergate complex.
• Jan 1973 Trial of the burglars and two planners ends in convictions and guilty pleas.
• May 1973 Senate Watergate hearings begin on live television.
• Jul 1973 Aide Alexander Butterfield reveals that Nixon taped his White House conversations.
• 20 Oct 1973 The 'Saturday Night Massacre': Nixon fires special prosecutor Archibald Cox; Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy resign.
• 24 Jul 1974 The Supreme Court rules unanimously in United States v. Nixon that he must hand over the tapes.
• 5 Aug 1974 A tape recorded days after the break-in shows Nixon agreeing to use the CIA to slow the FBI inquiry.
• 9 Aug 1974 Nixon resigns. A month later President Ford pardons him.

Checking the claims

The claim: Watergate was a conspiracy hidden from the public that only a lucky break exposed. What investigators found: it was exposed by ordinary institutions working under pressure: a judge, a grand jury, two newspapers, a Senate committee, the courts and finally Nixon's own recordings. The tapes turned a political fight into documented evidence.

What is still debated is the original motive. Historians have proposed several explanations for why the burglars entered the DNC offices, including gathering political intelligence and chasing rumors about Democratic officials. The documents establish who paid and who covered up. They do not settle with certainty what the burglars were ultimately after.

Claimed, but not shown

It is not established that Nixon personally ordered the break-in in advance. The record shows his role in the cover-up that followed. Claims that the burglary was an elaborate plan to trap Nixon, or that it was directed by the CIA, have not been supported by the investigations.

Verdict

Sources

• United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• House Judiciary Committee, Impeachment of Richard Nixon, President of the United States (1974)
• Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (Ervin Committee), Final Report (1974)
• National Archives, Nixon White House Tapes

Connected files (red threads)

• COINTELPRO — Same era of exposed executive-branch abuses
• The Church Committee and the 'Family Jewels' — Watergate helped trigger the 1975 intelligence investigations
• The Iran-Contra Affair — Cover-up and congressional oversight, a decade apart
• The Pentagon Papers — The break-in at Ellsberg's psychiatrist was part of the same White House circle

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