Watergate

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The Watergate scandal, also simply called Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. On June 17, 1972, operatives associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and ultimately to his resignation in August 1974. Emerging from the White House's efforts to stop leaks, the break-in was an implementation of Operation Gemstone, enacted by mostly Cuban burglars led by former intelligence agents E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. After the arrests, investigators and reporters like The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein—guided by the source "Deep Throat"—exposed a White House political espionage program illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon denied involvement but his administration destroyed evidence, obstructed investigators, and bribed the burglars. This cover-up initially worked, helping Nixon win a landslide re-election, until revelations from the burglars' 1973 trial led to a Senate investigation. Mounting pressure led Attorney General Elliot Richardson to appoint Archibald Cox as Watergate special prosecutor. Cox subpoenaed Nixon's Oval Office tapes—suspected to include Watergate conversations—but Nixon invoked executive privilege to block their release, triggering a constitutional crisis. In the "Saturday Night Massacre", Nixon fired Cox, forcing the resignations of the attorney general and his deputy and fueling suspicions of Nixon's involvement. Nixon released select tapes, although one was partially erased and two others disappeared. In April 1974, Cox's replacement Leon Jaworski reissued the subpoena, but Nixon provided only redacted transcripts.