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The “burglary”
Five men broke into the democratic national committee headquarters in the city’s watergate apartment office complex. During the court hearing the judge asked one of the men what his occupation was and he said retired cia and the judge sprang to attention and asked why a retired cia official was involved in what seemed to just be a robbery. That question led to a two year investigation leading to president nixon resigning. -
The cover up begins
After the break in the media discovered that one burglar James McCord was not only ex cia but also a member of crp which is a committee that re elects the president so now the media at this point thinks that the burglars were paid from a secret CRP fund controlled by the White House. (There wasn’t an exact date for this so I’m just putting a random date after the break in since it’s after that.) -
The cover up works
The fbi director at the time leaked information to the Washington post but Nixon gave a speech stating the the White House had no involvement whatsoever in that incident and the public believed it despite some people on the media trying to keep it alive but for the most part they all believed him he hadn’t brainwashed a lot of people. -
The cover up unravels
McCord testified which opened a floodgate of confessions. the presidential counsel John dean confessed that former attorney general John Mitchell ordered the break in and Nixon ordered the cover up. The Nixon administration denied all charges but the truth came forth when White House aid Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon ordered a taping system to be installed in the White House to record all conversations to help him write his memoirs. The tapes told when and how Nixon knew what he did -
The case of the tapes
A special prosecutor took Nixon to court in October 1973 to make him give up the tapes. Nixon ordered attorney general Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox (the prosecutor) but he refused and resigned. Nixon the. Ordered Richardson’s deputy to fire cox he also refused and resigned. Finally Nixon’s solicitor general Robert Bork fired cox which badly damaged Nixon’s reputation. -
The impact of watergate
The constitutional crisis led to new laws intended to limit the power of the executive branch. The 1974 federal campaign act of amendments set up an independent agency to enforce strict election laws. Many Americans had distrust in public officials because of everything that just got unraveled. -
Nixon resigns
Nixon tried to quell outrage by appointing a new special prosecutor Leon Jaworski but he also proved he was determined to get the tapes from Nixon in July the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to give up the tapes. Days later the house Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon. He resigned in disgrace before his impeachment.
