Test

Watergate Scandal

Watergate Scandal

• Burglary @ Democratic National
Committee (DNC)

• 2:30 am June 17, 1972: guard @ Watergate
complex in Washington D.C. caught 5 men (“the
plumbers”) breaking into the DNC

– Intended to photograph docs to find Democratic
strategy in presidential election & wiretap on office
telephones

Why?
• Nixon paranoid about getting reelected???

The Inner Circle

• Nixon’s Loyal
Advisors

• Committee to
Reelect the
President
(CRP) w/

Mitchell as the
CRP manager

Cover-Up

• White House keeps the story quiet
• CRP paid $500,000 to keep burglars silence
• Election of 1972: Nixon wins w/ landslide
• Media not interested in story

The Cover-Up Unravels

• Washington Post
reporters Bob
Woodward &
Carl Bernstein
investigated the
story

The Cover-Up Unravels

• James McCord writes letter to judge over
burglars’ cases

– Hinted White House connection to Watergate

• May 1973: Senate began to investigate

– Testimony revealed: Nixon new about the cover up
& Nixon taped all White House conversations

Saturday Night Massacre

• Achibald Cox ordered Nixon to
hand over the tapes

– Nixon refused

• Ordered Attorney Gen.
Richardson to fire Cox

– He refused & resigned

• Deputy Attorney Gen. refused &
fired

Saturday Night Massacre

• Solicitor Gen. Robert Bork
finally fired Cox

• A few days before, VP Spiro
Agnew resigned b/c he had
accepted bribes from
Maryland engineering firms

– Nixon nominated Gerald Ford
(House minority leader)

The Fall of the President

• April 30, 1974: Nixon hands
over edited transcripts

• July 24: Supreme Court rules
Nixon hand over the unedited
manuscripts

• July 27: House Committee
adopted 3 articles of
impeachment

The Fall of the President

• Aug. 5: Nixon hands over
the tapes

– Revealed Nixon connection
of Watergate to his
administration & cover-up

• Aug. 8: Nixon announced
his resignation

• Gerald Ford sworn in as 38th
President



Nixon Leaves the White House

Gerald Ford

• From Grand Rapid, MI

– “I am Ford, not a Lincoln”
– “It’s… the straight, the square that accounts for the

great stability of our nation. It’s a quality to be
proud of.”

• Encourages nation to put scandal behind them

• Sept. 8, 1974: Ford pardons Nixon