Watergate

Timeline

• Read pages “Watergate: Nixon’s Downfall” on pages 1008-1013 and create a timeline of 14 events in the Watergate scandal– All events should be between June of 1972 and

August of 1974

• June 17th, 1972: Five men are caught trying to break in to the campaign headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Complex in Washington DC– The group planned to copy documents showing the

Democratic campaign strategy and bug the offices and telephones

– The leader of the men, James McCord, was a former CIA agent who worked for the Committee to Reelect the President (CRP)

• September of 1972: The Watergate burglars are indicted while Nixon’s people work on the cover-up– The CRP paid them $450,000 to keep quiet– Nixon’s Chief of Staff had all evidence shredded– The White House asked the CIA to urge the FBI to stop

investigating on national security grounds– The administration consistently denied any involvement with

the burglary

• March 20th, 1973: James McCord sends a letter to the judge shortly before sentencing begins– Indicated that he lied under oath– Hinted that powerful people in the

Nixon administration were involved

• April 30th, 1973: Nixon responds to renewed investigations into Watergate– Fired his chief legal advisor, John Dean– Announced the resignation of his Attorney General, Chief of

Staff, and Chief Domestic Adviser– Went on national television to deny any attempt at a cover-

up– Appointed a new Attorney General and authorized him to

appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate

• May of 1973: The Senate begins an investigation of Watergate– Called Nixon’s current and former advisers to testify

• June of 1973: John Dean testified that the President was deeply involved in the cover-up

• July of 1973: A Presidential aide tells the Senate that Nixon routinely taped almost every conversation he had– The battle to gain access to the “Nixon Tapes” begins

• October of 1973: the special prosecutor picked to investigate Watergate takes Nixon to court to obtain the tapes, resulting in the Saturday Night Massacre– Nixon orders his Attorney

General to fire the special prosecutor

– The Attorney General refuses and resigns

– The deputy Attorney General refuses and is fired

– Eventually, the special prosecutor is fired and replaced by somebody equally determined to get the tapes

• March of 1974: Several Presidential aides are indicted on charges related to Watergate

• July 24th, 1974: The Supreme Court ruled in Nixon v. The United States that the President had to turn over the tapes

• July 27th, 1974: The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach the President

• August 5th, 1974: Nixon releases the tapes– They contained evidence that Nixon had knew about the

break-in and had agreed to the cover-up– Also contained a number of mysteriously erased segments

• August 8th, 1974: Nixon resigns before he can be impeached

• August 9th, 1974: Nixon’s Vice President, Gerald Ford, is sworn in as President– The Vice President that Nixon ran with in 1972, Spiro Agnew,

had resigned over an unrelated corruption scandal• Nixon appointed Ford as his Vice President in 1973 with

Congress’ approval– Gerald Ford issued a presidential pardon for Nixon so that he

could not be prosecuted