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{{Short description|Early 1970s political scandal in the U.S.}}
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The '''Watergate scandal''' was a major [[political scandal]] in the [[United States]] involving the [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|administration]] of President [[Richard Nixon]]. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to [[Resignation of Richard Nixon|Nixon's resignation]] in 1974, in August of that year. It revolved around members of a group associated with Nixon's [[Richard Nixon 1972 presidential campaign|1972 re-election campaign]], who broke into the [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in the [[Watergate complex]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], on June 17, 1972, where they planted listening devices, and Nixon's later attempts to conceal his administration's involvement in the burglary.

Following the arrest of the Watergate burglars, media and the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] connected money found with those involved in the [[Committee for the Re-Election of the President]] (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign.<ref name="watergate_case_study_jm_perry_columbia_edu">{{Cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/j6075/edit/readings/watergate.html |title=Watergate Case Study |last=Perry |first=James M. |author-link=James M. Perry |website=Class Syllabus for "Critical Issues in Journalism" |publisher=[[Columbia School of Journalism]], [[Columbia University]] |access-date=July 27, 2018 |archive-date=July 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715185943/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/j6075/edit/readings/watergate.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="congressional quarterly vol 1">{{Cite book |last1=Dickinson |first1=William B. |url=https://archive.org/details/watergatechronol0000unse/page/8 |title=Watergate: chronology of a crisis |last2=Cross |first2=Mercer |last3=Polsky |first3=Barry |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Inc. |year=1973 |isbn=0-87187-059-2 |volume=1 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/watergatechronol0000unse/page/8 8, 133, 140, 180, 188] |oclc=20974031}}</ref> [[Carl Bernstein]] and [[Bob Woodward]], journalists from ''[[The Washington Post]]'', pursued leads provided by a source they called "[[Deep Throat (Watergate)|Deep Throat]]" (later identified as [[Mark Felt]], associate director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]) and uncovered an enormous campaign of political spying and sabotage directed by White House officials and illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon dismissed the accusations as political smears, and he won [[1972 United States presidential election|the election]] in a [[Landslide victory|landslide]] in November. Further investigation and revelations from the burglars' trial led the [[United States Senate|Senate]] to establish a special [[United States Senate Watergate Committee|Watergate Committee]] and the [[U.S. House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] to grant its [[House Judiciary Committee|Judiciary Committee]] expanded authority in February 1973.<ref name="R45769">{{Cite web |last1=Rybicki |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Greene |first2=Michael |date=October 10, 2019 |title=The Impeachment Process in the House of Representatives |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45769 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122111623/https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45769 |archive-date=January 22, 2020 |access-date=November 7, 2019 |website=CRS Report for Congress |publisher=Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress |pages=5–7 |id=R45769 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 28, 1973 |title=H.Res.74 – 93rd Congress, 1st Session |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/house-resolution/74/actions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230203558/https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/house-resolution/74/actions |archive-date=December 30, 2019 |access-date=October 21, 2019 |website=congress.gov}}</ref> The burglars received lengthy prison sentences that they were told would be reduced if they co-operated, which began a flood of testimony from witnesses. In April, Nixon appeared on television to deny wrongdoing on his part and to announce the resignation of his aides. After it was revealed that Nixon had installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office, his administration refused to grant investigators access to [[Nixon White House tapes|the tapes]], leading to a [[constitutional crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 16, 2004 |title=A burglary turns into a constitutional crisis |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/06/11/watergate/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130152024/https://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/06/11/watergate/index.html |archive-date=November 30, 2020 |access-date=May 13, 2014 |work=CNN}}</ref> The televised Senate Watergate hearings by this point had garnered nationwide attention and public interest.<ref>{{Cite journal |title='Gavel-to-Gavel': The Watergate Scandal and Public Television |url=https://americanarchive.org/exhibits/watergate/watergate-and-public-broadcasting |journal=American Archive of Public Broadcasting |access-date=November 10, 2019}}</ref>

Attorney General [[Elliot Richardson]] appointed [[Archibald Cox]] as a [[special prosecutor]] for Watergate in May. Cox obtained a [[subpoena]] for the tapes, but Nixon continued to resist. In the "[[Saturday Night Massacre]]" in October, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, after which Richardson resigned, as did his deputy [[William Ruckelshaus]]; Solicitor General [[Robert Bork]] carried out the order. The incident bolstered a growing public belief that Nixon had something to hide, but he continued to defend his innocence and said he was "not a crook.” In April 1974, Cox's replacement [[Leon Jaworski]] issued a subpoena for the tapes again, but Nixon only released edited transcripts of them. In July, the [[United States v. Nixon|Supreme Court ordered Nixon]] to release the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee [[Impeachment process against Richard Nixon|recommended that he be impeached]] for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. In one of the tapes, later known as "the smoking gun,” he ordered aides to tell the FBI to halt its investigation. On the verge of being impeached, [[Richard Nixon's resignation speech|Nixon resigned]] the presidency on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so. In all, 48 people were found guilty of Watergate-related crimes, but [[Pardon of Richard Nixon|Nixon was pardoned]] by his vice president and successor [[Gerald Ford]] on September 8.

Public response to the Watergate disclosures had electoral ramifications: the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] lost four seats in the Senate and 48 seats in the House at the [[1974 United States elections|1974 mid-term elections]], and Ford's pardon of Nixon is widely agreed to have contributed to [[1976 United States presidential election|his election defeat in 1976]]. A word combined with the suffix "[[-gate]]" has become widely used to name scandals, even outside the U.S.,<ref>Hamilton, Dagmar S. "The Nixon Impeachment and the Abuse of Presidential Power", In ''Watergate and Afterward: The Legacy of Richard M. Nixon.'' Leon Friedman and William F. Levantrosser, eds. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1992. {{ISBN|0-313-27781-8}}</ref><ref>Smith, Ronald D. and Richter, William Lee. ''Fascinating People and Astounding Events From American History.'' Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1993. {{ISBN|0-87436-693-3}}</ref><ref>Lull, James and Hinerman, Stephen. ''Media Scandals: Morality and Desire in the Popular Culture Marketplace.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-231-11165-7}}</ref> and especially in politics.<ref>Trahair, R.C.S. ''From Aristotelian to Reaganomics: A Dictionary of Eponyms With Biographies in the Social Sciences.'' Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. {{ISBN|0-313-27961-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 4, 2008 |title=El 'valijagate' sigue dando disgustos a Cristina Fernández &#124; Internacional |url=http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2008/11/04/actualidad/1225753214_850215.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702024125/http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2008/11/04/actualidad/1225753214_850215.html |archive-date=July 2, 2017 |access-date=July 28, 2014 |work=El País}}</ref>

== Wiretapping of the Democratic Party's headquarters ==
[[File:Government Exhibit 133, Chapstick Tubes with Hidden Microphones - NARA - 304967.jpg|thumb|During the break-in, [[E. Howard Hunt]] and [[G. Gordon Liddy]] remained in contact with each other and with the burglars by radio; these [[Chapstick]] tubes outfitted with tiny microphones were later discovered in Hunt's [[White House]] office safe.]]
[[File:Transistor radio used in the Watergate break-in.jpg|thumb|A [[transistor radio]] used in the Watergate break-in]]
[[File:Walkie-talkie used in Watergate break-in, circa 1970's.jpg|thumb|A [[walkie-talkie]] used in Watergate break-in]]
[[File:Watergate filing cabinets at DNC HQ.jpg|thumb|The DNC filing cabinet in the Watergate office building damaged by the burglars]]
On January 27, 1972, [[G. Gordon Liddy]], Finance Counsel for the [[Committee for the Re-Election of the President]] (CRP) and former aide to [[John Ehrlichman]], presented a campaign intelligence plan to CRP's acting chairman [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]], Attorney General [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]], and Presidential Counsel [[John Dean]]. The plot involved extensive illegal activities against the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. According to Dean, this marked "the opening scene of the worst political scandal of the twentieth century and the beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency".<ref name="Dean 2014">{{Cite book |last=Dean |first=John W. |url=https://archive.org/details/nixondefensewhat0000dean |title=The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It |date=2014 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-02536-7}}</ref>{{rp|p. xvii}}

Mitchell viewed the plan as unrealistic. Two months later, Mitchell approved a [[Operation Gemstone|reduced version]] of the plan, which included burglarizing the [[Democratic National Committee]]'s (DNC) headquarters at the [[Watergate Complex]] in Washington, D.C. to photograph campaign documents and install listening devices in telephones. Liddy has since insisted that he was duped by both Dean and at least two of his subordinates. This included former CIA officers [[E. Howard Hunt]] and [[James W. McCord Jr.|James McCord]], the latter of whom was serving as then-CRP Security Coordinator after John Mitchell resigned as attorney general to become the CRP chairman.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/><ref name="nixonmitchell">{{Cite news |last=Meyer |first=Lawrence |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/mitchobit.htm |title=John N. Mitchell, Principal in Watergate, Dies at 75 |date=November 10, 1988 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 22, 2017 |archive-date=August 30, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830004048/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/mitchobit.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May, McCord assigned former [[FBI]] agent [[Alfred C. Baldwin III]] to carry out the wiretapping and monitor the telephone conversations afterward.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rugaber |first=Walter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/18/archives/watergate-trial-in-closed-session-judge-clears-court-to-hear.html |title=Watergate Trial in Closed Session |date=January 18, 1973 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 21, 2018 |archive-date=April 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424141201/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/18/archives/watergate-trial-in-closed-session-judge-clears-court-to-hear.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On May 11, McCord arranged for Baldwin, whom investigative reporter [[Jim Hougan]] described as "somehow special and perhaps well known to McCord", to stay at the Howard Johnson's motel across the street from the Watergate complex.<ref name="Alfred C. Baldwin">{{Cite web|title=Alfred C. Baldwin|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKbaldwinA.htm|access-date=April 4, 2021|website=Spartacus Educational|archive-date=July 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702074624/http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKbaldwinA.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Room 419 was booked in the name of McCord's company.<ref name="Alfred C. Baldwin"/> At the behest of Liddy and Hunt, McCord and his team of burglars prepared for their first Watergate break-in, which began on May 28.<ref>G Gordon Liddy ( 1980). ''Will'', pp. 195, 226, 232, St. Martin's Press {{ISBN|978-0312880149}}</ref>
[[File:Impeach Nixon retouched.jpg|thumb|Demonstrators in Washington, DC, with sign "Impeach Nixon."]]
Two phones inside the DNC headquarters offices were said to have been [[wiretapped]].<ref name=mccordreturns /> One was [[Robert Spencer Oliver]]'s phone. At the time, Oliver was working as the executive director of the Association of State Democratic Chairmen. The other phone belonged to DNC chairman [[Larry O'Brien]]. The FBI found no evidence that O'Brien's phone was bugged;<ref>{{Cite web|title=Liddy Testifies in Watergate Trial|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121955&page=1|access-date=May 22, 2021|website=ABC News|language=en|archive-date=May 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519211646/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121955&page=1|url-status=live}}</ref> however, it was determined that an effective listening device was installed in Oliver's phone. While successful with installing the listening devices, the committee agents soon determined that they needed repairs. They plotted a second "burglary" to take care of the situation.<ref name="mccordreturns">{{Cite news |last=Pear |first=Robert |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/15/us/watergate-then-now-2-decades-after-political-burglary-questions-still-linger.html |title=Watergate, Then and Now – 2 Decades After a Political Burglary, the Questions Still Linger |date=June 14, 1992 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 18, 2015 |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408103144/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/15/us/watergate-then-now-2-decades-after-political-burglary-questions-still-linger.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sometime after midnight on Saturday, June 17, 1972, Watergate Complex security guard [[Frank Wills (security guard)|Frank Wills]] noticed tape covering the [[latches]] on some of the complex's doors leading from the underground parking garage to several offices, which allowed the doors to close but stay unlocked. He removed the tape, believing it was not in itself suspicious. When he returned a short time later and discovered that someone had re-taped the locks, he called the police.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=DeNeen |year=2017 |title='The Post' and the forgotten security guard who discovered the Watergate break-in |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/22/the-post-and-the-forgotten-security-guard-who-discovered-the-watergate-break-in/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624001736/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/22/the-post-and-the-forgotten-security-guard-who-discovered-the-watergate-break-in/ |archive-date=June 24, 2019 |access-date=November 7, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Police dispatched an unmarked police car with three plainclothes officers, Sgt. Paul W. Leeper, Officer John B. Barrett, and Officer Carl M. Shoffler, who were working the overnight shift; they were often referred to as the "bum squad" because they often dressed undercover as hippies and were on the lookout for drug deals and other street crimes. Alfred Baldwin, on "[[Lookout#Criminal definition|spotter]]" duty at the [[Howard Johnson's]] hotel across the street, was distracted watching the film ''[[Attack of the Puppet People]]'' on TV and did not observe the arrival of the police car in front of the Watergate building, nor did he see the plainclothes officers investigating the DNC's sixth floor suite of 29 offices. By the time Baldwin finally noticed unusual activity on the sixth floor and radioed the burglars, it was already too late.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Shirley|first=Craig|url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/06/20/the-bartenders-tale-how-the-watergate-burglars-got-caught/|title=The Bartender's Tale: How the Watergate Burglars Got Caught {{!}} Washingtonian|date=June 20, 2012|work=Washingtonian|access-date=March 31, 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=June 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607201216/https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/06/20/the-bartenders-tale-how-the-watergate-burglars-got-caught/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The police apprehended five men, later identified as [[Virgilio Gonzalez]], [[Bernard Barker]], [[James W. McCord Jr.|James McCord]], [[Eugenio Martínez]], and [[Frank Sturgis]].<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/> They were criminally charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported the day after the burglary that, "police found lock-picks and door jimmies, almost $2,300 in cash, most of it in $100 bills with the serial numbers in sequence... a shortwave receiver that could pick up police calls, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras and three pen-sized tear gas guns".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Alfred E. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31/AR2005111001227.html |title=5 Held in Plot to Bug Democrats' Office Here |date=June 18, 1972 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=June 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622093133/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31/AR2005111001227.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Post would later report that the actual amount of cash was $5,300.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/080172-1.htm|title= Bug Suspect Got Campaign Funds|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618011526/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/080172-1.htm|archive-date=June 18, 2022|date=June 18, 2022|quote=About 53 of these $100 bills were found on the five men after they were arrested at the Watergate.|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

The following morning, Sunday, June 18, G. Gordon Liddy called Jeb Magruder in [[Los Angeles]] and informed him that "the four men arrested with McCord were Cuban freedom fighters, whom Howard Hunt recruited". Initially, Nixon's organization and the [[White House]] quickly went to work to cover up the crime and any evidence that might have damaged the president and his reelection.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Genovese |first=Michael A. |url=https://archive.org/details/watergatecrisis00geno |title=The Watergate Crisis |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0313298783 |location=Westport, CN}}</ref>

On September 15, 1972, a [[grand jury]] indicted the five office burglars, as well as Hunt and Liddy,<ref name="congressional quarterly vol 1.">{{Cite book |last1=Dickinson |first1=William B. |url=https://archive.org/details/watergatechronol0000unse/page/4 |title=Watergate: Chronology of a Crisis |last2=Mercer Cross |last3=Barry Polsky |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Inc. |year=1973 |isbn=0-87187-059-2 |volume=1 |location=Washington D. C. |page=[https://archive.org/details/watergatechronol0000unse/page/4 4] |oclc=20974031}}</ref> for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The burglars were tried by a jury, with Judge [[John Sirica]] officiating, and pled guilty or were convicted on January 30, 1973.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sirica, John J. |url=https://archive.org/details/tosetrecordstrai00siri/page/44 |title=To Set the Record Straight: The Break-in, the Tapes, the Conspirators, the Pardon |publisher=Norton |year=1979 |isbn=0-393-01234-4 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/tosetrecordstrai00siri/page/44 44]}}</ref>

=== Initial cover-up ===
[[File:Address Book of Watergate Burglar Bernard Barker, Discovered in a Room at the Watergate Hotel, June 18, 1972 - NARA - 304966.tif|thumb|Address book of Watergate burglar Bernard Barker, discovered in a room at the Watergate Hotel, June 18, 1972]]

Within hours of the burglars' arrests, the FBI discovered [[E. Howard Hunt]]'s name in Barker and Martínez's address books. Nixon administration officials were concerned because Hunt and Liddy were also involved in a separate secret activity known as the "[[White House Plumbers]]", which was established to stop security "[[News leak|leaks]]" and investigate other sensitive security matters. Dean later testified that top Nixon aide [[John Ehrlichman]] ordered him to "[[wikt:deep six|deep six]]" the contents of Howard Hunt's White House safe. Ehrlichman subsequently denied this. In the end, Dean and [[L. Patrick Gray]], the FBI's acting director, (in separate operations) destroyed the evidence from Hunt's safe.

Nixon's own reaction to the break-in, at least initially, was one of skepticism. Watergate prosecutor James Neal was sure that Nixon had not known in advance of the break-in. As evidence, he cited a conversation taped on June 23 between the President and his chief of staff, [[H. R. Haldeman]], in which Nixon asked, "Who was the asshole that did that?"<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/exhibit_01.pdf |title=Transcript of a Recording of a Meeting Between The President And H.R. Haldeman in the Oval Office On June 23, 1972 From 10:04 To 11:39 a.m. |website=Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum |access-date=September 10, 2018 |archive-date=August 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828075741/https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/exhibit_01.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Nixon subsequently ordered Haldeman to have the CIA block the FBI's investigation into the source of the funding for the burglary.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/06/archives/nixon-ordered-that-the-fbi-be-told-dont-go-any-further-into-this.html|work=The New York Times|date=August 6, 1974|title=Nixon Ordered That the F.B.I. Be Told: 'Don't Go Any Further Into This Case'|author=John M. Crewdson|access-date=September 24, 2023|archive-date=August 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819170548/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/06/archives/nixon-ordered-that-the-fbi-be-told-dont-go-any-further-into-this.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A few days later, Nixon's press secretary, [[Ron Ziegler]], described the event as "a third-rate burglary attempt". On August 29, at a news conference, Nixon stated that Dean had conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, when Dean had actually not conducted any investigations at all. Nixon furthermore said, "I can say categorically that&nbsp;... no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident." On September 15, Nixon congratulated Dean, saying, "The way you've handled it, it seems to me, has been very skillful, because you—putting your fingers in the dikes every time that leaks have sprung here and sprung there."<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/>

=== Kidnapping of Martha Mitchell ===
{{main|Martha Mitchell#June 1972 kidnapping, aftermath and vindication}}

[[Martha Mitchell]] was the wife of Nixon's [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]], [[John N. Mitchell]], who had recently resigned his role so that he could become campaign manager for Nixon's [[Committee for the Re-Election of the President]] (CRP). John Mitchell was aware that Martha knew McCord, one of the Watergate burglars who had been arrested, and that upon finding out, she was likely to speak to the media. In his opinion, her knowing McCord was likely to link the Watergate burglary to Nixon. John Mitchell instructed guards in her security detail not to let her contact the media.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brockell|first=Gillian|title='I'm a political prisoner': Mouthy Martha Mitchell was the George Conway of the Nixon era|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/21/im-political-prisoner-how-martha-mitchell-became-george-conway-nixon-era/|access-date=November 17, 2020|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125022741/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/21/im-political-prisoner-how-martha-mitchell-became-george-conway-nixon-era/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In June 1972, during a phone call with [[United Press International]] reporter [[Helen Thomas]], Martha Mitchell informed Thomas that she was leaving her husband until he resigned from the CRP.<ref name="Cadden">{{Cite web |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/Watergate/Watergate%20Items%2004357%20to%2004655/Watergate%2004358.pdf |title=Martha Mitchell: the Day the Laughing Stopped |last=Cadden |first=Vivian |date=July 1973 |website=The Harold Weisberg Archive |publisher=McCall's Magazine |access-date=October 14, 2019 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622233058/http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/Watergate/Watergate%20Items%2004357%20to%2004655/Watergate%2004358.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The phone call ended abruptly. A few days later, [[Marcia Kramer]], a veteran crime reporter of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'', tracked Mitchell to the [[Westchester Country Club]] in Rye, New York, and described Mitchell as "a beaten woman" with visible bruises.<ref name="STEIN">{{Cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-watergate-stephen-king-martha-mitchell-richard-nixon-john-744823.html |title=Trump Ambassador Beat and 'Kidnapped' Woman in Watergate Cover-Up: Reports |last=Stein |first=Jeff |date=December 11, 2017 |website=Newsweek |access-date=September 12, 2019 |archive-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901183117/https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-watergate-stephen-king-martha-mitchell-richard-nixon-john-744823.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Mitchell reported that, during the week following the Watergate burglary, she had been held captive in a hotel in California, and that security guard [[Steve King (ambassador)|Steve King]] ended her call to Thomas by pulling the phone cord from the wall.<ref name="STEIN" /><ref name="Cadden" /> Mitchell made several attempts to escape via the balcony, but was physically accosted, injured, and forcefully sedated by a psychiatrist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reeves |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentnixon00rich |title=President Nixon : alone in the White House |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2002 |isbn=0-7432-2719-0 |edition=1st Touchstone ed. 2002. |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/presidentnixon00rich/page/511 511] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McLendon |first=Winzola |url=https://archive.org/details/marthalifeofmart00mcle |title=Martha: The Life of Martha Mitchell |year=1979 |publisher=Random House |isbn=9780394411248 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Following conviction for his role in the Watergate burglary, in February 1975, McCord admitted that Mitchell had been "basically kidnapped", and corroborated her reports of the event.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/19/archives/mccord-declares-that-mrs-mitchell-was-forcibly-held-comment-from.html |title=McCord Declares That Mrs. Mitchell Was Forcibly Held |date=February 19, 1975 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 12, 2019 |archive-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020100156/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/19/archives/mccord-declares-that-mrs-mitchell-was-forcibly-held-comment-from.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Money trail ===
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2016}}

On June 19, 1972, the press reported that one of the Watergate burglars was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] security aide.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://watergate.info/chronology/brief-timeline-of-events |title=Brief Timeline of Events |publisher=Malcolm Farnsworth |access-date=May 24, 2012 |archive-date=May 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519151808/http://watergate.info/chronology/brief-timeline-of-events |url-status=live }}</ref> Former attorney general John Mitchell, who was then the head of the CRP, denied any involvement with the Watergate break-in. He also disavowed any knowledge whatsoever of the five burglars.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/obituaries/john-n-mitchell-dies-at-75-major-figure-in-watergate.html |title=John N. Mitchell Dies at 75; Major Figure in Watergate |date=November 10, 1988 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 25, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215204224/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/obituaries/john-n-mitchell-dies-at-75-major-figure-in-watergate.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/mitchobit.htm |title=John N. Mitchell, Principal in Watergate, Dies at 75 |last=Meyer |first=Lawrence |date=November 10, 1988 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 22, 2017 |archive-date=August 30, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830004048/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/mitchobit.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> On August 1, a $25,000 (approximately ${{Inflation|US|25000|1972|r=-3|fmt=c}} in {{inflation-year|US}} dollars) [[cashier's check]] was found to have been deposited in the US and Mexican bank accounts of one of the Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker. Made out to the finance committee of the Committee to Reelect the President, the check was a 1972 campaign donation by [[Kenneth H. Dahlberg#Watergate|Kenneth H. Dahlberg]]. This money (and several other checks which had been lawfully donated to the CRP) had been directly used to finance the burglary and wiretapping expenses, including hardware and supplies.

Barker's multiple national and international businesses all had separate bank accounts, which he was found to have attempted to use to disguise the true origin of the money being paid to the burglars. The donor's checks demonstrated the burglars' direct link to the finance committee of the CRP.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Donations totaling $86,000 (${{Inflation|US|86000|1972|r=-3|fmt=c}} today) were made by individuals who believed they were making private donations by certified and cashier's checks for the president's re-election. Investigators' examination of the bank records of a Miami company run by Watergate burglar Barker revealed an account controlled by him personally had deposited a check and then transferred it through the [[Federal Reserve System#Check clearing system|Federal Reserve Check Clearing System]].

The investigation by the FBI, which cleared Barker's bank of fiduciary malfeasance, led to the direct implication of members of the CRP, to whom the checks had been delivered. Those individuals were the committee bookkeeper and its treasurer, [[Hugh Sloan]].

As a private organization, the committee followed the normal business practice in allowing only duly authorized individuals to accept and endorse checks on behalf of the committee. No financial institution could accept or process a check on behalf of the committee unless a duly authorized individual endorsed it. The checks deposited into Barker's bank account were endorsed by Committee treasurer Hugh Sloan, who was authorized by the finance committee. However, once Sloan had endorsed a check made payable to the committee, he had a legal and fiduciary responsibility to see that the check was deposited only into the accounts named on the check. Sloan failed to do that. When confronted with the potential charge of federal bank fraud, he revealed that committee deputy director [[Jeb Magruder]] and finance director [[Maurice Stans]] had directed him to give the money to [[G. Gordon Liddy]].

Liddy, in turn, gave the money to Barker and attempted to hide its origin. Barker tried to disguise the funds by depositing them into accounts in banks outside of the United States. Unbeknownst to Barker, Liddy, and Sloan, the complete record of all such transactions was held for roughly six months. Barker's use of foreign banks in April and May 1972 to deposit checks and withdraw the funds via cashier's checks and money orders, resulted in the banks keeping the entire transaction records until October and November 1972.

All five Watergate burglars were directly or indirectly tied to the 1972 CRP, thus causing Judge Sirica to suspect a conspiracy involving higher-echelon government officials.<ref>Quote: "There were still simply too many unanswered questions in the case. By that time, thinking about the break-in and reading about it, I'd have had to be some kind of moron to believe that no other people were involved. No political campaign committee would turn over so much money to a man like Gordon Liddy without someone higher up in the organization approving the transaction. How could I not see that? These questions about the case were on my mind during a pretrial session in my courtroom on December 4."
{{Cite book |last=Sirica, John J. |url=https://archive.org/details/tosetrecordstrai00siri/page/56 |title=To Set the Record Straight: The Break-in, the Tapes, the Conspirators, the Pardon |publisher=Norton |year=1979 |isbn=0-393-01234-4 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/tosetrecordstrai00siri/page/56 56]}}</ref>

On September 29, 1972, the press reported that John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance intelligence-gathering against the Democrats. On October 10, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that the FBI had determined that the Watergate break-in was part of a widespread campaign of political spying and sabotage on behalf of the Nixon re-election committee. Despite these revelations, Nixon's campaign was never seriously jeopardized; on November 7, the [[1972 United States presidential election|President was re-elected]] in one of the biggest landslides in American political history.

=== Role of the media ===
The connection between the break-in and the re-election committee was highlighted by media coverage—in particular, investigative coverage by ''[[The Washington Post]]'', ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', and ''[[The New York Times]]''. The coverage dramatically increased publicity and consequent political and legal repercussions. Relying heavily upon [[anonymous sources]], ''Post'' reporters [[Bob Woodward]] and [[Carl Bernstein]] uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of the break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the upper reaches of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and the White House. Woodward and Bernstein interviewed [[Judy Hoback Miller]], the bookkeeper for Nixon's re-election campaign, who revealed to them information about the mishandling of funds and records being destroyed.<ref>[http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/06/woodward-and-bernstein-downplay-deep-throat-125950.html "Woodward Downplays Deep Throat"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619092918/http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/06/woodward-and-bernstein-downplay-deep-throat-125950.html |date=June 19, 2012 }}, ''Politico''. blog, June 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2015</ref><ref name="watergate_case_study_jm_perry_columbia_edu" />

[[File:Watergate garage with historic marker.jpg|thumb|Garage in Rosslyn where Woodward and Felt met. Also visible is the historical marker erected by the county to note its significance.]]

Chief among the ''Post's'' anonymous sources was an individual whom Woodward and Bernstein had nicknamed [[Deep Throat (Watergate)|Deep Throat]]; 33 years later, in 2005, the informant was identified as [[Mark Felt]], deputy director of the FBI during that period of the 1970s, something Woodward later confirmed. Felt met secretly with Woodward several times, telling him of Howard Hunt's involvement with the Watergate break-in, and that the White House staff regarded the stakes in Watergate as extremely high. Felt warned Woodward that the FBI wanted to know where he and other reporters were getting their information, as they were uncovering a wider web of crimes than the FBI first disclosed. All the secret meetings between Woodward and Felt took place at an underground parking garage in [[Rosslyn, Virginia|Rosslyn]] over a period from June 1972 to January 1973. Prior to resigning from the FBI on June 22, 1973, Felt also anonymously planted [[News leak|leaks]] about Watergate with [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]], ''[[The Washington Daily News]]'' and other publications.<ref name="watergate_case_study_jm_perry_columbia_edu" /><ref name="Holland">[http://www.pressherald.com/2012/02/19/the-profound-lies-of-deep-throat_2012-02-19/ "The profound lies of Deep Throat"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202043015/http://www.pressherald.com/2012/02/19/the-profound-lies-of-deep-throat_2012-02-19/ |date=February 2, 2017 }}, ''The Miami Herald'', republished in Portland Press Herald, February 14, 2012</ref>

During this early period, most of the media failed to understand the full implications of the scandal, and concentrated reporting on other topics related to the 1972 presidential election.<ref name="TimeWatergateCoverage">{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943934-1,00.html |title=Covering Watergate: Success and Backlash |date=July 8, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-date=June 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602032102/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943934-1,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Most outlets ignored or downplayed Woodward and Bernstein's scoops; the crosstown ''[[Washington Star-News]]'' and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' even ran stories incorrectly discrediting the ''Post's'' articles. After the ''Post'' revealed that [[H.R. Haldeman]] had made payments from the secret fund, newspapers like the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' and ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'' failed to publish the information, but did publish the White House's denial of the story the following day.<ref name="BoysontheBus">Crouse, Timothy (1973).''The Boys on the Bus'', Random House, p. 298</ref> The White House also sought to isolate the ''Post's'' coverage by tirelessly attacking that newspaper while declining to criticize other damaging stories about the scandal from the ''[[New York Times]]'' and [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]].<ref name="BoysontheBus" /><ref name="watergate_case_study_jm_perry_columbia_edu" />

After it was learned that one of the convicted burglars had written to Judge Sirica alleging a high-level cover-up, the media shifted its focus. ''Time'' magazine described Nixon as undergoing "daily hell and very little trust". The distrust between the press and the Nixon administration was mutual and greater than usual due to lingering dissatisfaction with events from the [[Vietnam War]]. At the same time, public distrust of the media was polled at more than 40%.<ref name=TimeWatergateCoverage />

Nixon and top administration officials discussed using government agencies to "get" (or retaliate against) those they perceived as hostile media organizations.<ref name=TimeWatergateCoverage /> Such actions had been taken before. At the request of Nixon's White House in 1969, the FBI tapped the phones of five reporters. In 1971, the White House requested an audit of the tax return of the editor of ''[[Newsday]]'', after he wrote a series of articles about the financial dealings of [[Charles Rebozo|Charles "Bebe" Rebozo]], a friend of Nixon.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911434-3,00.html |title=The Nation: More Evidence: Huge Case for Judgment |date=July 29, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521074309/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911434-3,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The administration and its supporters accused the media of making "wild accusations", putting too much emphasis on the story and of having a liberal bias against the administration.<ref name="watergate_case_study_jm_perry_columbia_edu" /><ref name=TimeWatergateCoverage /> Nixon said in a May 1974 interview with supporter [[Baruch Korff]] that if he had followed the liberal policies that he thought the media preferred, "Watergate would have been a blip."<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942981-11,00.html |title=The Nixon Years: Down from the Mountaintop |date=August 19, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521074203/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942981-11,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The media noted that most of the reporting turned out to be accurate; the competitive nature of the media guaranteed widespread coverage of the far-reaching political scandal.<ref name=TimeWatergateCoverage />

=== Scandal escalates ===
Rather than ending with the conviction and sentencing to prison of the five Watergate burglars on January 30, 1973, the investigation into the break-in and the Nixon Administration's involvement grew broader. "Nixon's conversations in late March and all of April 1973 revealed that not only did he know he needed to remove Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean to gain distance from them, but he had to do so in a way that was least likely to incriminate him and his presidency. Nixon created a new conspiracy—to effect a cover-up of the cover-up—which began in late March 1973 and became fully formed in May and June 1973, operating until his presidency ended on August 9, 1974."<ref name="Dean 2014" />{{rp|p. 344}} On March 23, 1973, Judge Sirica read the court a letter from Watergate burglar [[James W. McCord Jr.|James McCord]], who alleged that [[perjury]] had been committed in the Watergate trial, and defendants had been pressured to remain silent. In an attempt to make them talk, Sirica gave Hunt and two burglars provisional sentences of up to 40 years.

Urged by Nixon, on March 28, aide John Ehrlichman told Attorney General [[Richard Kleindienst]] that nobody in the White House had had prior knowledge of the burglary. On April 13, Magruder told U.S. attorneys that he had perjured himself during the burglars' trial, and implicated John Dean and John Mitchell.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/>

John Dean believed that he, Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman could go to the prosecutors, tell the truth, and save the presidency. Dean wanted to protect the president and have his four closest men take the fall for telling the truth. During the critical meeting between Dean and Nixon on April 15, 1973, Dean was totally unaware of the president's depth of knowledge and involvement in the Watergate cover-up. It was during this meeting that Dean felt that he was being recorded. He wondered if this was due to the way Nixon was speaking, as if he were trying to prod attendees' recollections of earlier conversations about fundraising. Dean mentioned this observation while testifying to the Senate Committee on Watergate, exposing the thread of what were taped conversations that would unravel the fabric of the conspiracy.<ref name="Dean 2014" />{{rp|pp. 415–416}}

Two days later, Dean told Nixon that he had been cooperating with the [[U.S. attorneys]]. On that same day, U.S. attorneys told Nixon that Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, and other White House officials were implicated in the cover-up.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/><ref name="UPI 1973 in Review">{{Cite web |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1973/Watergate-Scandal/12305770297723-4/ |title=Watergate Scandal, 1973 Year in Review |date=September 8, 1973 |access-date=June 17, 2010 |work=United Press International |archive-date=July 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722184318/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1973/Watergate-Scandal/12305770297723-4 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"When Judge Sirica finished reading the letter, the courtroom exploded with excitement and reporters ran to the rear entrance to phone their newspapers. The bailiff kept banging for silence. It was a stunning development, exactly what I had been waiting for. Perjury at the trial. The involvement of others. It looked as if Watergate was about to break wide open."
{{Cite book |last=Dash, Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/chiefcounselinsi00dash/page/30 |title=Chief Counsel: Inside the Ervin Committee – The Untold Story of Watergate |publisher=Random House |year=1976 |isbn=0-394-40853-5 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/chiefcounselinsi00dash/page/30 30] |oclc=2388043}}</ref>

On April 30, Nixon asked for the resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, two of his most influential aides. They were both later indicted, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to prison. He asked for the resignation of Attorney General Kleindienst, to ensure no one could claim that his innocent friendship with Haldeman and Ehrlichman could be construed as a conflict. He fired [[White House Counsel]] John Dean, who went on to testify before the [[Senate Watergate Committee]] and said that he believed and suspected the conversations in the Oval Office were being taped. This information became the bombshell that helped force Richard Nixon to resign rather than be impeached.<ref name="Dean 2014" />{{rp|pp. 610–620}}

Writing from prison for ''New West'' and ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazines in 1977, Ehrlichman claimed Nixon had offered him a large sum of money, which he declined.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090205143412/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918947-2,00.html "Sequels: Nixon: Once More, with Feeling"], ''Time'', May 16, 1977</ref>

The President announced the resignations in an address to the American people:

{{blockquote|Today, in one of the most difficult decisions of my Presidency, I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. [...] Because Attorney General Kleindienst, though a distinguished public servant, my personal friend for 20 years, with no personal involvement whatever in this matter has been a close personal and professional associate of some of those who are involved in this case, he and I both felt that it was also necessary to name a new Attorney General. The [[Counsel to the President]], John Dean, has also resigned.<ref name="UPI 1973 in Review" /><ref name="April 30, 1974 video">{{cite web |title=April 30, 1973: Address to the Nation About the Watergate Investigations |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-30-1973-address-nation-about-watergate-investigations |website=Presidential Speeches – Richard M. Nixon Presidency |date=October 20, 2016 |publisher=University of Virginia Miller Center |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230312/https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-30-1973-address-nation-about-watergate-investigations |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

On the same day, April 30, Nixon appointed a new attorney general, [[Elliot Richardson]], and gave him authority to designate a special counsel for the Watergate investigation who would be independent of the regular [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] hierarchy. In May 1973, Richardson named [[Archibald Cox]] to the position.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/>

=== Senate Watergate hearings and revelation of the Watergate tapes ===
{{Main|Nixon White House tapes}}
{{See also|United States Senate Watergate Committee|G. Bradford Cook}}
[[File:ThompsonWatergate.jpg|thumb|Minority counsel [[Fred Thompson]], [[ranking member]] [[Howard Baker]], and chair [[Sam Ervin]] of the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973]]

On February 7, 1973, the United States Senate voted 77-to-0 to approve 93 {{USBill|93|S. Res.|60}} and establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with [[Sam Ervin]] named chairman the next day.<ref name="TimeRetrospective">[https://web.archive.org/web/20121107191632/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942983-1,00.html "Watergate Retrospective: The Decline and Fall"], ''Time'', August 19, 1974</ref> The hearings held by the Senate committee, in which Dean and other former administration officials testified, were broadcast from May&nbsp;17 to August&nbsp;7. The three major networks of the time agreed to take turns covering the hearings live, each network thus maintaining coverage of the hearings every third day, starting with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on May&nbsp;17 and ending with [[NBC]] on August&nbsp;7. An estimated 85% of Americans with television sets tuned into at least one portion of the hearings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/watergate.htm |title=Watergate |last=Garay |first=Ronald |website=The Museum of Broadcast Communication |access-date=January 17, 2007 |archive-date=June 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605220734/http://www.museum.tv/eotv/watergate.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On Friday, July 13, during a preliminary interview, deputy minority counsel [[Donald Sanders]] asked White House assistant [[Alexander Butterfield]] if there was any type of recording system in the White House.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kranish |first=Michael |url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/04/not_all_would_put_a_heroic_sheen_on_thompsons_watergate_role/?page=2 |title=Select Chronology for Donald G. Sanders |date=July 4, 2007 |work=Boston Globe |access-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213236/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/04/not_all_would_put_a_heroic_sheen_on_thompsons_watergate_role/?page=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Butterfield said he was reluctant to answer, but finally admitted there was a new system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the [[Oval Office]], the [[Cabinet Room (White House)|Cabinet Room]] and others, as well as Nixon's private office in the [[Old Executive Office Building]].

On Monday, July 16, in front of a live, televised audience, chief minority counsel [[Fred Thompson]] asked Butterfield whether he was "aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president". Butterfield's revelation of the taping system transformed the Watergate investigation. Cox immediately subpoenaed the tapes, as did the Senate, but Nixon refused to release them, citing his [[executive privilege]] as president, and ordered Cox to drop his subpoena. Cox refused.<ref name="UPI 1973 in Review" />

=== Saturday Night Massacre ===
{{Main|Saturday Night Massacre}}

On October 20, 1973, after Cox, the special prosecutor, refused to drop the subpoena, Nixon ordered Attorney General [[Elliot Richardson]] to fire him. Richardson resigned in protest rather than carry out the order. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General [[William Ruckelshaus]] to fire Cox, but Ruckelshaus also resigned rather than fire him. Nixon's search for someone in the Justice Department willing to fire Cox ended with Solicitor General [[Robert Bork]]. Though Bork said he believed Nixon's order was valid and appropriate, he considered resigning to avoid being "perceived as a man who did the President's bidding to save my job".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Noble |first=Kenneth |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/02/us/bork-irked-by-emphasis-on-his-role-in-watergate.html |title=Bork Irked by Emphasis on His Role in Watergate |date=July 2, 1987 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 26, 2009 |archive-date=September 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901010849/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/02/us/bork-irked-by-emphasis-on-his-role-in-watergate.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Bork carried out the presidential order and dismissed the special prosecutor.

These actions met considerable public criticism. Responding to the allegations of possible wrongdoing, in front of 400 [[Associated Press]] managing editors at [[Disney's Contemporary Resort]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-nixon-watergate-and-walt-disney-world-20161028-story.html |title=Nixon, Watergate and Walt Disney World? There is a connection |last=Pope |first=Rich |website=Orlando Sentinel |date=October 31, 2016 |access-date=April 8, 2017 |archive-date=April 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409020951/http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-nixon-watergate-and-walt-disney-world-20161028-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1117.html#article |title=Nixon Declares He Didn't Profit From Public Life |last=Apple |first=R.W. Jr. |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 22, 2017 |archive-date=September 7, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010907045420/https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1117.html#article |url-status=live }}</ref> on November 17, 1973, Nixon emphatically stated, "Well, I am not a crook."<ref>{{cite web |title=Question-and-Answer Session at the Annual Convention of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, Orlando, Florida {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/question-and-answer-session-the-annual-convention-the-associated-press-managing-editors |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu |quote=Well, I am not a crook |access-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716083931/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/question-and-answer-session-the-annual-convention-the-associated-press-managing-editors |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kilpatrick |first=Carroll |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/111873-1.htm |title=Nixon Tells Editors, 'I'm Not a Crook |date=November 18, 1973 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 22, 2017 |archive-date=November 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130062554/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/111873-1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> He needed to allow Bork to appoint a new special prosecutor; Bork, with Nixon's approval, chose [[Leon Jaworski]] to continue the investigation.<ref>{{Cite news |author=John Herbers |date=November 2, 1973 |title=Nixon Names Saxbe Attorney General; Jaworski Appointed Special Prosecutor |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/02/archives/nixon-names-saxbe-attorney-general-jaworski-appointed-special.html |access-date=December 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229172733/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/02/archives/nixon-names-saxbe-attorney-general-jaworski-appointed-special.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Legal action against Nixon administration members ===
On March 1, 1974, a [[grand jury]] in Washington, D.C., indicted several former aides of Nixon, who became known as the "[[Watergate Seven]]"—[[H. R. Haldeman]], [[John Ehrlichman]], [[John N. Mitchell]], [[Charles Colson]], [[Gordon C. Strachan]], [[Robert Mardian]], and [[Kenneth Parkinson]]—for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation. The grand jury secretly named Nixon as an [[unindicted co-conspirator]]. The special prosecutor dissuaded them from an indictment of Nixon, arguing that a president can be indicted only after he leaves office.<ref name="TimeLegal">{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942980,00.html |title=The Legal Aftermath Citizen Nixon and the Law |date=August 19, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-date=December 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221055507/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942980,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> John Dean, [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]], and other figures had already pleaded guilty. On April 5, 1974, [[Dwight Chapin]], the former Nixon appointments secretary, was convicted of lying to the grand jury. Two days later, the same grand jury indicted [[Ed Reinecke]], the Republican [[Lieutenant Governor of California]], on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee.

=== Release of the transcripts ===
[[File:Nixon E2679c-09A.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|President Nixon explaining release of edited transcripts, April 29, 1974]]

The Nixon administration struggled to decide what materials to release. All parties involved agreed that all pertinent information should be released. Whether to release unedited [[profanity]] and vulgarity divided his advisers. His legal team favored releasing the tapes unedited, while Press Secretary [[Ron Ziegler]] preferred using an edited version where "[[expletive deleted]]" would replace the raw material. After several weeks of debate, they decided to release an edited version. Nixon announced the release of the transcripts in a speech to the nation on April 29, 1974. Nixon noted that any audio pertinent to national security information could be [[redacted]] from the released tapes.<ref>Theodore White. ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1370091&referer=brief_results Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427094543/http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1370091%26referer%3Dbrief_results |date=April 27, 2009 }}''. Reader's Digest Press, Athineum Publishers, 1975, pp. 296–298</ref>

Initially, Nixon gained a positive reaction for his speech. As people read the transcripts over the next couple of weeks, however, former supporters among the public, media and political community called for Nixon's resignation or impeachment. Vice President [[Gerald Ford]] said, "While it may be easy to delete characterization from the printed page, we cannot delete characterization from people's minds with a wave of the hand."<ref name=woodward/> The Senate Republican Leader [[Hugh Scott]] said the transcripts revealed a "deplorable, disgusting, shabby, and immoral" performance on the part of the President and his former aides.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.mcall.com/1994/07/26/hugh-scott-a-dedicated-public-servant/ |title=Obituary: Hugh Scott, A Dedicated Public Servant |date=July 26, 1994 |work=The Morning Call |access-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-date=December 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211142914/http://articles.mcall.com/1994-07-26/news/2994945_1_mr-scott-white-house-hugh-scott |url-status=live }}</ref> The House Republican Leader [[John Jacob Rhodes]] agreed with Scott, and Rhodes recommended that if Nixon's position continued to deteriorate, he "ought to consider resigning as a possible option".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19740510-01.2.43 |title=GOP Leaders Favour Stepdown |date=May 10, 1974 |work=The Stanford Daily |access-date=December 8, 2015 |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203125010/http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19740510-01.2.43 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The editors of ''[[The Chicago Tribune]]'', a newspaper that had supported Nixon, wrote, "He is humorless to the point of being inhumane. He is devious. He is vacillating. He is profane. He is willing to be led. He displays dismaying gaps in knowledge. He is suspicious of his staff. His loyalty is minimal."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patricia Sullivan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1123-2004Jun23.html |title=Obituary: Clayton Kirkpatrick, 89; Chicago Tribune Editor |date=June 24, 2004 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-date=December 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211002628/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1123-2004Jun23.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''[[Providence Journal]]'' wrote, "Reading the transcripts is an emetic experience; one comes away feeling unclean."<ref name=timemay20/><!-- COPY OF TIME EXCERPT: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg-Watergate%20Files/Tapes%20Release/Tape%20Release%2039.pdf --> This newspaper continued that, while the transcripts may not have revealed an indictable offense, they showed Nixon contemptuous of the United States, its institutions, and its people. According to ''Time'' magazine, the Republican Party leaders in the [[Western U.S.]] felt that while there remained a significant number of Nixon loyalists in the party, the majority believed that Nixon should step down as quickly as possible. They were disturbed by the bad language and the coarse, vindictive tone of the conversations in the transcripts.<ref name="timemay20">{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740520,00.html |title=Time |date=May 20, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |issue=20 |volume=103 |archive-date=January 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104130807/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740520,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740513,00.html |title=Time |date=May 13, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011 |issue=19 |volume=103 |archive-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117202738/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601740513,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Supreme Court ===
The issue of access to the tapes went to the United States Supreme Court. On July 24, 1974, in ''[[United States v. Nixon]]'', the Court ruled unanimously (8–0) that claims of executive privilege over the tapes were void. (Then-Associate Justice [[William Rehnquist]]—who had recently been appointed to the Court by Nixon and most recently served in the Nixon Justice Department as Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel—recused himself from the case.) The Court ordered the President to release the tapes to the special prosecutor. On July 30, 1974, Nixon complied with the order and released the subpoenaed tapes to the public.

=== Release of the tapes ===
The tapes revealed several crucial conversations<ref>Kutler, S. (1997). ''Abuse of Power'', p. 247. Simon & Schuster.</ref> that took place between the president and his counsel, John Dean, on March&nbsp;21, 1973. In this conversation, Dean summarized many aspects of the Watergate case, and focused on the subsequent cover-up, describing it as a "cancer on the presidency". The burglary team was being paid [[hush money]] for their silence and Dean stated: "That's the most troublesome post-thing, because Bob [Haldeman] is involved in that; John [Ehrlichman] is involved in that; I am involved in that; Mitchell is involved in that. And that's an obstruction of justice." Dean continued, saying that Howard Hunt was blackmailing the White House demanding money immediately. Nixon replied that the money should be paid: "...&nbsp; just looking at the immediate problem, don't you have to have—handle Hunt's financial situation damn soon?&nbsp;... you've got to keep the cap on the bottle that much, in order to have any options".<ref name="nixonlibrary.gov">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/wspf/886-008.pdf |title=Transcript Prepared by the Impeachment Inquiry Staff for the House Judiciary Committee of a Recording of a Meeting Among the President, John Dean and H.R. Haldeman on March 21, 1973 from 10:12 to 11:55&nbsp;am |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721060530/http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/wspf/886-008.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the time of the initial congressional proceedings, it was not known if Nixon had known and approved of the payments to the Watergate defendants earlier than this conversation. Nixon's conversation with Haldeman on August&nbsp;1, is one of several that establishes he did. Nixon said: "Well&nbsp;... they have to be paid. That's all there is to that. They have to be paid."<ref>Kutler, S. (1997). ''Abuse of Power'', p. 111. Simon & Schuster, Transcribed conversation between President Nixon and Haldeman.</ref> During the congressional debate on impeachment, some believed that impeachment required a criminally indictable offense. Nixon's agreement to make the blackmail payments was regarded as an affirmative act to obstruct justice.<ref name="woodward">Bernstein, C. and Woodward, B. (1976).''The Final Days'', p. 252. New York: Simon & Schuster.</ref>

On December 7, investigators found that an [[18½ minute gap|18½-minute portion]] of one recorded tape had been erased. [[Rose Mary Woods]], Nixon's longtime personal secretary, said she had accidentally erased the tape by pushing the wrong pedal on her tape player when answering the phone. The press ran photos of the set-up, showing that it was unlikely for Woods to answer the phone while keeping her foot on the pedal. Later [[forensic]] analysis in 2003 determined that the tape had been erased in several segments—at least five, and perhaps as many as nine.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clymer |first=Adam |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/09/us/national-archives-has-given-up-on-filling-the-nixon-tape-gap.html |title=National Archives Has Given Up on Filling the Nixon Tape Gap |date=May 9, 2003 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 17, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527231832/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/09/us/national-archives-has-given-up-on-filling-the-nixon-tape-gap.html |archive-date=May 27, 2015}}</ref>

== Final investigations and resignation ==
{{main|Impeachment process against Richard Nixon}}
{{Listen
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Nixon's position was becoming increasingly precarious. On February 6, 1974, the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] approved {{USBill|93|H. Res.|803}} giving the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate impeachment of the President.<ref name="USCongRec|1974|H2349">{{USCongRec|1974|H2349}}-50</ref><ref name="USCongRec|1974|H2362">{{USCongRec|1974|H2362}}-63</ref> On July 27, 1974, the [[House Judiciary Committee]] voted 27-to-11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against the president: [[obstruction of justice]]. The Committee recommended the second article, [[abuse of power]], on July 29, 1974. The next day, on July 30, 1974, the Committee recommended the third article: [[contempt of Congress]]. On August 20, 1974, the House authorized the printing of the Committee report H. Rep. 93–1305, which included the text of the resolution impeaching Nixon and set forth articles of impeachment against him.<ref>{{USCongRec|1974|H29219}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Bazan |first=Elizabeth B |title=Impeachment: An Overview of Constitutional Provisions, Procedure, and Practice |date=December 9, 2010 |work=[[Congressional Research Service reports]]}}</ref>

=== "Smoking Gun" tape ===
[[File:Nixon Oval Office meeting with H.R. Haldeman "Smoking Gun" Conversation June 23, 1972.wav|thumb|"Smoking Gun" tape of Nixon and H.R. Haldeman's conversation in Oval Office on June 23, 1972]]

On August 5, 1974, the White House released a previously unknown audio tape from June 23, 1972. Recorded only a few days after the break-in, it documented the initial stages of the cover-up: it revealed Nixon and Haldeman had a meeting in the Oval Office during which they discussed how to stop the FBI from continuing its investigation of the break-in, as they recognized that there was a high risk that their position in the scandal might be revealed.

Haldeman introduced the topic as follows:

<blockquote>...{{nbsp}}the Democratic break-in thing, we're back to the—in the, the problem area because the FBI is not under control, because [[L. Patrick Gray|Gray]] doesn't exactly know how to control them, and they have&nbsp;... their investigation is now leading into some productive areas&nbsp;... and it goes in some directions we don't want it to go.<ref name="haldeman6.23.72" /></blockquote>

[[File:Members and staff of House Judiciary Committee 1974.png|thumb|left|upright=1.35|House Judiciary Committee members and staff, 1974]]

After explaining how the money from CRP was traced to the burglars, Haldeman explained to Nixon the cover-up plan: "the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters [CIA] call Pat Gray [FBI] and just say, 'Stay the hell out of this&nbsp;... this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it.'"<ref name="haldeman6.23.72" />

Nixon approved the plan, and after he was given more information about the involvement of his campaign in the break-in, he told Haldeman: "All right, fine, I understand it all. We won't second-guess Mitchell and the rest." Returning to the use of the CIA to obstruct the FBI, he instructed Haldeman: "You call them in. Good. Good deal. Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we are going to play it."<ref name="haldeman6.23.72">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/wspf/741-002.pdf |title="Transcript of a Recording of a Meeting Between the President and H.R. Haldeman in the Oval Office on June 23, 1972 from 10:04 to 11:39&nbsp;am" Watergate Special Prosecution Force |access-date=June 17, 2010 |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528003941/http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/wspf/741-002.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oe3OgU8W0s |title="Audio: Recording of a Meeting Between the President and H.R. Haldeman in the Oval Office on June 23, 1972 from 10:04 to 11:39&nbsp;am" Watergate Special Prosecution Force |date=April 4, 2011 |via=YouTube |access-date=November 26, 2015 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215125/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oe3OgU8W0s |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nixon denied that this constituted an obstruction of justice, as his instructions ultimately resulted in the CIA truthfully reporting to the FBI that there were no national security issues. Nixon urged the FBI to press forward with the investigation when they expressed concern about interference.<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4320&st=&st1= Statement Announcing Availability of Additional Transcripts of Presidential Tape Recordings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205848/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4320&st=&st1= |date=March 4, 2016 }} August 5, 1974</ref>

Before the release of this tape, Nixon had denied any involvement in the scandal. He claimed that there were no political motivations in his instructions to the CIA, and claimed he had no knowledge before March 21, 1973, of involvement by senior campaign officials such as [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]]. The contents of this tape persuaded Nixon's own lawyers, [[Fred Buzhardt]] and [[James D. St. Clair|James St. Clair]], that "the President had lied to the nation, to his closest aides, and to his own lawyers—for more than two years".<ref>Bernstein and Woodward (1976): ''The Final Days'', p. 309</ref> The tape, which [[Barber Conable]] referred to as a "[[smoking gun]]", proved that Nixon had been involved in the cover-up from the beginning.

In the week before Nixon's resignation, Ehrlichman and Haldeman tried unsuccessfully to get Nixon to grant them pardons—which he had promised them before their April 1973 resignations.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908732-8,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521074323/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908732-8,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |title=The Administration: The Fallout from Ford's Rush to Pardon |date=September 23, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 24, 2011}}</ref>

=== Resignation ===
{{further|Richard Nixon's resignation speech|Inauguration of Gerald Ford}}
[[File:Letter of Resignation of Richard M. Nixon, 1974.jpg|thumb|Nixon's [[resignation letter]], August 9, 1974. Pursuant to federal law, the letter was addressed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. When Kissinger initialed the letter at 11:35&nbsp;am, Ford officially became president.]]
[[File:Nixon leaving whitehouse.jpg|thumb|[[Oliver F. Atkins]]' photo of Nixon leaving the [[White House]] shortly before his resignation became effective, August 9, 1974]]

The release of the [[smoking gun tape]] destroyed Nixon politically. The ten congressmen who had voted against all three articles of impeachment in the House Judiciary Committee announced they would support the impeachment article accusing Nixon of obstructing justice when the articles came up before the full House.<ref name="graham">Katharine Graham, ''Personal History'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), p. 495.</ref> Additionally, [[John Jacob Rhodes]], the House leader of Nixon's party, announced that he would vote to impeach, stating that "coverup of criminal activity and misuse of federal agencies can neither be condoned nor tolerated".<ref name="RhodesObit">{{Cite news |last=Bart Barnes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-j-rhodes-dies-led-gop-in-house-during-watergate/2012/06/05/gJQA84nSGV_story.html |title=John J. Rhodes Dies; Led GOP In House During Watergate |date=August 26, 2003 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=March 3, 2019 |archive-date=March 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306045011/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-j-rhodes-dies-led-gop-in-house-during-watergate/2012/06/05/gJQA84nSGV_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On the night of August 7, 1974, Senators [[Barry Goldwater]] and [[Hugh Scott]] and Congressman Rhodes met with Nixon in the Oval Office. Scott and Rhodes were the Republican leaders in the Senate and House, respectively; Goldwater was brought along as an elder statesman. The three lawmakers told Nixon that his support in Congress had all but disappeared. Rhodes told Nixon that he would face certain impeachment when the articles came up for vote in the full House. By one estimate, out of 435 representatives, no more than 75 were willing to vote against impeaching Nixon for obstructing justice.<ref name=RhodesObit/> Goldwater and Scott told the president that there were enough votes in the Senate to convict him, and that no more than 15 Senators were willing to vote for acquittal—not even half of the 34 votes he needed to stay in office.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Waldron |first=Martin |date=August 8, 1974 |title=Goldwater Expects Only a 'Hard Core' Of Senate Votes for Acquitting Nixon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/08/archives/goldwater-expects-only-a-hard-core-of-senate-votes-for-acquitting.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622055209/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/08/archives/goldwater-expects-only-a-hard-core-of-senate-votes-for-acquitting.html |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |access-date=May 9, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Faced with the inevitability of his impeachment and removal from office and with public opinion having turned decisively against him, Nixon decided to resign.<ref name="schmidt">{{Citation |last=Schmidt |first=Steffen W. |title=American Government and Politics Today, 2013–2014 Edition |page=181 |year=2013 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |isbn=978-1133602132 |quote=In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of a scandal when it was obvious that public opinion no longer supported him. |author-link=Steffen Schmidt}}</ref> In a [[s:Richard Nixon's resignation speech|nationally televised address]] from the Oval Office on the evening of August 8, 1974, the president said, in part:

{{blockquote|In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the Nation. Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. As long as there was such a base, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.

...&nbsp;I would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interest of the Nation must always come before any personal considerations. From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the Nation would require.

...&nbsp;''I have never been a quitter''. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad. To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/links/nixon_speech.html |title=President Nixon's Resignation Speech |access-date=August 29, 2009 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718133421/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/links/nixon_speech.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Resignation video 1974">{{cite web |title=August 8, 1974: Address to the Nation Announcing Decision To Resign the Office of President |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/august-8-1974-address-nation-announcing-decision-resign-office |website=Presidential Speeches – Richard M. Nixon Presidency |date=October 20, 2016 |publisher=University of Virginia Miller Center |access-date=August 9, 2023 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230601/https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/august-8-1974-address-nation-announcing-decision-resign-office |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

The morning that his resignation took effect, the President, with Mrs. Nixon and their family, said farewell to the White House staff in the [[East Room]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brokaw, Tom |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5593631 |title=Politicians come and go, but rule of law endures |date=August 6, 2004 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=August 29, 2009 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215245/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5593631 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A helicopter carried them from the White House to [[Andrews Air Force Base]] in [[Maryland]]. Nixon later wrote that he thought, "As the helicopter moved on to Andrews, I found myself thinking not of the past, but of the future. What could I do now?" At Andrews, he and his family boarded an Air Force plane to [[El Toro Marine Corps Air Station]] in California, and then were transported to his home [[La Casa Pacifica]] in [[San Clemente]].

== President Ford's pardon of Nixon ==
{{further|Pardon of Richard Nixon}}
[[File:"Pardon" Pen.jpg|thumb|Pen used by President Gerald R. Ford to pardon Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974]]
{{wikisource|Proclamation 4311|The Nixon Pardon}}

With Nixon's resignation, Congress dropped its impeachment proceedings. Criminal prosecution was still a possibility at the federal level.<ref name=TimeLegal/> Nixon was [[Inauguration of Gerald Ford|succeeded by]] Vice President [[Gerald Ford]] as president, who on September 8, 1974, issued a full and unconditional [[pardon]] of Nixon, immunizing him from prosecution for any crimes he had "committed or may have committed or taken part in" as president.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ford.utexas.edu/LIBRARY/speeches/740061.htm |title=Gerald Ford's Proclamation Granting a Pardon to Richard Nixon |website=Ford.utexas.edu |access-date=June 17, 2010 |archive-date=June 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606105602/http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740061.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interest of the country. He said that the Nixon family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."<ref name="pardonspeech2">{{Cite web |url=http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ford.htm |title=Gerald R. Ford Pardoning Richard Nixon |last=Ford |first=Gerald |date=September 8, 1974 |website=Great Speeches Collection |publisher=The History Place |access-date=December 30, 2006 |archive-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501035624/http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ford.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nixon continued to proclaim his innocence until his death in 1994. In his official response to the pardon, he said that he "was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fulton |first=Mary Lou |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-17-ss-339-story.html |title=Nixon Library : Nixon Timeline |date=July 17, 1990 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=July 28, 2014 |page=2 |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812172222/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-17/news/ss-339_1_richard-nixon/2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some commentators have argued that pardoning Nixon contributed to President Ford's loss of the [[1976 United States presidential election|presidential election of 1976]].<ref name="shanescott">{{Cite news |last=Shane |first=Scott |title=For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut |date=December 29, 2006 |work=The New York Times |page=A1}}</ref> Allegations of a secret deal made with Ford, promising a pardon in return for Nixon's resignation, led Ford to testify before the [[House Judiciary Committee]] on October 17, 1974.<ref name="Gettlin, Robert; Colodny, Len 1991 420">{{Cite book |last1=Gettlin, Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/silentcoupremova00colo/page/420 |title=Silent Coup: The Removal of a President |last2=Colodny, Len |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-312-05156-5 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/silentcoupremova00colo/page/420 420] |oclc=22493143}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ford, Gerald R. |title=A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford |url=https://archive.org/details/timetohealautobi0000ford |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1979 |isbn=0-06-011297-2 |location=San Francisco |pages=[https://archive.org/details/timetohealautobi0000ford/page/196 196]–199 |oclc=4835213}}</ref>

In his autobiography ''A Time to Heal'', Ford wrote about a meeting he had with Nixon's Chief of Staff, [[Alexander Haig]]. Haig was explaining what he and Nixon's staff thought were Nixon's only options. He could try to ride out the impeachment and fight against conviction in the Senate all the way, or he could resign. His options for resigning were to delay his resignation until further along in the impeachment process, to try to settle for a censure vote in Congress, or to pardon himself and then resign. Haig told Ford that some of Nixon's staff suggested that Nixon could agree to resign in return for an agreement that Ford would pardon him.

{{blockquote|Haig emphasized that these weren't ''his'' suggestions. He didn't identify the staff members and he made it very clear that he wasn't recommending any one option over another. What he wanted to know was whether or not my overall assessment of the situation agreed with his. [emphasis in original]&nbsp;... Next he asked if I had any suggestions as to courses of actions for the President. I didn't think it would be proper for me to make any recommendations at all, and I told him so.|[[Gerald Ford]], ''A Time to Heal''<ref>Ford (1979), 4.</ref>}}

== Aftermath ==

=== Final legal actions and effect on the law profession ===
[[Charles Colson]] pled guilty to charges concerning the [[Daniel Ellsberg#Fielding break-in|Daniel Ellsberg]] case; in exchange, the indictment against him for covering up the activities of the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] was dropped, as it was against Strachan. The remaining five members of the Watergate Seven indicted in March went on trial in October 1974. On January 1, 1975, all but Parkinson were found guilty. In 1976, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Mardian; subsequently, all charges against him were dropped.

Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell exhausted their appeals in 1977. Ehrlichman entered prison in 1976, followed by the other two in 1977. Since Nixon and many senior officials involved in Watergate were lawyers, the scandal severely tarnished the public image of the legal profession.<ref>Anita L. Allen, ''The New Ethics: A Tour of the 21st Century Landscape'' (New York: Miramax Books, 2004), 101.</ref><ref>Thomas L. Shaffer & Mary M. Shaffer, ''American Lawyers and Their Communities: Ethics in the Legal Profession'' (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991), p. 1.</ref><ref>Jerold Auerbach, ''Unequal Justice: Lawyers and Social Change in Modern America'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), p. 301.</ref>

The Watergate scandal resulted in 69 individuals being charged and 48 being found guilty, including:<ref name="convictions">{{Cite news |last=Bill Marsh |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/ideas-trends-when-criminal-charges-reach-the-white-house.html |title=Ideas & Trends – When Criminal Charges Reach the White House |date=October 30, 2005 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-date=June 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618094717/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/ideas-trends-when-criminal-charges-reach-the-white-house.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

# [[John N. Mitchell]], [[Attorney General of the United States]] who resigned to become Director of [[Committee to Re-elect the President]], convicted of perjury about his involvement in the Watergate break-in. Served 19 months of a one- to four-year sentence.<ref name=nixonmitchell />
# [[Jeb Stuart Magruder]], Deputy Director of [[Committee to Re-elect the President]],<ref name=mccordreturns /> pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to the burglary, and was sentenced to 10 months to four years in prison, of which he served seven months before being paroled.<ref name="ReferenceC">Time, March 11, 1974, "The Nation: The Other Nixon Men"</ref>
# [[Frederick C. LaRue]], Advisor to [[John N. Mitchell|John Mitchell]], convicted of obstruction of justice. He served four and a half months.<ref name="ReferenceC" />
# [[H. R. Haldeman]], [[White House Chief of Staff]], convicted of conspiracy to the burglary, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Served 18 months in prison.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/haldeman.html |title=Washington Post profile of Haldeman |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814104855/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/watergate/haldeman.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[John Ehrlichman]], [[United States Domestic Policy Council|White House Domestic Affairs Advisor]], convicted of conspiracy to the burglary, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Served 18 months in prison.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stout |first=David |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/16/us/john-d-ehrlichman-nixon-aide-jailed-for-watergate-dies-at-73.html |title=John D. Ehrlichman, Nixon Aide Jailed for Watergate, Dies at 73 |date=February 16, 1999 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 20, 2017 |archive-date=February 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223220417/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/16/us/john-d-ehrlichman-nixon-aide-jailed-for-watergate-dies-at-73.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[Egil Krogh]], [[United States Secretary of Transportation|United States Under Secretary of Transportation]], sentenced to six months for his part in the [[Daniel Ellsberg#Fielding break-in|Daniel Ellsberg]] case.<ref name="ReferenceC" />
# [[John W. Dean III]], [[White House Counsel]], convicted of obstruction of justice, later reduced to felony offenses and sentenced to time already served, which totaled four months.<ref name="ReferenceC" />
# [[Dwight L. Chapin]], [[Secretary to the President of the United States]], convicted of perjury.<ref name="ReferenceC" />
# [[Maurice Stans]], [[United States Secretary of Commerce]] who resigned to become Finance Chairman of [[Committee to Re-elect the President]], convicted of multiple counts of illegal campaigning, fined $5,000 (in 1975 – ${{Inflation|US|5000|1975|r=-2|fmt=c}} today).<ref name="WaterGuilt">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/15/us/maurice-stans-dies-at-90-led-nixon-commerce-dept.html |title=Maurice Stans Dies at 90; Led Nixon Commerce Dept. |last=David Rohde |date=April 15, 1998 |website=The New York Times |access-date=December 5, 2017 |archive-date=June 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608034508/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/15/us/maurice-stans-dies-at-90-led-nixon-commerce-dept.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[Herbert W. Kalmbach]], personal attorney to Nixon, convicted of illegal campaigning. Served 191 days in prison and fined $10,000 (in 1974 – ${{Inflation|US|10000|1974|r=-2|fmt=c}} today).<ref name="ReferenceC" />
# [[Charles W. Colson]], Director of the [[Office of Public Liaison]], convicted of obstruction of justice. Served seven months in Federal Maxwell Prison.<ref name="time.com">Time, June 24, 1977, "The Law: Watergate Bargains: Were They Necessary?"</ref>
# [[Herbert L. Porter]], aide to the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]]. Convicted of perjury.<ref name="ReferenceC" />
# [[G. Gordon Liddy]], Special Investigations Group, convicted of masterminding the burglary, original sentence of up to 20 years in prison.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref name="burglarsentence">{{Cite web |url=http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a032373wgsentences&scale=0#a032373wgsentences |title=March 23, 1973: Watergate Burglars Sentenced; McCord Letter Revealed |website=[[History Commons]] |access-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006163431/http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a032373wgsentences&scale=0#a032373wgsentences |url-status=dead }}</ref> Served {{frac|4|1|2}} years in federal prison.<ref name=HISTwhereRthey/>
# [[E. Howard Hunt]], security consultant, convicted of masterminding and overseeing the burglary, original sentence of up to 35 years in prison.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref name=burglarsentence/> Served 33 months in prison.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/e-howard-hunt-262375#synopsis |title=E. Howard Hunt Biography Writer, Spy (1918–2007) |website=[[Fyi (TV network)#As The Biography Channel|Bio]] |access-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006181652/http://www.biography.com/people/e-howard-hunt-262375#synopsis |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[James W. McCord Jr.]], convicted of six charges of burglary, conspiracy and wiretapping.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> Served two months in prison.<ref name="HISTwhereRthey">{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.com/news/watergate-where-are-they-now |title=Watergate: Where Are They Now? |last=Jennie Cohen |date=June 15, 2012 |website=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History]] |access-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006071840/http://www.history.com/news/watergate-where-are-they-now |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[Virgilio Gonzalez]], convicted of burglary, original sentence of up to 40 years in prison.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref name=burglarsentence/> Served 13 months in prison.<ref name=HISTwhereRthey/>
# [[Bernard Barker]], convicted of burglary, original sentence of up to 40 years in prison.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref name=burglarsentence/> Served 18 months in prison.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Albin Krebs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/28/nyregion/notes-on-people-bernard-barker-to-retire-from-miami-job-early.html |title=Notes on People – Bernard Barker to Retire From Miami Job Early |date=January 28, 1982 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 30, 2014 |last2=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. |name-list-style=amp |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006213659/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/28/nyregion/notes-on-people-bernard-barker-to-retire-from-miami-job-early.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[Eugenio Martínez]], convicted of burglary, original sentence of up to 40 years in prison.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref name=burglarsentence/> Served 15 months in prison.<ref name="ABCwhereRthey">{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/watergate-burglars-now/story?id=16567157#4 |title=Watergate Burglars: Where Are They Now? |last1=Jilian Fama |last2=Meghan Kiesel |date=June 17, 2012 |website=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] |access-date=September 30, 2014 |name-list-style=amp |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006092508/http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/watergate-burglars-now/story?id=16567157#4 |url-status=live }}</ref>
# [[Frank Sturgis]], convicted of burglary, original sentence of up to 40 years in prison.<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref name=burglarsentence/> Served 10 months in prison.<ref name=ABCwhereRthey/>

To defuse public demand for direct federal regulation of lawyers (as opposed to leaving it in the hands of state [[bar associations]] or courts), the [[American Bar Association]] (ABA) launched two major reforms. First, the ABA decided that its existing [[Model Code of Professional Responsibility]] (promulgated 1969) was a failure. In 1983, the ABA replaced the Model Code with the [[Model Rules of Professional Conduct]].<ref>Theodore Schneyer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0JpNiF0ieOgC&pg=PA104 "Professionalism as Politics: The Making of a Modern Legal Ethics Code"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424060648/https://books.google.com/books?id=0JpNiF0ieOgC&pg=PA104 |date=April 24, 2023 }} in ''Lawyers' Ideals/Lawyers' Practices: Transformations in the American Legal Profession'', eds. Robert L. Nelson, David M. Trubek, & Rayman L. Solomon, 95–143 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992), 104.</ref> The Model Rules have been adopted in part or in whole by all 50 states. The Model Rules's preamble contains an emphatic reminder that the legal profession can remain self-governing only if lawyers behave properly.<ref>[https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_preamble_scope/ Preamble] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106224913/https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_preamble_scope/ |date=November 6, 2018 }}, ''Model Rules of Professional Conduct'' (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2020), at ¶¶ 10–12.</ref> Second, the ABA promulgated a requirement that law students at ABA-approved law schools take a course in [[professional responsibility]] (which means they must study the Model Rules). The requirement remains in effect.<ref>{{Cite book |last=American Bar Association |title=ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools 2015–2016 |date=2015 |publisher=American Bar Association |isbn=978-1-63425-352-9 |location=Chicago |page=16 |chapter=Standard 303, Curriculum |access-date=December 15, 2016 |chapter-url=http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/misc/legal_education/Standards/2015_2016_aba_standards_for_approval_of_law_schools_final.authcheckdam.pdf |archive-date=December 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221004552/http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/misc/legal_education/Standards/2015_2016_aba_standards_for_approval_of_law_schools_final.authcheckdam.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

On June 24 and 25, 1975, Nixon gave secret testimony to a [[grand jury]]. According to news reports at the time, Nixon answered questions about the {{frac|18|1|2}}-minute tape gap, altering White House tape transcripts turned over to the House Judiciary Committee, using the [[Internal Revenue Service]] to harass political enemies, and a $100,000 contribution from billionaire [[Howard Hughes]]. Aided by the [[Public Citizen Litigation Group]], the historian [[Stanley Kutler]], who has written several books about Nixon and Watergate and had successfully sued for the 1996 public release of the [[Nixon White House tapes]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.news.wisc.edu/20004 |title=Historian's work gives a glimpse of Nixon "unplugged" |date=November 8, 2011 |website=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-date=September 30, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930211322/http://www.news.wisc.edu/20004 |url-status=live }}</ref> sued for the release of the transcripts of the Nixon grand jury testimony.<ref name=Secret/>

On July 29, 2011, U.S. District Judge [[Royce Lamberth]] granted Kutler's request, saying historical interests trumped privacy, especially considering that Nixon and other key figures were deceased, and most of the surviving figures had testified under oath, have been written about, or were interviewed. The transcripts were not immediately released pending the government's decision on whether to appeal.<ref name="Secret">[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nixon-watergate-idUSTRE76S4ZH20110729 "Nixon's secret Watergate testimony ordered released"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303132204/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nixon-watergate-idUSTRE76S4ZH20110729 |date=March 3, 2023 }}, Reuters, July 29, 2011</ref> They were released in their entirety on November 10, 2011, although the names of people still alive were redacted.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kim Geiger |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-nixon-testimony-20111110,0,6436502.story |title=Nixon's long-secret grand jury testimony released |date=November 10, 2011 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=November 10, 2011 |archive-date=November 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111110218/http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-nixon-testimony-20111110,0,6436502.story |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Texas A&M University–Central Texas]] professor [[Luke Nichter]] wrote to the chief judge of the federal court in Washington to release hundreds of pages of sealed records of the [[Watergate Seven]]. In June 2012 the U.S. Department of Justice wrote to the court that it would not object to their release with some exceptions.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/long-sealed-watergate-documents-may-be-released/ |title=Long-sealed Watergate documents may be released Associated Press reprinted by Fox News June 2, 2012 |date=June 2, 2012 |work=Fox News |access-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-date=May 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523230629/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/02/long-sealed-watergate-documents-may-be-released/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On November 2, 2012, Watergate trial records for G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord were ordered unsealed by Federal Judge [[Royce Lamberth]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/fedl_judge_unseals_watergate_trial_records_for_g._gordon_liddy_and_james_mc/ |title=Fed'l Judge Unseals Watergate Trial Records for G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord ABA Journal November 2, 2012 |date=November 2, 2012 |newspaper=Aba Journal |access-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006080402/http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/fedl_judge_unseals_watergate_trial_records_for_g._gordon_liddy_and_james_mc/ |url-status=live |last1=Neil |first1=Martha }}</ref>

=== Political and cultural reverberations ===
According to Thomas J. Johnson, a professor of journalism at [[University of Texas at Austin]], Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] predicted during Nixon's final days that history would remember Nixon as a great president and that Watergate would be relegated to a "minor footnote".<ref>Thomas J. Johnson, ''Watergate and the Resignation of Richard Nixon: Impact of a Constitutional Crisis'', "The Rehabilitation of Richard Nixon", eds. P. Jeffrey and Thomas Maxwell-Long: Washington, D.C., CO. Press, 2004, pp. 148–149.</ref>

When Congress investigated the scope of the president's legal powers, it belatedly found that consecutive presidential administrations had declared the United States to be in a continuous open-ended [[state of emergency]] since 1950. Congress enacted the [[National Emergencies Act]] in 1976 to regulate such declarations. The Watergate scandal left such an impression on the national and international consciousness that many scandals since then have been labeled with the "[[List of scandals with "-gate" suffix|-gate suffix]]".

[[File:1976 campaign button f.JPG|thumb|One of a variety of anti-Ford [[Pin-back button|buttons]] generated during the 1976 presidential election: it reads "Gerald&nbsp;... Pardon me!" and depicts a thief cracking a safe labeled "Watergate".]]

Disgust with the revelations about Watergate, the Republican Party, and Nixon strongly affected results of the [[1974 United States Senate elections|November 1974 Senate]] and [[1974 United States House of Representatives elections|House elections]], which took place three months after Nixon's resignation. The Democrats gained five seats in the Senate and forty-nine in the House (the newcomers were nicknamed "[[Watergate Babies]]"). Congress passed legislation that changed [[Campaign finance in the United States|campaign financing]], to amend the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]], as well as to require financial disclosures by key government officials (via the [[Ethics in Government Act]]). Other types of disclosures, such as releasing recent income tax forms, became expected, though not legally required. Presidents since [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had recorded many of their conversations but the practice purportedly ended after Watergate.

Ford's pardon of Nixon played a major role in his defeat in the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential election]] against [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref name="shanescott" />

In 1977, Nixon arranged [[The Nixon Interviews|an interview]] with British journalist [[David Frost]] in the hope of improving his legacy. Based on a previous interview in 1968,<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,947901-2,00.html |title=The Nation: David Can Be a Goliath |date=May 9, 1977 |magazine=Time |access-date=January 15, 2015 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215209/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,947901-2,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> he believed that Frost would be an easy interviewer and was taken aback by Frost's incisive questions. The interview displayed the entire scandal to the American people, and Nixon formally apologized, but his legacy remained tarnished.<ref name="NYTimes David Frost">{{Cite news |last=Stelter |first=Brian |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/world/europe/david-frost-known-for-nixon-interview-dead-at-74.html |title=David Frost, Interviewer Who Got Nixon to Apologize for Watergate, Dies at 74 |date=September 1, 2013 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 25, 2014 |archive-date=February 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223121327/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/world/europe/david-frost-known-for-nixon-interview-dead-at-74.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The 2008 movie ''[[Frost/Nixon (film)|Frost/Nixon]]'' is a media depiction of this.

In the aftermath of Watergate, "[[follow the money]]" became part of the American lexicon and is widely believed to have been uttered by Mark Felt to Woodward and Bernstein. The phrase was never used in the 1974 book ''[[All the President's Men]]'' and did not become associated with it until the [[All the President's Men (film)|movie of the same name]] was released in 1976.<ref>"Follow The Money: On The Trail Of Watergate Lore", NPR, June 16, 2012</ref> The 2017 movie ''[[Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House]]'' is about Felt's role in the Watergate scandal and his identity as Deep Throat.

The parking garage where Woodward and Felt met in Rosslyn still stands. Its significance was noted by Arlington County with a historical marker in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.arlnow.com/2011/08/17/historical-marker-installed-outside-deep-throat-garage/ |title=Historical Marker Installed Outside 'Deep Throat' Garage |date=August 17, 2011 |access-date=January 23, 2018 |archive-date=November 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106015713/https://www.arlnow.com/2011/08/17/historical-marker-installed-outside-deep-throat-garage/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=55498 |title=Watergate Investigation Historical Marker |access-date=January 23, 2018 |archive-date=January 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124070810/https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=55498 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2017 it was announced that the garage would be demolished as part of construction of an apartment building on the site; the developers announced that the site's significance would be memorialized within the new complex.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/parking-garage-where-deep-throat-spilled-beans-watergate-being-torn-down-180961733/ |title=The Parking Garage Where Deep Throat Spilled the Beans on Watergate Is Being Torn Down |last=Lewis |first=Danny |access-date=January 23, 2018 |archive-date=March 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303225141/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/parking-garage-where-deep-throat-spilled-beans-watergate-being-torn-down-180961733/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maher |first=Kris |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/watergate-parking-garage-to-be-torn-down-1402874716 |title=Watergate Parking Garage to Be Torn Down |date=June 20, 2014 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=January 23, 2018 |archive-date=January 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124005742/https://www.wsj.com/articles/watergate-parking-garage-to-be-torn-down-1402874716 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Purpose of the break-in ==
Despite the enormous impact of the Watergate scandal, the purpose of the break-in of the DNC offices has never been conclusively established. Records from the ''United States v. Liddy'' trial, made public in 2013, showed that four of the five burglars testified that they were told the campaign operation hoped to find evidence that linked Cuban funding to Democratic campaigns.<ref name="baldwinlist">{{Cite news |last=Jessica Gresko, Associated Press |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/watergate-records_n_3606339.html |title=Watergate Records Released 40 Years After Being Filed Under Seal |date=July 16, 2013 |work=HuffPost |access-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-date=December 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226121758/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/watergate-records_n_3606339.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The longtime hypothesis suggests that the target of the break-in was the offices of [[Larry O'Brien]], the DNC chairman.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=David |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/weekinreview/05green.html |title=The Unsolved Mysteries of Watergate |date=June 5, 2005 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 20, 2017 |archive-date=June 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623020047/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/weekinreview/05green.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, O'Brien's name was not on Alfred C. Baldwin III's list of targets that was released in 2013.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} Among those listed were senior DNC official [[R. Spencer Oliver]], Oliver's secretary Ida "Maxine" Wells, co-worker Robert Allen and secretary Barbara Kennedy.<ref name=baldwinlist />

Based on these revelations, [[Texas A&M]] history professor Luke Nichter, who had successfully petitioned for the release of the information,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/dcd/sites/dcd/files/12-mc-74_memorandum_opinion.pdf |title=In Re: Petition of Luke Nitcher |last=Senior Judge Royce Lamberth |date=June 11, 2013 |website=United States District Court for the District of Columbia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910195819/http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/dcd/sites/dcd/files/12-mc-74_memorandum_opinion.pdf |archive-date=September 10, 2014 |access-date=September 9, 2014}}</ref> argued that Woodward and Bernstein were incorrect in concluding, based largely on Watergate burglar James McCord's word, that the purpose of the break-in was to bug O'Brien's phone to gather political and financial intelligence on the Democrats.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} Instead, Nichter sided with late journalist [[J. Anthony Lukas]] of ''The New York Times'', who had concluded that the committee was seeking to find evidence linking the Democrats to prostitution, as it was alleged that Oliver's office had been used to arrange such meetings. However, Nichter acknowledged that Woodward and Bernstein's theory of O'Brien as the target could not be debunked unless the information was released about what Baldwin heard in his bugging of conversations.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

In 1968, O'Brien was appointed by Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]] to serve as the national director of Humphrey's presidential campaign and, separately, by [[Howard Hughes]] to serve as Hughes' public-policy lobbyist in Washington. O'Brien was elected national chairman of the DNC in 1968 and 1970. In late 1971, the president's brother, [[Donald Nixon]], was collecting intelligence for his brother at the time and asked [[John H. Meier]], an adviser to Howard Hughes, about O'Brien. In 1956, Donald Nixon had borrowed $205,000 from Howard Hughes and had never repaid the loan. The loan's existence surfaced during the [[1960 United States presidential election|1960 presidential election]] campaign, embarrassing Richard Nixon and becoming a political liability. According to author Donald M. Bartlett, Richard Nixon would do whatever was necessary to prevent another family embarrassment.<ref>Donald L. Bartlett, ''Howard Hughes'', p. 410, W. W. Norton & Co., 2004 {{ISBN|978-0-393-32602-4}}</ref> From 1968 to 1970, Hughes withdrew nearly half a million dollars from the Texas National Bank of Commerce for contributions to both Democrats and Republicans, including presidential candidates Humphrey and Nixon. Hughes wanted Donald Nixon and Meier involved but Nixon opposed this.<ref>Charles Higham ''Howard Hughes'', p. 244, Macmillan, 2004 {{ISBN|978-0-312-32997-6}}</ref>

Meier told Donald Nixon that he was sure the Democrats would win the election because they had considerable information on Richard Nixon's illicit dealings with Hughes that had never been released, and that it resided with Larry O'Brien.<ref>DuBois, Larry, and Laurence Gonzales (September 1976). "Hughes, Nixon and the C.I.A.: The Watergate Conspiracy Woodward and Bernstein Missed", ''Playboy''</ref> According to Fred Emery, O'Brien had been a lobbyist for Hughes in a Democrat-controlled Congress, and the possibility of his finding out about Hughes' illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign was too much of a danger for Nixon to ignore.<ref>Fred Emery ''Watergate'', p. 30, Simon & Schuster, 1995 {{ISBN|978-0-684-81323-3}}</ref>

[[James F. Neal]], who prosecuted the Watergate 7, did not believe Nixon had ordered the break-in because of Nixon's surprised reaction when he was told about it.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917056,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122071021/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917056,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 22, 2011 |title=The Nation: It Goes Back to the Big Man Time Magazine January 13, 1975 issue |date=January 13, 1975 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref>

== Reactions ==

=== Australia ===
Australian Prime Minister [[Gough Whitlam]] referred to the American presidency's "parlous position" without the direct wording of the Watergate scandal during [[Question Time]] in May 1973.<ref>[[Hansard#Australia|Hansard]], May 30, 1973 [https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/hansard80/hansardr80/1973-05-30/0011/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929162544/https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/hansard80/hansardr80/1973-05-30/0011/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType%3Dapplication%252Fpdf|date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> The following day responding to a question upon "the vital importance of future United States–Australia relations", Whitlam parried that the usage of the word 'Watergate' was not his.<ref>[[Hansard#Australia|Hansard]], May 31, 1973 [https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/hansard80/hansardr80/1973-05-31/0004/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002063938/https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/hansard80/hansardr80/1973-05-31/0004/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType%3Dapplication%252Fpdf|date=October 2, 2019}}</ref> [[United States–Australia relations]] have been considered to have figured as influential when, in November 1975, Australia experienced its own [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis|constitutional crisis]] which led to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government by [[Sir John Kerr]], the [[Australian Governor-General]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/unholy-fury-review-insightful-account-of-whitlamnixon-spat-20150525-gh2mr9.html |title=Unholy Fury review |date=May 15, 2015 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=August 7, 2017 |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810210350/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/unholy-fury-review-insightful-account-of-whitlamnixon-spat-20150525-gh2mr9.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Max Suich has suggested that the US was involved in ending the Whitlam government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/whitlam-death-revives-doubts-of-us-role-in-his-sacking-20141030-11erze |title=Whitlam death revives doubts of US role in his sacking |last=Suich |first=Max |date=November 3, 2014 |publisher=[[Australian Financial Review]] |access-date=September 29, 2019 |archive-date=September 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929041838/https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/whitlam-death-revives-doubts-of-us-role-in-his-sacking-20141030-11erze |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== China ===
Chinese then-Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] said in October 1973 that the scandal did not affect the [[China–United States relations|relations between China and the United States]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sulzberger |first=C. L. |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6vdRAAAAIBAJ&pg=7052%2C5281708 |title=The Thoughts of Premier Chou |date=October 30, 1973 |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |access-date=November 21, 2016 |agency=''The New York Times'' Service |page=4–A |via=Google News |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215042/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6vdRAAAAIBAJ&pg=7052%2C5281708 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the then–Prime Minister [[Kukrit Pramoj]] of Thailand in July 1975, Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] called the Watergate scandal "the result of 'too much [[freedom of speech|freedom of political expression]] in the U.S.{{'"}}<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GppKAAAAIBAJ&pg=1961%2C3810476 |title=Mao Tse-tung Said to Hold Former Opinion of Nixon |date=July 10, 1975 |work=[[Nashua Telegraph]] |access-date=November 22, 2014 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |page=25 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215105/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GppKAAAAIBAJ&pg=1961%2C3810476 |url-status=live }}</ref> Mao called it "an indication of [[American isolationism]], which he saw as 'disastrous' for Europe". He further said, "Do Americans really want to go isolationist?&nbsp;... In the two [[world war]]s, the Americans came [in] very late, but all the same, they did come in. They haven't been isolationist in practice."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chamberlain |first=John |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RvdOAAAAIBAJ&pg=3293%2C3013773 |title=Another Look at Mao Tse-tung |date=November 9, 1976 |work=[[Ludington Daily News]] |access-date=November 23, 2014 |page=4 |via=[[Google News]] Archive |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421144740/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RvdOAAAAIBAJ&pg=3293%2C3013773 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Japan ===
In August 1973, then–Prime Minister [[Kakuei Tanaka]] said that the scandal had "no cancelling influence on U.S. leadership in the world". Tanaka further said, "The pivotal role of the United States has not changed, so this internal affair will not be permitted to have an effect."<ref name="Freed1973">{{Cite news |last=Freed |first=Kenneth J. |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vp8rAAAAIBAJ&pg=6874%2C2181142 |title=Watergate and Its Effects on Foreign Affairs Discussed |date=August 15, 1973 |work=[[Nashua Telegraph]] |access-date=November 25, 2014 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |page=21 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215246/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vp8rAAAAIBAJ&pg=6874%2C2181142 |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 1975, Tanaka's successor, [[Takeo Miki]], said at a convention of the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]], "At the time of the Watergate issue in America, I was deeply moved by the scene in the [[House Judiciary Committee]], where each member of the committee expressed his own or her own heart based upon the spirit of the American Constitution. It was this attitude, I think, that rescued American democracy."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Halloran |first=Richard |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xx8qAAAAIBAJ&pg=7253%2C5576885 |title=Watergate Effects Abroad Are Slight |date=March 20, 1975 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 25, 2014 |page=13 |via=Google News Archive |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421144741/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xx8qAAAAIBAJ&pg=7253%2C5576885 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Singapore ===
Then-Prime Minister [[Lee Kuan Yew]] said in August 1973 that the scandal may have led the United States to lessen its interests and commitments in world affairs, to weaken its ability to enforce the [[Paris Peace Accords]] on Vietnam, and to not react to violations of the Accords. Lee said further that the United States "makes the future of this peace in Indonesia an extremely bleak one with grave consequence for the contiguous states." Lee then blamed the scandal for economic inflation in Singapore because the [[Singapore dollar]] was pegged to the United States dollar at the time because Singapore had "unwisely" believed that the U.S. dollar was stronger than the British [[pound sterling]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A5EjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3593%2C1690124 |title=Watergate may sap U.S. power |date=August 8, 1973 |work=[[The Gazette (Montreal)|The Gazette]] |access-date=November 23, 2014 |location=Montreal |page=2 |via=Google News Archive |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421144743/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A5EjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3593%2C1690124 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Soviet Union ===
In June 1973, when chairman [[Leonid Brezhnev]] arrived in the United States to have a one-week meeting with Nixon,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moseley |first=Ray |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cKJUAAAAIBAJ&pg=7240%2C4226076 |title=Brezhnev to ignore Watergate in talks |date=June 16, 1973 |work=[[Daily Record (Washington)|Daily Record]] |access-date=November 23, 2014 |agency=[[United Press International]] |issue=142 |location=Ellensburg, Washington |volume=72 |page=1 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215101/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cKJUAAAAIBAJ&pg=7240%2C4226076 |url-status=live }}</ref> Brezhnev told the press, "I do not intend to refer to that matter—[the Watergate]. It would be completely indecent for me to refer to it&nbsp;... My attitude toward Mr. Nixon is of very great respect." When one reporter suggested that Nixon and his position with Brezhnev were "weakened" by the scandal, Brezhnev replied, "It does not enter my mind to think whether Mr. Nixon has lost or gained any influence because of the affair." Then he said further that he had respected Nixon because of Nixon's "realistic and constructive approach to [[Soviet Union–United States relations]]&nbsp;... passing from an era of confrontation to an era of negotiations between nations".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XTkoAAAAIBAJ&pg=7434%2C4352706 |title=Brezhnev to Shun Talk of Watergate |date=June 15, 1973 |work=[[The Milwaukee Journal]] |access-date=November 23, 2014 |at=Part 1, page 3 |via=Google News Archive }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===
Talks between Nixon and Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]] may have been bugged. Heath did not publicly display his anger, with aides saying that he was unconcerned about having been bugged at the White House. According to officials, Heath commonly had notes taken of his public discussions with Nixon so a recording would not have bothered him. However, officials said that if Heath's private talks with Nixon were bugged, then he would have been outraged.<ref name="Heath">{{Cite news |last=Gavshon |first=Arthur L. |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yHsgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1093%2C2199417 |title=Britain's Leader Shows Restraint Over Bugging |date=July 18, 1973 |work=The Lewiston Daily Sun |access-date=November 25, 2014 |author-link=Arthur Gavshon |via=Google News Archive |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215246/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yHsgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1093%2C2199417 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Iran ===
Iranian then-Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] told the press in 1973, "I want to say quite emphatically&nbsp;... that everything that would weaken or jeopardize the President's power to make decisions in split seconds would represent grave danger for the whole world."<ref name=Freed1973/>

=== Kenya ===
An unnamed Kenyan senior official of [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kenya)|Foreign Affairs Ministry]] accused Nixon of lacking interest in Africa and its politics and then said, "American President is so enmeshed in domestic problems created by Watergate that foreign policy seems suddenly to have taken a {{sic|back seat}}."<ref name="Freed1973" />

=== Cuba ===
Cuban then-leader [[Fidel Castro]] said in his December 1974 interview that, of the crimes committed by Cuban exiles, like killings, attacks on Cuban ports, and spying, the Watergate burglaries and wiretappings were "probably the least of [them]".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HYc1AAAAIBAJ&pg=4339%2C455617 |title=Fidel says Watergate least of exiles' crimes |date=December 2, 1974 |work=[[The Miami News]] |access-date=November 23, 2014 |agency=[[Reuters]] |page=2A |via=Google News Archive }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== United States ===
After the [[fall of Saigon]] ended the Vietnam War, Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] said in May 1975 that, if the scandal had not caused Nixon to resign, and Congress had not overridden Nixon's veto of the [[War Powers Resolution]], [[North Vietnam]] would not have captured [[South Vietnam]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=soMuAAAAIBAJ&pg=1077%2C746828 |title=The name-calling in the wake of defeat |date=May 6, 1975 |work=[[New Straits Times]] |access-date=November 23, 2014 |location=Malaysia |via=Google News Archive |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114215143/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=soMuAAAAIBAJ&pg=1077%2C746828 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kissinger told the [[National Press Club (United States)|National Press Club]] in January 1977 that Nixon's presidential powers weakened during his tenure, thus (as rephrased by the media) "prevent[ing] the United States from exploiting the [scandal]".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kFwqAAAAIBAJ&pg=1509%2C3522410 |title=Scandal Hurt Policy – Kissinger |date=January 11, 1977 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |access-date=November 21, 2016 |agency=United Press International |page=A-4 |via=Google News |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421144745/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kFwqAAAAIBAJ&pg=1509%2C3522410 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The publisher of ''[[The Sacramento Union]]'', John P. McGoff, said in January 1975 that the media overemphasized the scandal, though he called it "an important issue", overshadowing more serious topics, like a declining economy and an [[1970s energy crisis|energy crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=75Q1AAAAIBAJ&pg=3236%2C2592713 |title=Publisher criticizes the media |date=January 30, 1975 |work=Lodi News-Sentinel |access-date=October 24, 2015 |agency=United Press International |via=Google News Archive |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421144745/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=75Q1AAAAIBAJ&pg=3236%2C2592713 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes]]
* [[Second-term curse]]
* [[List of -gate scandals and controversies|List of ''-gate'' scandals and controversies]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

===Books===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ben-Veniste |first1=Richard |author1-link=Richard Ben-Veniste |last2=Frampton Jr. |first2=George |author2-link=George T. Frampton |title=Stonewall: The Real Story of the Watergate Prosecution |date=1977 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0671224639}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bernstein |first1=Carl |last2=Woodward |first2=Bob |author1-link=Carl Bernstein |author2-link=Bob Woodward |title=[[All the President's Men]] |date=1974 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0671217815}}
* {{cite book |last1=Breslin |first1=Jimmy |author-link=Jimmy Breslin |title=How the Good Guys Finally Won |date=1975 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0670382071}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brinkley |first1=Douglas |author1-link=Douglas Brinkley|last2=Nichter |first2=Luke |author2-link=Luke Nichter |title=The Nixon Tapes: 1971 - 1972 |date=2014 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |isbn=978-0544274150}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brinkley |first1=Douglas |author1-mask=8 |last2=Nichter |first2=Luke |author2-mask=6 |title=The Nixon Tapes: 1973 |date=2015 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |isbn= 978-0544610538}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brokaw |first1=Tom |author-link=Tom Brokaw |title=The Fall of Richard Nixon: A Reporter Remembers Watergate |date=2019 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4000-6970-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chapin |first1=Dwight |author-link=Dwight Chapin |title=The President's Man: The Memoirs of Nixon's Trusted Aide |date=2022 |publisher=William Morrow and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-0063074774}}
* {{cite book |last1=Colson |first1=Charles W. |author-link=Charles Colson |title=Born Again |date=1976 |publisher=Chosen Books |location=Old Tappan, New Jersey |isbn=978-0912376134}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dash |first1=Samuel |author-link=Samuel Dash |title=Chief Counsel: Inside the Ervin Committee – The Untold Story of Watergate |date=1976 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0394408538}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=John |author-link=John Dean |title=Blind Ambition: The White House Years |date=1976 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0671224387}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=John |author-mask=5 |title=Unmasking Deep Throat: History's Most Elusive News Source |date=2002 |publisher=Salon Media |isbn=978-0972187404}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=John |author-mask=5 |title=The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It |date=2014 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0670025367}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dobbs |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Dobbs (journalist) |title=King Richard: Nixon and Watergate – An American Tragedy |date=2021 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=978-0385350099}}
* {{Cite book |last=Doyle, James| author-link=James S. Doyle |title=Not Above the Law: The Battles of Watergate Prosecutors Cox and Jaworski |publisher=William Morrow and Company |year=1977 |isbn= 978-0688031923 |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Drew |first1=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Drew |title=Washington Journal: The Events of 1973 - 1974 |date=1975 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0394495750}} (Reissued in 2014 under the title ''Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon's Downfall'')
* {{cite book |last1=Ehrlichman |first1=John |author-link=John Ehrlichman |title=Witness to Power: The Nixon Years |date=1982 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0671242961}}
* {{cite book |last1=Emery |first1=Fred |author-link=Fred Emery (journalist)
|title=Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon |date=1994 |publisher=Touchstone |location=New York |isbn=978-0684813233}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ervin |first1=Sam |author-link=Sam Ervin |title=The Whole Truth: The Watergate Conspiracy |date=1980 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0394480299}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fields |first1=Howard |title=High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Dramatic Story of the Rodino Committee |date=1978 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1791905064}}
* {{cite book |last1=Garment |first1=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Garment |title=Crazy Rhythm: From Brooklyn And Jazz To Nixon's White House, Watergate, And Beyond |date=1997 |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0812928877}}
* {{cite book |last1=Garment |first1=Leonard |author1-mask=8 |title=In Search Of Deep Throat: The Greatest Political Mystery Of Our Time |date=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0465026135}}
* {{cite book |last1=Graff |first1=Garrett M. |author1-link=Garrett Graff |title=Watergate: A New History |date=2022 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1982139186}}
* {{cite book |last1=Graves |first1=Melissa |title=Nixon's FBI: Hoover, Watergate, and a Bureau in Crisis |date=2020 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |location=Boulder, Colorado |isbn=978-1626379176}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=L. Patrick |author-link=L. Patrick Gray |last2=Gray |first2=Ed |title=In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate |date=2008 |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0805082562}}
* {{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=David |title=Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image |date=2003 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=978-0393048964}}
* {{cite book |last1=Haldeman |first1=H. R. |author-link=H. R. Haldeman |last2=DiMona |first2=Joseph |title=The Ends of Power |date=1978 |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0812907247}}
* {{cite book |last1=Haldeman |first1=H. R. |author-mask=7 |title=The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House |date=1994 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |isbn=978-0425148273}}
* {{cite book |last1=Haldeman |first1=Jo |title=In the Shadow of the White House: A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years, 1968-1978 |date=2017 |publisher=Rare Bird Books |location=Los Angeles |isbn=978-1945572081}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hersh |first1=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |title=The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House |date=1983 |publisher=Summit Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0671447601}}
* {{Cite book |last=Holland |first=Max |author-link=Max Holland |title=Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat |publisher=University Press of Kansas |year=2012 |isbn=978-0700618293 |location=Lawrence, Kansas}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Ken |title= Chasing Shadows: The Nixon Tapes, the Chennault Affair, and the Origins of Watergate |publisher=University of Virginia Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0813936635 |location=Charlottesville}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=E. Howard |author-link=E. Howard Hunt |last2=Aunapu |first2=Greg |title=American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate and Beyond |date=2007 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=978-0471789826}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jaworski |first1=Leon |author-link=Leon Jaworski |title=The Right and the Power: The Prosecution of Watergate |date=1977 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=978-0517279236}}
* {{cite book |last1=Krogh |first1=Egil |author-link=Egil Krogh |title=The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency |date=2022 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |location=New York |isbn=978-1250851628}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kutler |first1=Stanley I. |author-link=Stanley Kutler |title=The Wars of Watergate: The Last crisis of Richard Nixon |date=1990 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=978-0394562346}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kutler |first1=Stanley |author-mask=7 |title=Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes |date=1998 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0684841274}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Kutler |editor-first=Stanley I. |title=Watergate: A Brief History with Documents |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=978-1405188487}}
* {{cite book |last1=Liddy |first1=G. Gordon |author-link=G. Gordon Liddy |title=Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy |date=1980 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0312880149}}
* {{cite book |last1=Liebovich |first1=Louis W. |title=Richard Nixon, Watergate, and the Press: A Historical Retrospective |date=2003 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=978-0275979157}}
* {{cite book |last1=Locker |first1=Ray |title=Haig's Coup: How Richard Nixon's Closest Aide Forced Him from Office |date=2019 |publisher=Potomac Books |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |isbn=978-1640120358}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lukas |first1=J. Anthony |author-link=J. Anthony Lukas |title=Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years |date=1976 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York |isbn= 0670514152}}
* {{cite book |last1=Magruder |first1=Jeb Stuart |author-link=Jeb Stuart Magruder |title=An American Life: One Man's Road to Watergate |date=1974 |publisher=Atheneum |location=New York |isbn=978-0689106033}}
* {{cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=Mary |author-link=Mary McCarthy (author) |title=The Mask of State: Watergate Portraits by Mary McCarthy |date=1974 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |location=New York |isbn=978-0151578016}}
* {{cite book |last1=McCord |first1=James W. Jr. |author-link=James W. McCord Jr. |title=A Piece of Tape: The Watergate Story -- Fact and Fiction |date=1974 |publisher=Washington Media Services |location=Rockville, Maryland |isbn=978-0914286004}}
* {{cite book |last1=Morley |first1=Jefferson |title=Scorpions' Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate |date=2022 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1250275837}}
* {{cite book |last1=Nixon |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Nixon |title=RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon |date=1978 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0333230213}}
* {{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Keith W. |author-link=Keith W. Olson |title=Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America |date=2003 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |location=Lawrence, Kansas |isbn=978-0700612512}}
* {{Cite book |last1=O'Sullivan |first1=Shane |author-link=Shane O'Sullivan (filmmaker) |title=Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2018 |isbn=978-1510729582 |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Perlstein |first1=Rick |author-link=Rick Perlstein |title=Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America |title-link=Nixonland |date=2008 |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |isbn=978-0743243025}}
* {{cite book |last1=Perlstein |first1=Rick |author-mask=6 |title=The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan |date=2014 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1476782416}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rather |first1=Dan |author-link=Dan Rather |last2=Gates |first2=Gary Paul |title=The Palace Guard |date=1974 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |isbn=978-0060135140}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rosen |first1=James |author-link=James Rosen (journalist) |title=The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate |date=2008 |publisher=Doubleday |location=New York |isbn=978-0385508643}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schudson |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Schudson |title=Watergate in American Memory: How We Remember, Forget, and Reconstruct the Past |date=1993 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0465090846}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sirica |first1=John J. |author-link=John Sirica |title=To Set the Record Straight: The Break-In, the Tapes, the Conspirators, the Pardon |date=1979 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=978-0393012347}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sussman |first1=Barry |author-link=Barry Sussman |title=The Great Coverup: Nixon and the Scandal of Watergate |date=1974 |publisher=Crowell |location=New York |isbn=978-0983114000}}
* {{cite book |last1=Szulc |first1=Tad |title=A Compulsive Spy: The Strange Career of E. Howard Hunt |date=1974 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0670235469}}
* {{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Fred |author-link=Fred Thompson |title=At That Point in Time: The Inside Story of the Senate Watergate Committee |date=1975 |publisher=Quadrangle |location=New York |isbn=978-0812905366}}
* {{cite book |last1=Waldron |first1=Lamar |author-link=Lamar Waldron |title=Watergate: The Hidden History: Nixon, the Mafia and the CIA |date=2012 |publisher=Counterpoint |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=978-1582438139}}
* {{cite book |last1=Weiner |first1=Tim |author-link=Tim Weiner |title=One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon |date=2015 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1627790833}}
* {{cite book |last1=White |first1=Theodore H. |author-link=Theodore H. White |title=Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon |date=1975 |publisher=Atheneum Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0689106583}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wine-Banks |first1=Jill |author-link=Jill Wine-Banks |title=The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President |date=2020 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1250244321}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Woodward |first1=Bob |last2=Bernstein |first2=Carl |title=[[The Final Days]] |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1976|isbn=978-0671222987 |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Woodward |first1=Bob |title=The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat |date=2005 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0743287159}}
* {{cite book |last1=Woodward |first1=Bob |author-mask=7 |title=The Last of the President's Men |date=2015 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1471156502}}
{{refend}}

===Articles===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite news |last=Campbell |first=W. Joseph |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18215048 |title=Five media myths of Watergate |date=June 16, 2012 |access-date=November 7, 2014 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=November 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112090027/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18215048 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/460.html |title=Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force |year=1971–1977 |publisher=United States National Archives |access-date=January 13, 2012 |archive-date=November 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106192640/http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/460.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last1=Lukas |first1=J. Anthony |title=A New Explanation of Watergate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/11/books/a-new-explanation-of-watergate.html |work=The New York Times |date=November 11, 1984}}
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/watergate/nixon-grand-jury/ |title=Nixon Grand Jury Records |year=1972–1979 |publisher=United States National Archives |access-date=January 13, 2012 |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112194919/http://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/watergate/nixon-grand-jury/ |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite magazine |date=August 8, 2014 |title=Watergate and the White House: The 'Third-Rate Burglary' That Toppled a President. |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/08/watergate-and-the-white-house-the-third-rate-burglary-that-toppled-a-president |magazine=U.S. News & World Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024163328/http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/08/watergate-and-the-white-house-the-third-rate-burglary-that-toppled-a-president |archive-date=October 24, 2016 |access-date=January 7, 2017 |via=[[The Internet Archive]], but originally published in U.S. News & World Report on August 19, 1974. |url-status=bot: unknown }}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/jw-v-cia-watergate-cia-report-00146/ |title=Working Draft: A CIA Watergate History |publisher=[[CIA]]'s Office of the Inspector General |access-date=September 5, 2016 |archive-date=September 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905005746/http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/jw-v-cia-watergate-cia-report-00146/ |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Watergate scandal}}
{{wikiquote|Watergate scandal}}
{{wikiquote|Richard Nixon}}
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* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/index.html ''Washington Post'' Watergate Archive]
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/watergate/watergatefront.htm ''Washington Post'' Watergate Tapes Online] – ''[[The Washington Post]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111015030346/http://nixon.archives.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/watergate/trial/transcripts.php Watergate Trial Conversations] – [[Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum]]
* [https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/museum/exhibits/watergate_files/index.html The Watergate Files], at the [[Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library]], [[National Archives]]. Official and unofficial documents on the Watergate scandal from the Presidential collection of President Nixon's successor, Vice President [[Gerald R. Ford]].
* [https://vault.fbi.gov/watergate FBI Records: The Vault – Watergate] at vault.fbi.gov
* [https://watergate.info/ Watergate.info], Malcolm Farnsworth website owner
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000v4bn/watergate-series-1-1-breakin ''Watergate''] ([[Watergate (TV series)|Wikipedia article]]) is a five-part British documentary series by [[Brian Lapping Associates]] which interviewed most of the conspirators in 1994, still viewable online.
* {{Cite interview |last=MacNeil |first=Robert |interviewer=[[Jeffrey Brown (journalist)|Jeffrey Brown]] |title=Covering Watergate: 40 Years Later with MacNeil and Lehrer |last2=Lehrer |first2=Jim |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/covering-watergate-40-years-later-with-macneil-and-lehrer |work=[[PBS NewsHour]] |publisher=[[WETA-TV]] |date=May 16, 2013 |author-link1=Robert MacNeil |author-link2=Jim Lehrer}}
* [https://scrc.gmu.edu/finding_aids/phillippi.html Watergate Collection]
* [http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz0002p6fr Image of women with children watching Senate Watergate Hearings on televisions in a Sears department store in Los Angeles, California, 1973]. ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, [[Charles E. Young Research Library]], [[University of California, Los Angeles]].

{{Richard Nixon}}
{{US history}}
{{Special Prosecutors and Independent Counsels of the U.S.}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Watergate scandal| ]]
[[Category:1972 scandals]]
[[Category:1973 scandals]]
[[Category:1974 scandals]]
[[Category:1972 in American politics]]
[[Category:1973 in American politics]]
[[Category:1974 in American politics]]
[[Category:1972 controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:1973 controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:1974 controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:Government crises]]
[[Category:News leaks]]
[[Category:Nixon administration controversies]]
[[Category:Election scandals in the United States]]
[[Category:Political terminology of the United States]]
[[Category:Constitutional crises]]
[[Category:Crimes adapted into films]]