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Watergate

The Watergate scandal involved the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. by five men associated with President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post uncovered the scandal and its extensive cover-up by the Nixon administration. Their reporting led to investigations that revealed Nixon's administration attempted to sabotage the investigations and Nixon's role in the subsequent cover-up. Nixon resigned in August 1974 in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office.

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38 views12 pages

Watergate

The Watergate scandal involved the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. by five men associated with President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post uncovered the scandal and its extensive cover-up by the Nixon administration. Their reporting led to investigations that revealed Nixon's administration attempted to sabotage the investigations and Nixon's role in the subsequent cover-up. Nixon resigned in August 1974 in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office.

Uploaded by

Quincey Epley
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WATERGATE

WHAT IS
WATERGATE?
• The Watergate Hotel housed
the Democratic National
Committee Headquarters
• On June 17, 1972, five men
broke into the headquarters in
order to bug the place
• One was a former CIA agent
who worked for Nixon’s
reelection Campaign
• Nixon claimed neither he or
anyone on his staff was
involved
KEY PLAYERS
Involved in Watergate and the cover up Not Involved in Watergate and the cover up

• Richard Nixon, Republican President from 1969-74 • Archibald Cox, Special Prosecutor in the
• Charles Colson, Special Counsel to the President Watergate Investigation
• John Erlichman, first counsel to the president
• Sam Ervin, Head of Senate Watergate
• Bob Haldeman, Nixon’s Chief of Staff, right-hand man
• E. Howard Hunt, former CIA agent, led the break in
Committee
• G. Gordon Liddy, Former FBI agent, orchestrated the • Mark Felt, “Deep Throat” FBI director
break in
• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
• James McCord, wiretap expert in the break in
Washington Post reporters on Watergate
• John Mitchell, Former Attorney General, Chairman of
the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) • Alexander Butterfield, scheduling
• John Dean, former counsel to the president, testified assistant to the President, exposed
against him in the Senate Investigation recording device in Oval Office
WOODWARD AND
BERNSTEIN
• Most media outlets stopped covering the Watergate break-in
• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein at the Washington Post kept
pursuing the story
• Had an anonymous informant they called “Deep Throat”
• Found that one of the burglars had E. Howard Hunt in his
address book and had checks signed by him
BURGLARY TRIAL
• Hunt, Liddy, and the burglars are indicted
• Five plead guilty
• Liddy and McCord are convicted after the trial
• McCord submitted a letter to the judge which claimed other defendants committed perjury
because of pressure from high up, but not the CIA
SENATE WATERGATE
INVESTIGATION
• The famous question was “What did the
President know, and when did he know
it?”
• Led by special prosecutor Archibald Cox
• John Dean tells Committee that Nixon
knew of the break in and the cover up
• Alexander Butterfield testifies that all
conversations and telephone calls in
Nixon’s offices have been taped since 1971
• Nixon refuses to turn these tapes over
SATURDAY
NIGHT
MASSACRE
• Nixon ordered Attorney General
Elliot Richardson and Deputy
Attorney General William
Ruckelshaus to fire the special
prosecutor
• The two refused and resigned
• Robert Bork does fire Cox
• Swayed public opinion against
Nixon
• 21 Articles of Impeachment were
proposed to be brought against
him
NIXON’S TAPES

• Nixon releases the 9 subpoenaed tapes


• 18 ½ minute gap in the Nixon-
Haldeman tape from June 20, 1972
• Indictments of the “Watergate Seven”
• More than 1,200 pages of edited
transcripts
U N I T E D S TAT E S V. N I X O N
• Ruled Nixon must surrender the
original recordings to the
Special Prosecutor
• “The Smoking Gun” tape
reveals Nixon’s involvement in
the cover-up
NIXON RESIGNS
AFTERMATH

• Nixon is pardoned by President Ford


• Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell are convicted of
conspiracy charges
• 41 people convicted in relation to Watergate
REVIEW:
WHO? WHAT?
WHEN?
WHY? HOW?

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