THE WATERGATE SCANDAL

1. WHAT : A major political scandal occurred in the United States during the early 1970s. WHO : following the break-in by 5 men . WHERE : At the Democrational National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington

2. ISSUE : A June 1972 break-in to the DNC headquarters led to an investigation that revealed multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration.

3. HOW ? 1)By 1972, when Republican President Richard M. Nixon was running for re election, the US was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the country was deeply divided.

4. 2)A forceful presidential campaign therefore seemed essential to the president and some of his key advisers. Their aggressive tactics included what turned out to be illegal espionage.

5. 3)May 1972,members of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President broke into the DNC’s Watergate headquarters, stole copies of top-secret documents and bugged the office’s phones.

6. 4) June 17,a group of five men returned to the Watergate building due to the wiretaps failed to work properly . A security guard noticed someone had taped over several of the building’s door locks and the spies were caught red-handed.

7. 5)A suspicions were raised when detectives found copies of the re election committee’s White House phone number among the burglars’ belongings.

8. 6)In August, Nixon gave a speech in which he swore that his White House staff was not involved in the break-in. Most voters believed him. In November 1972, the president was reelected in a landslide victory

9. 7) Nixon arranged to provide “hush money” to the burglars. Then, Nixon planned to instruct the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to impede the FBI’s investigation of the crime.

10. WHY :Not ordinary robbery ,the prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents

11. 8)Meanwhile, seven conspirators ,at the urging of Nixon’s aides, five pleaded guilty to avoid trial; the other two were convicted in January 1973.

12. 9)A handful of Nixon’s aides, including White House counsel John Dean, testified that Nixon had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office

13. 10)Nixon struggled to protect the tapes .His lawyers argued that the president’s executive privilege allowed him to keep the tapes to himself, but Judge Sirica, the Senate committee and an independent special prosecutor named Archibald Cox were all determined to obtain them.

14. 11) When Cox refused to stop demanding the tapes, Nixon ordered that he be fired, leading several Justice Department officials to resign in protest.

15. 12) July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. While the president dragged his feet, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution.

16. 13)Finally, on August 5, Nixon released the tapes, which provided undeniable evidence of his complicity in the Watergate crimes. In the face of almost certain impeachment by Congress, Nixon resigned in disgrace on August 8, and left office the following day.

17. WHEN :The Watergate scandal began early in June 17, 1972 where President Richard Nixon's administration's subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement.