Watergate timeline
1972
June 17: Five men are arrested in the burglary of Democratic National
Committee headquarters in the Watergate office and apartment complex in
June 19: W. Mark Felt, the No. 2 official at the FBI and a leader in the
federal investigation of the break-in, begins providing information to
Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. In All
the President's Men, the book Woodward and Carl Bernstein wrote about their
investigation, the reporters referred to their secret source as "Deep
Throat."
Aug. 1: A $25,000 cashier's check, apparently earmarked for President
Nixon's reelection campaign, ends up in the bank account of a Watergate
burglar, the Washington Post reports.
Sept. 29: John N. Mitchell, while serving as attorney general,
controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance widespread
intelligence-gathering operations against Democrats, the Post reports.
Oct. 10: FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stemmed from a
massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the
Nixon reelection effort, the Post reports.
Nov. 7: President Nixon is reelected with more than 60% of the vote.
1973
Jan. 30: Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and
James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in
the Watergate incident.
April 30: Nixon's top White House aides, H.R. Haldeman
and John D. Ehrlichman, and Atty. Gen. Richard G. Kleindienst resign over the Watergate scandal. White House
Counsel John W. Dean III is fired.
May 18: The Senate Watergate Committee begins its nationally televised
hearings. Atty. Gen.-designate Elliot L. Richardson names Archibald Cox as
Watergate special prosecutor.
July 23: Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to
the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor.
Oct. 20: The "Saturday night massacre": Richardson and his
deputy, William D. Ruckelshaus, resign rather than follow Nixon's order to fire
Cox. Nixon abolishes the office of the special prosecutor.
Nov. 17: Nixon declares, "I am not a crook," maintaining his
innocence in the Watergate scandal.
1974
Feb. 6: The House votes 410 to 4 to give the Judiciary Committee broad
power to conduct an impeachment investigation.
April 30: The White House releases more than 1,200 pages of edited
transcripts of the Nixon tapes to the House Judiciary Committee. The panel
demands that the actual tapes be turned over.
July 24: The Supreme Court rules that Nixon must turn over the tape
recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president's claim of
executive privilege.
July 27-30: The House Judiciary Committee approves three articles of
impeachment.
Aug. 5: Responding to a Supreme Court order, Nixon releases the
"smoking gun" tape, which showed that he took part in the coverup six days after the break-in.
Aug. 9: Nixon resigns.
Sept. 8: President Ford grants Nixon a "full, free and absolute
pardon."