Watergate Scandal Summary: President Richard Nixon's Resignation

The Greatest Political Scandal of the United States

The biggest political scandal in the history of the United States, which forced a president to resign. In the 1970s, Watergate became synonymous with camouflage.

Watergate scandal summary

In 1972, an election year in the United States, the Watergate building in Washington DC was the stronghold of the Democratic Party, the opposition to incumbent President Richard Nixon, running for a second term. A clumsy attempt to break into the Watergate and then concealment led seven men, all connected with the White House, to justice in January 1973. By that time, Nixon had been re-elected and the break-in of the Watergate was already ancient history - until Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward unravel the threads of the plot.

Former White House Legal Assistant John Dean admitted the cover and said Nixon was informed. The president refused to transmit the secret conversations recorded at the White House. When he consented, three key conversations were missing. Pursued by a Senate commission and specialized prosecutors, Nixon released more than 1,000 tapes of recordings, evidence of a coup.

About forty people were indicted; in 1975, prison sentences were passed against White House members John Ehrlichman and H. R. Haldeman, and former Attorney General John Mitchell for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury.

Nixon was indicted in Congress for obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential powers and concealment of evidence. On August 9, 1974, he resigned. Vice President Gerald Ford succeeded him and graced him.