Watergate Scandal

The Watergate scandals were a series of American political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the indictment of several of Nixon's closest advisors, and ultimately his resignation on August 9, 1974.

The scandals began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. Investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and later by the Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary Committee and the press revealed that this burglary was one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon's staff. They also revealed the immense scope of crimes and abuses, which included campaign fraud, political espionage and sabotage, illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, illegal wiretapping on a massive scale, and a secret slush fund laundered in Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations.^[1] This secret fund was also used as hush money to buy silence of the seven men who were indicted for the June 17 break-in.^[2][3]

Nixon and his staff conspired to cover up the break-in as early as six days after it occurred.^[4] After two years of mounting evidence against the President and his staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in a Senate investigation, it was revealed that Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations.^[5][6] Recordings from these tapes revealed that he had obstructed justice and attempted to cover up the break-in.^[4][7] This recorded conversation later became known as the Smoking Gun. After a series of court battles, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in United States v. Nixon that the President had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied.

With certainty of an impeachment in the House of Representatives and of a conviction in the Senate, Nixon resigned ten days later, becoming the only US President to have resigned from office.^[8][9] His successor, Gerald Ford, would issue a controversial pardon for any federal crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.

Mark Felt, 'Deep Throat' from Watergate scandal, dies

An FBI official during the 1972 crisis that eventually brought down the Nixon presidency, he kept his identity secret for more than 30 years.

Mark Felt, the FBI official who as the anonymous journalistic source "Deep Throat" helped bring down President Richard Nixon, died Thursday at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 95.

Felt suffered from congestive heart failure, but the immediate cause of death was not known.

In 2005, more than 30 years after his whistle-blowing helped topple a presidency, Felt held a news conference on the front steps of his Santa Rosa home. Felt, then 91, revealed that he was "Deep Throat," the anonymous source who in 1972 leaked information to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974.

Felt's role, but not his identity, was depicted in a 1974 book titled "All the President's Men" by Woodward and Bernstein and in a film of the same title released in 1976. His role was explored in detail in Woodward's 2005 book, "The Secret Man," and in Felt's 2006 autobiography, "A G-Man's Life."

As associate FBI director, Felt was one of the first to learn about the 1972 burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex and to realize its connection to Nixon's reelection campaign.

Days after the break-in, Nixon and White House staff talked about putting pressure on the FBI to slow down the investigation. Fearing that the investigation would be sabotaged and justice subverted, Felt began giving information to Woodward, whom he had known for several years.

According to the Washington Post, counterintelligence tricks that Felt learned during World War II became part of his relationship with the Post reporters: A flowerpot on Woodward's balcony would indicate that the reporter required a meeting, while a clock face inked on the reporter's daily New York Times would reveal the time Felt would be waiting in an underground parking garage.