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Quick answers
What was Watergate?
A political scandal that began with a 17 June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in Washington's Watergate complex and became a White House cover-up. It ended with President Richard Nixon's resignation on 9 August 1974 and convictions of many aides and burglars.
Who was arrested on 17 June 1972?
Five men inside the DNC offices, including James McCord of CRP. They were tied to E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. The burglary was a political intelligence operation, not a random theft. The scandal was the lying that followed.
What did the Washington Post do?
Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, with editor Ben Bradlee, kept publishing links between the burglars, CRP cash and the White House through 1972–73. An FBI source, later named as Mark Felt, helped. The paper did not act alone: courts and Congress built the public record.
What was the Saturday Night Massacre?
On 20 October 1973 Nixon ordered special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired for insisting on the White House tapes. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy William Ruckelshaus resigned rather than comply. Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out the firing. The crisis forced a new prosecutor and deepened impeachment talk.
Why did Nixon resign?
After the Supreme Court ordered the tapes released in United States v. Nixon (24 July 1974), the 23 June 1972 'smoking gun' conversation showed him joining an effort to halt the FBI. The House Judiciary Committee had approved impeachment articles. Senate conviction looked certain. He resigned on 9 August 1974.
Did Nixon go to prison?
No. President Gerald Ford pardoned him on 8 September 1974 for federal crimes he 'committed or may have committed'. Many subordinates were convicted. That split is why this atlas marks the status mixed.
The investigation was plural: a newspaper, a grand jury, a Senate committee, a special prosecutor and a Supreme Court.
Steps below are what those bodies did after 17 June 1972, not how to run a burglary or a cover-up.
Agencies
- FBI / Department of Justice — Initial criminal investigation; later conflicted by White House pressure documented on tape.
- Special prosecutors (Cox, then Jaworski) — Independent prosecutorial track after the Attorney General's office became the story.
- Senate Select Committee (Ervin) — Televised 1973 hearings that produced Dean, Butterfield and the public tape crisis.
- U.S. District Court and Supreme Court — Sirica's burglary docket and United States v. Nixon forced evidence into the open.
What followed
- Process the burglary
D.C. police and the FBI treated 17 June as a criminal case. Address books made CRP a subject, not a spectator.
- Follow the money
Prosecutors and the Post traced cash from CRP toward Hunt, Liddy and the burglars.
- Break the silence
Sirica's pressure and McCord's letter opened the White House. Dean's testimony followed.
- Litigate the tapes
Cox's subpoenas, the Saturday Night Massacre and Jaworski's continuation produced United States v. Nixon.
- Vote impeachment articles
House Judiciary approved articles in late July 1974 once the smoking-gun tape was in view.
- Close with resignation and trials
Nixon left office. Aides and burglars filled the dock. Ford's pardon closed the presidential criminal path.
Turning points
- McCord writes to Sirica — A burglar's letter turned a closed plea into an open White House investigation.
- Butterfield names the tapes — A single Senate answer created the documentary core of the case.
- United States v. Nixon — The Court made the president a witness against himself on tape.
After the fact, overlapping investigators built a record thick enough to force a resignation — and not a presidential verdict.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.