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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 story is a failed political burglary followed by a documented effort to contain the FBI and the press.
The public ending is a resignation, a pardon and a dock of convicted aides — mixed accountability, thick evidence.
Beats
- Seventeen June 1972
Five men are arrested in the DNC offices at the Watergate. Address books and cash point to Hunt, Liddy and CRP. The White House calls it a third-rate burglary.
- A paper that would not drop it
Woodward and Bernstein keep the CRP money trail in the Post through an election Nixon still wins. Judge Sirica keeps the burglars' case from dying in a quiet plea.
- Dean, Butterfield, tapes
In 1973 McCord writes to Sirica, Dean testifies and Butterfield reveals the taping system. The file becomes documentary.
- Saturday Night Massacre
On 20 October 1973 Cox is fired and two Justice Department leaders resign. A burglary story becomes a constitutional crisis.
- Resignation and pardon
United States v. Nixon forces the tapes out. The smoking-gun conversation ends Republican cover. Nixon resigns on 9 August 1974. Ford pardons him on 8 September.
Watergate is the English civic story of a cover-up that outran a break-in and still ended in a mixed dock.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.