Watergate Timeline

Nixon disconnects the Taping System in the White House

Jul 18, 1773

Nixon reportedly orders the White House taping system disconnected.

Men caught bugging the offices at the Watergate hotel

Jun 12, 1972

Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex.

Money was found in a Watergate burglar's account

Aug 1, 1972

A $25,000 cashier’s check, apparently for the Nixon campaign, wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar, the Washington Post reports.

The break-in is connected to Nixon

Oct 10, 1972

FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort, the Post reports.

Nixon is reelected

Nov 11, 1972

Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60%of the vote and crushing the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.

People convicted of the scandal

Jan 30, 1973

Former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. are convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Five other men plead guilty, but mysteries remain.

Staffers in the White House resign or get fired over the scandal

Apr 30, 1973

Nixon’s top White House staffers, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign over the scandal. White House counsel John Dean is fired.

The Hearings start to get aired

May 18, 1973

The Senate Watergate committee begins its nationally televised hearings.

John Dean exposes the cover-up

Jun 3, 1973

John Dean has told Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with President Nixon at least 35 times, the Post reports.

Alexander Butterfield exposes Nixon's recordings

Jul 13, 1973

Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary, reveals in congressional testimony that since 1971, Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his offices.

Nixon doesn't give the tape recordings up

Jul 23, 1973

Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate committee or the special prosecutor.

More people either get fired or resign

Oct 20, 1973

Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon fires Archibald Cox and abolishes the office of the special prosecutor. Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus resign. Pressure for impeachment mounts in Congress.

“I am not a crook” speech

Nov 17, 1973

Nixon declares, “I’m not a crook,” maintaining his innocence in the Watergate case.

Parts of the tapes are erased

Dec 7, 1973

The White House can’t explain an eighteen-and-a-half-minute gap in one of the ​subpoenaed ​[​court-ordered]​ tapes. Chief of staff Alexander Haig says one theory is that “some sinister force” erased the segment.

The White House tried to avoid turning in the actual tapes.

Apr 30, 1974

The White House releases more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes to the House Judiciary Committee, but the committee insists that the tapes themselves must be turned over.

Nixon is forced to turn in the tapes

Jul 24, 1974

The Supreme Court rules unanimously that Nixon must turn over the tape recordings of 64 White House conversations, rejecting the president’s claims of executive privilege.

The first Article of Impeachment is passed

Jul 27, 1974

House Judiciary Committee passes the first of three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice.