Watergate

Biography & Overview

The Watergate scandal, or simply Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. On June 17, 1972, operatives associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.
Emerging from the White House's efforts to stop leaks, the break-in was an implementation of Operation Gemstone, enacted by mostly Cuban burglars led by former intelligence agents E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. After the arrests, journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein from The Washington Post conducted an in-depth investigation, which included the source "Deep Throat", and exposed a White House political espionage program illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon denied involvem...