


Nixon was running for reelection, the United States was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the country was deeply divided.Ī handful of Nixon’s aides, including White House counsel John Dean, testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes they also testified that Nixon had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office. By 1972, when Republican President Richard M. The origins of the Watergate break-in lay in the hostile political climate of the time. The Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leaders and think more critically about the presidency.

Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crimes, but when Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed his role in the conspiracy, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C.
