The Watergate scandal of the early 1970s is the gold standard of American political scandals because it forced Richard M. Nixon to become the first—and thus far the only—U.S. president to resign from office. After five men were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex on June 17, 1972, the trail eventually led to Nixon’s Republican administration and to the president himself, who was ultimately incriminated by tape recordings that he had made of Oval Office conversations.
Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein—aided by an informant known as “Deep Throat” (later revealed to be FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt)—catalyzed the probing of the ever-expanding break-in trial presided over by Judge John J. Sirica and the Senate special investigating committee chaired by Samuel J. Ervin, Jr. On August 9, 1974, facing likely impeachment, Nixon stepped down. Nearly a dozen of Nixon’s advisers and acolytes received prison terms. Nixon was pardoned by his successor, Pres. Gerald Ford.
