Watergate

Richard Nixon announcing his resignation in 1974. When his complicity in the Watergate cover-up was revealed, Nixon decided to resign rather than face impeachment.

US political scandal, named after the building in Washington, DC, which housed the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the 1972 presidential election. Five men, hired by the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President (popularly known as CREEP), were caught after breaking into the Watergate with complex electronic surveillance equipment. Investigations revealed that the White House was implicated in the break-in, and that there was a ‘slush fund’ used to finance unethical activities, including using the CIA and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for political ends, setting up paramilitary operations against opponents, altering and destroying evidence, and bribing defendants to lie or remain silent. In August 1974, President Nixon was forced by the Supreme Court to surrender to Congress tape recordings of conversations he had held with administration officials, which indicated his complicity in a cover-up. Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment for obstruction of justice and other crimes. See also United States of America, Watergate scandal.