Non-fiction · 1971–2005

Watergate

What was said, what the tapes recorded, and when the public found out

Between 1971 and 1972 a White House unit and Richard Nixon's re-election committee ran covert operations that ended with the arrest of five men inside the Democratic National Committee's Watergate offices on June 17, 1972. The White House then worked to contain the investigation while publicly denying involvement. Secret tapes of the President's conversations, revealed in July 1973, turned the case: the June 23, 1972 'smoking gun' conversation stayed hidden for more than two years, and its release in August 1974 was followed within days by Nixon's resignation. This map shows what was concealed, when each piece surfaced, and how the cases ended, including Ford's pardon of Nixon, who was never charged.