The Watergate Scandal Between 1972-1974

The Watergate scandal took place between 1972 and 1974. It began with an early morning robbery involving five men who were connected to President Nixon’s administration in the office of Democratic National Committee office located inside of the Watergate building. For the next several months, Nixon took steps to ensure that the scandal is covered up and that the

Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wouldn’t investigate the crime that his own committee members were involved in, such as paying the robbers large amounts of money he raised through his own campaign, destroying any evidence, and even firing members who were uncooperative. This cycle of paranoid and hiding went on until 1974, when the scandal was undoubtedly exposed for the FBI, the

To this day, American politics has coined the term “Watergate” to describe any political or non-political scandal committed in the

United States. Though the break-in took place in May of 1972, Finance Counsel for the CRP (Committee for the Re-Election of the President) G. Gordon Liddy had already conjured a plan to break in to the

DNC (Democratic National Committee) as early as January of 1972 and presented the idea to more CRP administrative members, including Jeb Stuart Magruder CRP’s Acting Chairman,

John Mitchell, and John Dean. At first, Mitchell found the plan to be obscure and too complex.

He later agreed to carry out a more realistic version of the original plan, which involved breaking into the DNC office, located in the Watergate complex, and wiretapping two of the office phones as well as retrieving any documents relating to the Democratic campaign election. On

May 28, by the plan ordered by Liddy and Howard Hunt, the burglary was carried out very early in the morning. Alfred C. Baldwin III, a former FBI agent, was assigned by James McCord, former CIA officer, to install the bugs inside of two office phones and to record any