During the 1970 's, Watergate was a major political scandal that happened in the U.S. It followed a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. It is most well known for President Nixon 's administration 's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was uncovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration 's resistance amounted into a ginormous crisis. Nixon, obsessed with secrecy, saw all most of his critics as national threats and established an “enemies list” of critical celebrities, politicians and reporters. When the Pentagon Papers were published, Nixon established a special investigative unit in the White House known as the