---
created: 2026-06-13
updated: 2026-06-13
title: Watergate
aliases:
  - Watergate Scandal
tags:
  - Event
  - IntelligenceScandal
  - Nixon
  - CIA
  - 1970s
category: "Intelligence Scandal"
summary: "Watergate was the 1972 to 1974 political scandal, beginning with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee by operatives tied to the Nixon reelection campaign and the CIA, that culminated in President Nixon's resignation."
start: 1972-06-17
end: 1974-08-09
location: "Washington, D.C."
---
Watergate was the political scandal that began with the June 17, 1972 arrest of five men who broke into the [[Democratic National Committee]] headquarters at the Watergate office complex in [[Washington, D.C.]], and that ended with the resignation of President [[Richard Nixon]] on August 9, 1974. The investigation exposed a wider pattern of covert operations, illegal surveillance, and obstruction of justice directed from the [[White House]].[^1]

### The Burglars and the Intelligence Connection

The burglars and their supervisors were drawn from the intersection of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], anti-Castro Cuban exile networks, and the Nixon campaign. [[E. Howard Hunt]], a veteran CIA officer, and [[James McCord]], a former CIA security official, organized the operation, and several of the burglars were Cuban exiles from the [[Bay of Pigs|Bay of Pigs invasion]] milieu. Hunt and [[G. Gordon Liddy]] had earlier run the White House "Plumbers" unit, whose 1971 burglary of [[Daniel Ellsberg]]'s psychiatrist used disguises and equipment supplied by the CIA's [[Office of Technical Service|Technical Services Division]].[^1][^2]

### Investigation and Resignation

Reporting in the *Washington Post*, an FBI investigation, and the [[Senate Watergate Committee]] revealed a secret taping system in the [[Oval Office]] and a fund used to buy the burglars' silence. After the Supreme Court ordered release of the tapes, which confirmed Nixon's role in the cover-up, the [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] approved articles of impeachment and Nixon resigned. The scandal directly preceded the [[Church Committee]] and Pike Committee investigations that exposed the broader history of intelligence abuses.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. *Final Report*. Government Printing Office, 1974.
[^2]: Hougan, Jim. *Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat, and the CIA*. Random House, 1984.