This is the Water Gate Complex today. Built in 1967 in Northwest Washington D.C., the super block of hotel offices and apartments became notorious around the globe in 1972 when it gave its name to one of America’s most significant political scandals.
On the 17th of June, five men were arrested for breaking into the complexes headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. A few months later, along with the masterminds of the breaking, E. Howard Hunts Junior and G. Gordon Liddy, the five were indicted for conspiracy, burglary and violation of Federal wire tapping laws, but when one of the men James W. McCord, wrote to the judge claiming a cover up of the burglary, the flood gates were opened and the affair sniveled into a massive political scandal that reached all the way to the White House.
It was eventually revealed that President Nixon and his government had been involved in an astonishing array of criminal activities including campaign forward, political espionage and wire-tapping of not only their political opponents but also the press and all the citizens.
A hidden Mexican slash fund was also discovered and used to pay for these activities to provide money for cover ups and by the silence of anyone arrested but it litigated, they all began to unravel. In a Senate investigation, former staff members testified against President Nixon and his team. Over two years, the evidence—covered by the revelations of Washington’s post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and their infamous anonymous source W. Mark Felt, code name "Deep Throat".
During this period, it became clear that Nixon’s own office is wide with him recording many conversations including one that became known as the smoking gun in which he detailed the cover up of Water Gate. The fall out led to threats of impeachment but on the 8th of August, 1974 Nixon announced his resignation, the only American president in history to do so.
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