CONTEXTUALIZATION

On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Congress headquarters, which was located in the Watergate Hotel. They planned to install wiretaps on the telephones and photograph documents located in the building. At first, this incident was seen as an ordinary break-in and did not receive much national attention. However, it was later found out that Nixon has some involvement in this incident in the form of hush money, suggesting the FBI to cease their investigation, and advised staff members to lie. Initially, this attempt at covering up the connection between the White House and Watergate break-in was a success. But in January 1973, James McCord, one of the burglars and former security adviser for Nixon's campaign staff, admitted that the Nixon administration ordered the Watergate break-in. This led to the creation of a special Senate committee to investigate. Many high-level White House officials resigned during the investigation, and eventually, Nixon was forced to do the same.