Subject: Watergate Chronology
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Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 21:58:21 -0400

Watergate Chronology

Principal Cast of Characters:

John D. Ehrlichman: President Nixon's Domestic Adviser

H. R. Haldeman: White House Chief of Staff

John W. Dean: Presidential Counsel

1970 – After the New York Times disclosed secret bombings in
Cambodia, illegal telephone taps are placed on several newsmen and government
employees suspected of leaks

1971 – White House Special Investigations Unit, known as the
"Plumbers" created

– Break in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, under the
direction of John Ehrlichman

(Ellsberg had been responsible for leaking the "Pentagon Papers" to the press
in March. This was a secret government document detailing the process by which
JFK and LBJ Administrations had entered and fought the war in
Vietnam)

1972 – By spring, Ehrlichman commands team of "dirty tricksters"
who perform various acts of sabotage against prospective Democratic presidential
candidates

June 17: Watergate break in, organized by the Committee to Re-elect
the President (CREEP)

June 20: Nixon meeting with H. R. Haldeman; 18 ½ minutes of tape later
mysteriously disappear

June 23: The "smoking gun" – Nixon orders Haldeman to tell the
FBI "Don’t go any further into this case, period!" FBI to be told that national
security issues are involved.

– Haldeman gives $400,000 to intermediary who will pay the Watergate burglars
to remain silent

August: Nixon announces that Counsel to the Pres. John Dean has
conducted a thorough investigation of the break in which revealed no
Administration involvement – In reality, no such report existed

Sept. Grand Jury indicts five Watergate burglars, two plumbers

1973 – Jan.: Watergate trial begins

Feb. 7: Senate establishes investigative committee under chairmanship
of NC Sen. Sam Ervin

Mar. 21: John Dean warns Nixon that "We have a cancer...close to the
Presidency...."

Late March: Watergate burglar James McCord sends letter to Judge
Sirica revealing that he has been paid off and promised a pardon for silence –
Sirica calls for further investigation

April: Head of the FBI resigns after admitting he’d destroyed
important documents related to the case

Apr. 30: Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Attorney General Kleindienst resign –
John Dean blamed for all by Nixon, fired – Elliot Richardson becomes new
Attorney General

May 17: Ervin Committee begins televised hearings

Under Senate pressure, Attorney Gen. Elliot Richardson appoints a special
prosecutor, Archibald Cox

June: John Dean testifies before the Senate, implicates Nixon in the
Watergate cover-up

July: Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of White House
tapes, beginning a year- long battle for control of them

Oct.: VP Spiro Agnew resigns after confessing to having falsified tax
returns – Fined $10,000, receives three-year suspended sentence

Oct. 20: "Saturday Night Massacre" – After Special Prosecutor
Cox wins a court ruling that he should have access to the tapes, and after Cox
refuses Nixon’s offer of tape summaries, Nixon fires Cox – In the process, Atty.
Gen. Richardson resigns, Assist. Atty. Gen.William Ruckelshaus fired

Massive public protest, calls for resignation, impeachment

Oct. 23: Nixon Admin. announces that some tapes will be yielded

Nov. : New special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, is named; will prove to
be no more pliable than Cox had been

Pressed by charges of personal financial improprieties and tax evasion, Nixon
declares "I am not a crook."

Public learns of 18 ½-minute gap in one of the nine released Nixon tapes

Dec. : House Judiciary Committee begins hearings to determine if
grounds exist for impeachment – Seek evidence of Nixon’s personally breaking the
law

1974 – March 1: Grand jury indicts Haldeman, Ehrlichman,
Mitchell, and others for involvement in the Watergate cover-up – Nixon is named
an "unindicted coconspirator"

April : Sirica demands Nixon turn over more tapes; Nixon releases
edited transcripts of tapes, with many cuts and alterations – Filled with
instances of "expletive deleted" – Nixon’s popularity continues to plunge

By now, majority of Americans favor impeachment

May 20: Nixon appeals Sirica’s demand for subpoenaed tapes to the
Supreme Court

July 24 : In United States v. Nixon, Supreme Court rules unanimously
that Nixon must turn over tapes

July 27 : Beginning today, House Judiciary Comm. approves three
articles of impeachment

Aug. 6 : Before full house votes, Nixon releases tapes – One contains
the "smoking gun" conversation with Haldeman of June 23, 1973 – Tapes also
reveal Nixon ordering hush money, urging aides to lie to grand jury

In early Aug., 66% of American people had favored impeachment; with tapes’
release, figure rises still higher

Aug. 7 : Republican Congressional leaders confirm to Nixon that
impeachment and removal from office seem certain

Aug. 8 : In a nationally televised address, Nixon announces his
attention to resign

Aug. 9 : Nixon leaves office

In his inaugural address, President Gerald Ford announces that "Our long
national nightmare is over."

Sept. 8: President Ford grants Nixon a "full, free, and absolute"
pardon for any offenses he might have committed while President

Eventually, more than 70 people associated with the various scandals are
convicted and punished.