History: 37th President Richard Nixon

The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of illegal and secret activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. The activities became known in the aftermath of five men being caught breaking into Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The Washington Post picked up on the story, while reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward relied on an FBI informant known as "Deep Throat" to link the men to the Nixon White House. This became one of a series of scandalous acts involving the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, and his White House denounced the story as biased and misleading. As the FBI eventually confirmed that Nixon aides had attempted to sabotage the Democrats, many began resigning and senior aides faced prosecution.
Nixon's alleged role in ordering a cover-up came to light after the testimony of John Dean. In July 1973, White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had a secret taping system that recorded his conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office. Unlike the tape recordings by earlier Presidents, Nixon's were subpoenaed. The White House refused to release them, citing executive privilege. A tentative deal was reached in which the White House would provide written summaries of the tapes, but this was rejected by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, a former member of the Kennedy administration. Cox was fired at the White House's request and was replaced by Leon Jaworski, a former member of the Johnson administration. Jaworski revealed an audio tape of conversations held in the White House on June 20, 1972, which featured an unexplained 18½ minute gap. The first deleted section of about five minutes has been attributed to human error by Rose Mary Woods, the President's personal secretary, who admitted accidentally wiping the section while transcribing the tape. The gap, while not conclusive proof of wrong-doing by the President, cast doubt on Nixon's claim that he was unaware of the cover-up.
Though Nixon lost much popular support, including from some in his own party, he rejected accusations of wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office. He insisted that he had made mistakes, but had no prior knowledge of the burglary, did not break any laws, and did not learn of the coverup until early 1973. On November 17, 1973, during a televised question and answer session with the press, Nixon said,
People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got.