What happened to the plumbers at Watergate?
June 17, 1972: The plumbers are arrested at 2:30 a.m. in the process of burglarizing and planting surveillance bugs in the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Building Complex.
What was the Watergate scandal and what caused it?
The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign,...
What happened in 1972 in the Watergate scandal?
May 2, 1972: J. Edgar Hoover dies; L. Patrick Gray is appointed acting FBI director. [4] May 28, 1972: Liddy’s team breaks into DNC Headquarters at the Watergate complex for the first time, bugging the telephones of staffers. [5]
Did Nixon order Watergate burglary?
Did Richard Nixon, who resigned 40 years ago today, order the burglary of the Democratic National Committee’s offices in June 1972? Amid the tapestry of scandal surrounding Watergate, we still don’t know who dreamed up the tawdry crime at its center.
Who were the plumbers in the Watergate scandal?
Howard Hunt, and G. Gordon Liddy then put up a sign on their office with the title "The Plumbers", but it was taken down as their operations were intended to be top secret. Still, the name stuck for the group.
Why did the plumbers break into a psychiatrist's office?
Nixon wanted to publicly discredit Ellsberg. Ordering "plumbers," David Young, Howard Hunt, and G. Gordon Liddy, to break into the Los Angeles office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis Fielding, Nixon hoped they would locate damaging or embarrassing information about Ellsberg.
Who were the 5 Watergate burglars?
The police apprehended five men, later identified as Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis. They were charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications.
Who discovered the break in at Watergate?
On the night of June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Wills was making his usual rounds when he noticed a piece of duct tape covering the lock of the back parking lot door to the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. As noted in the Security Officer's Log (NAID 304970), he removed the tape, only to return thirty ...
Who leaked the Vietnam papers?
Daniel EllsbergBornApril 7, 1931 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.EducationHarvard University (AB, PhD) King's College, Cambridge Cranbrook SchoolsEmployerRAND CorporationKnown forPentagon Papers, Ellsberg paradox13 more rows
Who was Deep Throat during Watergate?
Felt said, "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat." After the Vanity Fair story broke, Benjamin C. Bradlee on June 1, 2005, the editor of the Washington Post during Watergate, confirmed that Felt was Deep Throat.
What was on the smoking gun tape recording?
One tape, later known as the "Smoking Gun" tape, documented the initial stages of the Watergate coverup. On it, Nixon and H. R. Haldeman are heard formulating a plan to block investigations by having the CIA falsely claim to the FBI that national security was involved.
How were plumbers connected to President Nixon?
The White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, were a secret White House group led by G. Gordon Liddy. They were established July 24, 1971, during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Its task was to find out who was giving out classified information, such as the Pentagon Papers, to the news media.
What did creep stand for?
The Committee for the Re-election of the President (also known as the Committee to Re-elect the President), abbreviated CRP, but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was, officially, a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign during the Watergate scandal.
Did Nixon get a presidential funeral?
April 27, 1994Richard Nixon / Date of burial
Did John Dean testify against Nixon?
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American attorney who served as White House Counsel for United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness.
What big events happened in 1972?
Watergate. ... Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. ... United States - Landsat 1 Launches. ... Copernicus Satellite. ... Space Shuttle Program Introduced. ... Japan -- XI Winter Olympics. ... Space -- Pioneer 10. ... United Kingdom --- Miners Strike.
What triggered Nixon's authorization of the Plumbers break in in 1971 quizlet?
Nixon's "special investigations unit" set up in 1971 in order to plug news leaks through illegal means. The head of the plumbers was Egil Krogh, Jr. They broke into the office of Dr. Lewis Fielding who was the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg who released the Pentagon Papers to the press.
What was the job of the Plumbers in Nixon's administration quizlet?
The White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, were a covert White House Special Investigations Unit, established July 24, 1971, during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Its task was to stop the leaking of classified information, such as the Pentagon Papers, to the news media.
How were the burglars connected to President Nixon quizlet?
How were Mitchell and Dean connected to Nixon? Dean was connected to Nixon because Nixon tried to force him to resign after watergate, and he refused to. He testified against Nixon and said that he was part of the coverup.
Is Gordon Liddy Still Alive?
March 30, 2021G. Gordon Liddy / Date of death
What was the Watergate scandal?
Nixon. The Watergate scandal refers to the burglary and illegal wiretapping of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, in the Watergate complex, by members of President Richard Nixon 's re-election campaign and the subsequent cover-up of the break-in resulting in Nixon's ...
What happened to the plumbers in 1972?
Patrick Gray is appointed acting FBI director. June 17, 1972: The plumbers are arrested at 2:30 a.m. in the process of burglarizing and planting surveillance bugs in the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Building Complex.
What was the smoking gun?
Early August 1974: A previously unknown tape from June 23, 1972 (recorded a few days after the break-in) documenting Nixon and Haldeman formulating a plan to block investigations is released. This recording later became known as the "Smoking Gun".
How many times did John Dean talk to Nixon?
June 3, 1973: John Dean tells Watergate investigators that he has discussed the cover-up with Nixon at least 35 times. July 13, 1973: Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary, reveals that all conversations and telephone calls in Nixon's office have been taped since 1971.
When did Hunt and Liddy get indicted?
The conversation is recorded. September 15, 1972: Hunt, Liddy, and the Watergate burglars are indicted by a federal grand jury. November 7, 1972: Nixon re-elected, defeating George McGovern with the largest plurality of votes in American history. January 8, 1973: Five defendants plead guilty as the burglary trial begins.
When did Nixon give his first interview about Watergate?
January 20, 1977: Jimmy Carter is inaugurated at the 39th President of The United States. May 4, 1977: Nixon gives his first major interview about Watergate with TV journalist David Frost. May 15, 1978: Nixon publishes his memoirs, giving more of his side of the Watergate saga. October 25, 1978: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act enacted, ...
When did Nixon refuse to turn over tapes?
July 23, 1973: Nixon refuses to turn over presidential tapes to the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor.
How many conspirators were indicted for the Watergate scandal?
Meanwhile, seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the Watergate affair. At the urging of Nixon’s aides, five pleaded guilty to avoid trial; the other two were convicted in January 1973.
When did Nixon's aides get indicted?
Early in 1974, the cover-up and efforts to impede the Watergate investigation began to unravel. On March 1, a grand jury appointed by a new special prosecutor indicted seven of Nixon’s former aides on various charges related to the Watergate affair. The jury, unsure if they could indict a sitting president, called Nixon an “unindicted ...
What was the origin of the Watergate break in?
The origins of the Watergate break-in lay in the hostile political climate of the time. By 1972, when Republican President Richard M. Nixon was running for reelection, the United States was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the country was deeply divided.
Why did Nixon get pardoned?
Six weeks later, after Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, he pardoned Nixon for any crimes he had committed while in office. Some of Nixon’s aides were not so lucky: They were convicted of very serious offenses and sent to federal prison.
How did Watergate affect the American political system?
His abuse of presidential power had a long-lasting effect on American political life, creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust. While many Americans had been deeply dismayed by the outcome of the Vietnam War, and saddened by the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and other leaders, Watergate added further disappointment to a national climate already soured by the difficulties and losses of the previous decade.
What happened at Watergate in 1972?
In May 1972, as evidence would later show, members of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (known derisively as CREEP) broke into the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters, stole copies of top-secret documents and bugged the office’s phones.
How long did Nixon serve as Attorney General?
Nixon’s Attorney General of the United States John Mitchell served 19 months for his role in the scandal, while Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, served four and a half years.
What was the first task of the Plumbers?
The Plumbers' first task was the burglary of the office of Daniel Ellsberg 's Los Angeles psychiatrist, Lewis J. Fielding, in an effort to uncover evidence to discredit Ellsberg, who had leaked the Pentagon Papers. The operation was reportedly unsuccessful in finding Ellsberg's file and was so reported to the White House.
What was Liddy's job after the California break-in?
After the California break-in, Liddy—who was general counsel, a member of the finance committee of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) and promoted from aide to Krogh and Young—worked with Campaign political-intelligence operations. Ehrlichman, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs and Special Investigations Unit, knew about Liddy's goal to perform an intelligence-gathering operation for the CRP. Liddy involved Hunt in the operations which would later include the Watergate burglary.
What did David Young say to his grandmother?
On Thanksgiving evening of 1971, David Young arrived home from his planning at the Special Investigative Unit, when his grandmother asked him, "What do you do at the White House?" He replied, "I am helping the president stop some leaks." She exclaimed, "Oh, you're a plumber!" Young, E. Howard Hunt, and G. Gordon Liddy then put up a sign on their office with the title "The Plumbers" but it was taken down since their covert operations were supposed to be top secret. Still, the name stuck for the group.
What is the White House Plumbers 2020 series?
Slow Burn (2020 series) v. t. e . The White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, the Room 16 Project, or more officially, the White House Special Investigations Unit, was a covert White House Special Investigations Unit, established within a week after the publication of the Pentagon Papers in June 1971, ...
Where was the Ellsberg file found?
However, Fielding himself stated the file was in his office; he found it on the floor on the morning after the burglary and quite clearly, someone had gone through it.
Was John Paisley a member of the Plumbers?
Some authors believe Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA) officer John Paisley was a member of the Plumbers. Paisley was assigned to the CIA's Office of Security, of which Nixon campaign security coordinator and Watergate burglar James McCord was once a member.
Who were the Watergate burglars?
The Watergate burglars were a sort of successor group to the Plumbers working under Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, a former Plumber who’d become general counsel to the Nixon re-election campaign’s finance committee.
Why were the plumbers created?
The Plumbers had been created the year before in response to military analyst Daniel Ellsberg slipping The New York Times a Pentagon-commissioned and highly damning secret history of the Vietnam war, known as the Pentagon Papers.
What did the burglars look for in the Nixon defense?
The most plausible explanation is that the burglars were looking for compromising information about the DNC and its chairman, Lawrence O’Brien. In his new book, " The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It ," Dean draws on transcripts he made of Nixon’s secret White House audiotapes, many of which had either not been transcribed before or had been transcribed incompletely. In the book, Dean observes that the tapes showed Nixon’s chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, repeatedly telling Nixon that the break-in “related to Larry O’Brien and the Democratic convention.”
What evidence forced Nixon to resign?
The evidence that forced Nixon to resign -- the famous “smoking gun” conversation ( transcript, audio) -- proved he’d tried to prevent the FBI from investigating the matter by lying about it. He’d also approved giving hush money to Watergate conspirators. That’s obstruction of justice.
Why does Dean think Nixon was haunted?
Dean thinks Nixon was haunted by the possibility that he might have and then forgotten about it. Nixon was, after all, already in the break-ins business, having previously ordered the firebombing of the liberal Brookings Institution to steal some files -- a yarn too rococo to detail here.
Why did Hunt say the break in occurred?
Hunt said the break-in occurred to establish that the Castro regime in Cuba was bankrolling Democratic campaigns -- but that sounds like a cover story to recruit four burglars who were anti-Castro activists. (Hunt knew them from his participation in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion).
When did Nixon give the V sign?
Richard Nixon gives the 'V' for victory sign after receiving the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, August 1968, in Miami, Fla. Aug. 9, 2014, 8:19 AM PDT / Updated Aug. 9, 2014, 9:10 AM PDT.
How did the White House interfere with the investigation?
It's impossible to list all the varied ways the White House attempted to impair investigations from the grand jury, from the special Senate committee eventually formed to deal with the scandal, and from the independent counsel appointed to investigate the affair. But here are a few: 1 Within days of the break-in, Nixon decided to ask the CIA to disrupt the FBI's investigation of the incident, on the grounds that it concerned matters of national security; the CIA, however, resisted the order. 2 Throughout the FBI's early investigation, White House counsel Dean sat in on interviews with witnesses and got regular updates from Gray. 3 The White House paid hush money to co-conspirators, including $75,000 to Hunt personally; Nixon was caught on tape discussing the arrangements with Dean. 4 Nixon tried, to no avail, to have aides manufacture dictatape evidence to give to Judge Sirica. 5 Nixon implied to Ehrlichman that they should prevent Dean from continuing to cooperate with investigators by offering him clemency in exchange for keeping his mouth shut. 6 Ehrlichman ordered Colson to offer clemency to Hunt in exchange for silence.
Why did Nixon ask the CIA to disrupt the FBI investigation?
Within days of the break-in, Nixon decided to ask the CIA to disrupt the FBI's investigation of the incident, on the grounds that it concerned matters of national security; the CIA, however, resisted the order.
What was the smoking gun tape?
They contained what became known as the "smoking gun" recording, in which Haldeman and Nixon, days after the break-in, discuss using the CIA to hamper the FBI's investigative efforts. Within days of the public learning of the smoking gun tape, Nixon resigned from the presidency.
How much did the White House pay to Hunt?
The White House paid hush money to co-conspirators, including $75,000 to Hunt personally; Nixon was caught on tape discussing the arrangements with Dean.
What did the Nixon investigation reveal?
But it's not really the break-in itself that ended Richard Nixon's presidency so much as the fact that the ensuing investigation revealed a tangled web of wrongdoing of almost unfathomable scale and complexity, implicating the highest levels of the White House up to and including the president.
When was the 3rd article of the Nixon impeachment?
The first article was approved on July 27, 1974, very shortly before Nixon resigned, which rendered the impeachment process moot.
What was Nixon's campaign committee's goal?
"They made it their goal to get any stronger candidates eliminated ," Drew tells me. "I'm not saying they achieved [George] McGovern's nomination, but that was their goal."
February 1971
June 13, 1971
• July 1, 1971: David Young and Egil "Bud" Krogh write a memo suggesting the formation of what later became called the "White House Plumbers" in response to the leak of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg.
• August 21, 1971: Nixon's Enemies List is started by White House aides (though Nixon himself may not have been aware of it); to "use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies."
1971
January 1972
May 28, 1972
June 17, 1972
June 20, 1972
The Plumbers' first task was the burglary of the office of Daniel Ellsberg's Los Angeles psychiatrist, Lewis J. Fielding, in an effort to uncover evidence to discredit Ellsberg, who had leaked the Pentagon Papers. The operation was reportedly unsuccessful in finding Ellsberg's file and was thus reported to the White House. However, Fielding himself stated the file was in his office; he found it on the floor on the morning after the burglary and quite clearly, someone had gone throu…
August 1, 1972
August 30, 1972
September 29, 1972