The Watergate Scandal

The Watergate Scandal began in 1972 until 1975 when President Nixon administration was proven guilty of abusing power and authority. Nixon and other leading officials in the White House ultimate goal was to undermine the Democratic National Committee. On June 17, 1972 a security guard name Frank Willis was working in the security office of the Watergate Hotel. Frank noticed pieces of tape on the doors between the basement stairwell and the parking garage; assuming the cleaning crew put the tape in the doors Frank removed the tape. Later on that night Frank discovered the tape had been replaced on the doors, Frank became suspicious and called the local police. Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, James McCord, and Frank Sturgis were discovered and arrested in connection to the burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The five men were later found guilty of burglary and wire-tapping the Democratic National Committee office. The scandal is known as Watergate because the burglaries were committed in the Watergate hotel in Washington, D.C.

At the arraignment James McCord identified himself as a retiree from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were at the arraignment and began to investigate the burglaries. During the investigation Woodward and Bernstein noticed James McCord had received payments from the Committee to re-elect the President (CRP), this connection became one of the several leads that