On June 17, 1972 there was a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate building complex in Washington, D.C.  Five employees of Nixon's 1972 re-election committee were arrested and convicted of burglary.  In early 1973, evidence was uncovered that linked several top White House aides with either the break-in or later attempts to hide information related to it.
    Richard Nixon insisted that he had nothing to do with the crime.  He also promised a full investigation of the case.
    In July, a Senate investigating committee learned that Nixon had secretly made tape recording of conversationg in his White House offices since 1971.
    In August, the committee filed petitions in court to obtain the tapes.  The Judge John J. Sirica ordered Nixon to give the tapes to him to review them himself.
    In October, Nixon offered to provide summaries of the tapes.  But the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, rejected the offer.  Nixon then had Cox fired from his position.
    Later, in 1973, it was discovered that three key conversations were missing.
    In April, Nixon released 1,254 pages of transcripts of White House conversations.  He said they told the full Watergate story.
    On August 9, 1974 Richard Nixon resigned from presidency.