The+Watergate+Scandal

=The Watergate Story= The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the [|Watergate office complex] in [|Washington, D.C.] Effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of the President of the United States, [|Richard Nixon], on August 9, 1974, the first and only resignation of any U.S. President. It also resulted in the [|indictment], trial, conviction and incarceration of several Nixon administration officials. The affair began with the arrest of five men for [|breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex] on June 17, 1972. The [|FBI] connected the payments to the burglars to a [|slush fund] used by the 1972 [|Committee to Re-elect the President].[|[1]][|[2]] As evidence mounted against the president's staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in an investigation conducted by the [|Senate Watergate Committee], it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had [|recorded] many conversations.[|[3]][|[4]] Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in.[|[2]][|[5]] After a series of court battles, the [|U.S. Supreme Court] ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied. Facing near-certain [|impeachment] in the [|House of Representatives] and a strong possibility of a conviction in the [|Senate], Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974.[|[6]][|[7]] His successor, [|Gerald Ford], issued a [|pardon] to President Nixon after his resignation.