Watergate Scandal: A History from Beginning to End

In the summer of 1972, as the US presidential campaign was gathering pace, incumbent President Richard Nixon faced a challenge from Democratic Senator George McGovern. In general, President Nixon was well-regarded, particularly for a number of notable foreign policy successes, and polls seemed to suggest that he would have little difficulty in defeating McGovern to win a second term. As predicted, Nixon won a landslide victory and officially began his second term in January 1973. But something had happened in the summer of 1972 that, although it was virtually unnoticed at the time, would fatally undermine Nixon’s presidency and eventually lead to his downfall.

In the early hours of June 17, police were called to the massive Watergate Hotel and Office Complex in Washington, DC. On the sixth floor, in the offices where McGovern’s campaign was being planned and controlled, they discovered and arrested five burglars. This event wasn’t immediately a major news story—in fact, many newspapers ignored it completely—but over the next two years, the attempted break-in at the Watergate complex would become the heart of the biggest political scandal ever to hit America and the direct cause of a constitutional crisis.

How did that happen? And why has the word “Watergate” become a synonym for political scandal and corruption? Dive into the true story of the Watergate Scandal.