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The Burglary

The Watergate scandal was a burglary that took place at the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate building. The committee that ran President Nixon's reelection decided that he needed to do something so that he would win the election. The plan was to break in to the DNC and wire tap their phones and steal important documents. The five burglars were caught and questioned. The police found the number for the white house on them and quickly connected the burglars to Nixon's reelection campaign. After investigations by the FBI, Nixon was found to be guilty and resigned just before he would have been impeached.

Sequence of Events:

1. Five men were caught breaking into the DNC headquarters.

-their goal was to wiretap phones and steal important documents to help Nixon's re-election

2. The burglars were caught red handed and were arrested

-while they were being searched the police found the white house re-election number on them

3. Nixon was asked about being connected to the break in but he denied any connections to the robbery

4. When Nixon denied the allegations, it probed the FBI to open an investigation

-Nixon made attempts to get the CIA to stop the FBI's investigation

5. Nixon was found to have recorded all of his conversations in his office

-He was later ordered by the supreme court to release the tapes

6. Nixon released most of the tapes but some parts of them were missing. He was later forced to turn over the parts he took out

7. The tapes proved that Nixon did take the part in the Watergate scandal

8. the Issue was taken to congress to decide if he should be impeached or not

9. Congress decided to Impeach President Nixon but he resigned shortly before on August 9th, 1974

The Burglars

(pictured above from left to right)

1. James W. McCord was a security coordinator for the Republican National Committee for Nixon's reelection campaign. He was a former FBI and CIA agent.

2. Virgilio R. Gonzales was a locksmith from Miami and was a refugee from Cuba during Castro's rule.

3. Frank A. Sturgis worked for a real estate firm in Miami (worked for Barker) and had CIA connections.

4. Eugenio R. Martinez also has CIA connections and worked for Barker's firm in Miami.

5. Bernard L. Barker worked for the CIA and started a real estate company in Miami

 

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