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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 traced back to President Nixons administration. Woodward had a principle inside source that used the codename “Deep Throat”. Deep Throat revealed to Woodward about the 50 new agents hired to sabotage the Democratic National Committee in the 1972 elections. Deep Throat also revealed to Woodward a host of other inside details which kept the Watergate Scandal visible in the media.
Americans in the beginning could not believe that Nixon would be so foolish to ruin an advantage already held at the polls or even be so unethical to win presidency. President Nixon was subpoenaed to release recorded tapes of conversations that took place in the Oval Office. Nixon agreed to only release edited tapes, citing the tapes contained sensitive national security information. Many Americans believed the tapes were edited due to racial remarks and foul language. On one portion of the tape 18 ÐÐ minutes was erased, President Nixons secretary Rose Mary Woods claimed to have accidentally erase the tape. Forensics was later conducted and revealed the tape had been erased several times perhaps as many as eight times over. Americans began to believe the government was hiding the truth. The public started protesting outside of the White House, holding signs that read “Honk to Impeach” simultaneously hundreds of drivers began to honk. On July 27th 1974 the House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to11 recommending the impeachment of President Nixon. The articles