Investigation, Trial, Hearings, & Tapes
“What did the president know, and when did he know it?” -- Senator Howard Baker, June 1973.
Investigation
- FBI Records - WatergateOn June 17, 1972, several people broke into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters; they were discovered by an on-site guard and were arrested by local police. Subsequent investigations by the FBI, Congress, and the media showed that these intruders were connected to the campaign staff of President Richard Nixon. The White House under Nixon worked to cover-up this connection, and subsequent revelations led to articles of impeachment being drawn up against Nixon and his subsequent resignation in 1974. These files, released many years ago, document the FBI’s investigation into the break-in and related issues between 1972 and 1979.
- Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution ForceRecords of the Watergate prosecution available through the National Archives. Many records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF) are open for research.
Tapes
- The Nixon White House TapesThe National Archives is engaged in a digitization for preservation and access project for the Nixon White House Tapes. The National Archives has completed the digitization of the Tapes and is now focused on declassification, re-review and public access. For more information see the "Archival and Processing History" section. Tape audio files and subject log file names that begin with "37-" reflect re-released tapes.
- Research the TapesArchive of the raw digital audio files from the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt through Richard Nixon. To search the archive of raw audio, use the filter tab below to search by date, speaker, topic, and president.
- Smoking GunThe recording that proved Richard Nixon had obstructed justice.
Senate Committee & Hearings
- The Senate Watergate ReportThe officially published Watergate report, published in July 1974.
- The Watergate Committee: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign ActivitiesThe Watergate Committee information and proceedings from the United States Senate.
- The Watergate Files: Senate Hearings TimelineTimeline of the Senate Hearings from the Gerald R. Ford Library & Museum.
United States v. Nixon
- Looking back: The Supreme Court decision that ended Nixon’s presidencyThe case of United States v. Nixon reached the Court on July 8, 1974, after it had concluded its prior term. The Justices found themselves in new territory as the Court had to deal with an executive privilege claim filed by President Nixon’s attorneys.
- United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974)The President cannot shield himself from producing evidence in a criminal prosecution based on the doctrine of executive privilege, although it is valid in other situations.
- Watergate Trial Tapes: Richard Nixon Presidential Library & MuseumThe Watergate Trial Conversations are excerpted Nixon White House tape conversations that were played in open court in U.S. v. Mitchell, et al. and U.S. v. Connally. The segments are a portion of the approximately 60 hours of tape subpoenaed by the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF).
Perspectives
The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It
Watergate forever changed American politics, and in light of the revelations about the NSA's widespread surveillance program, the scandal has taken on new significance. Yet remarkably, four decades after Nixon was forced to resign, no one has told the full story of his involvement in Watergate. Former White House Counsel John W Dean, one of the last major surviving figures of Watergate, draws on his own transcripts of almost a thousand conversations, a wealth of Nixon's secret recorded information, and more than 150,000 pages of documents in the National Archives.
The Nixon Tapes
The famous -- and infamous -- Nixon White House tapes that reveal President Richard Nixon uncensored, unfiltered, and in his own words President Nixon's voice-activated taping system captured every word spoken in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and other key locations in the White House, and at Camp David -- 3,700 hours of recordings between 1971 and 1973. Yet less than 5 percent of those conversations have ever been transcribed and published. Now, thanks to professor Luke Nichter's massive effort to digitize and transcribe the tapes, the world can finally read an unprecedented account of one of the most important and controversial presidencies in U.S. history. The Nixon Tapes, with annotations and commentary by Nichter and Professor Douglas Brinkley, offers a selection of fascinating scenes from the year Nixon opened relations with China, negotiated the SALT I arms agreement with the Soviet Union, and won a landslide reelection victory. All the while, the growing shadow of Watergate and Nixon's political downfall crept ever closer.The Nixon Tapes provides a unique glimpse into a flawed president's hubris, paranoia, and political genius.
King Richard: Nixon and Watergate - an American tragedy
From the author of the acclaimed One Minute to Midnight- a sharply focused, riveting account--told from inside the White House--of the crucial days, hours, and moments when the Watergate conspiracy consumed, and ultimately toppled, a president. In January 1973, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. But by April 1973, his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasized into what White House counsel John Dean called "a full-blown cancer." King Richard is the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate burglars and their handlers in the administration turned on one another, revealing their direct connection ties to the White House. Drawing on thousands of hours of newly-released taped recordings, Michael Dobbs takes us into the very heart of the conspiracy, recreating these dramatic events in unprecedentedly vivid detail. He captures the growing paranoia of the principal players and their desperate attempts to deflect blame as the noose tightened around them and the daily pressures became increasingly unbearable. At the center of this spellbinding drama is Nixon himself, a man whose strengths, particularly his determination to win at all costs, were also his fatal flaws. Structured like a classical tragedy with a uniquely American twist, this is an epic and deeply human story of ambition, power, and betrayal.
The Last of the President's Men
"An intimate but disturbing portrayal of Nixon in the Oval Office." --The Washington Post Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in his new book The Last of the President's Men. Woodward reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon's resignation. In forty-six hours of interviews with Butterfield, supported by thousands of documents, many of them original and not in the presidential archives and libraries, Woodward has uncovered new dimensions of Nixon's secrets, obsessions and deceptions. The Last of the President's Men could not be more timely and relevant as voters question how much do we know about those who are now seeking the presidency in 2016--what really drives them, how do they really make decisions, who do they surround themselves with, and what are their true political and personal values?
Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up & Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House
The knockdown, drag-out, untold story of the other scandal that rocked Nixon's White House, and reset the rules for crooked presidents to come-with new reporting that expands on Rachel Maddow's Peabody Award-nominated podcast NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . The knockdown, drag-out, untold story of the other scandal that rocked Nixon's White House,and reset the rules for crooked presidents to come-with new reporting that expands on Rachel Maddow's Peabody Award-nominated podcast "Both a thriller and a history book, Bag Man is a triumph of storytelling."-Preet Bharara, New York Times bestselling author of Doing Justice and host of thepodcast Stay Tuned with Preet Is it possible for a sitting vice president to direct a vast criminal enterprise within the halls of the White House? To have one of the most brazen corruption scandals in American history play out while nobody's paying attention? And for that scandal to be all but forgotten decades later? The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon's second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when-at the height of Watergate-three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon's impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency.
Truth and Lies: Watergate
A scandal surrounding the highest office in the United States shook the nation and ultimately led to the resignation of a president. This video shows exclusive interviews, photos, and footage related to the Nixon Watergate scandal.