Watergate scandal

Watergate was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s, following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and President Richard Nixon's administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration's resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.

The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. Those activities included such "dirty tricks" as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his close aides ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, articles of impeachment, and the resignation of Nixon as President of the United States in August 1974. The scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 25 being found guilty and incarcerated, many of whom were Nixon's top administration officials.

Presidency of Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the President of the United States from January 20, 1969 until he resigned on August 9, 1974, the first and only president to do so, as of 2016. Nixon took office after the passage of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs and did not make a major effort to repeal them, though he did advocate a "New Federalism" program that would devolve powers to state and local governments. Nixon instead concentrated on foreign affairs, and his Nixon Doctrine called for indirect assistance to American allies in the Cold War, with the "Vietnamization" of the Vietnam War being the most notable example of his doctrine. Nixon pursued a detente with the People's Republic of China, taking advantage of the Sino-Soviet split and significantly altering the nature of the Cold War. The Nixon presidency also saw the creation of the EPA, integration of Southern public schools, and the Apollo program successfully land Americans on the Moon during Nixon's presidency. Nixon's accomplishments were largely overshadowed by the scandals of the administration, and both Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew stepped down from office during Nixon's second term. In 1974, Nixon was succeeded by Gerald Ford, who Nixon had chosen to succeed Agnew in 1973.

United States

Coordinates: 40°N 100°W / 40°N 100°W / 40; -100

The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a federal republic composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major territories and various possessions. The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. At 3.8 million square miles (9.842 million km²) and with over 320 million people, the country is the world's third or fourth-largest by total area and the third most populous. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The geography and climate of the United States are also extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

Watergate complex

The Watergate complex is a group of five buildings next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Covering a total of 10 acres (40,000 m²), the buildings include:

Built between 1963 and 1971, the Watergate is considered one of Washington's most desirable living spaces, popular with members of Congress and political appointees in the executive branch. The complex has been sold several times since the 1980s. In the 1990s, it was split up and its component buildings and parts of buildings were sold to various owners.

In 1972, the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, then located on the sixth floor of the Watergate Hotel and Office Building, was burglarized, documents were photographed, and telephones were wiretapped. The investigation into the burglary revealed that high officials in the Nixon administration had ordered the break-in and then tried to cover up their involvement. Additional crimes were also uncovered. The ensuing Watergate Scandal, named for the complex, led to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. The name "Watergate" and the suffix "-gate" have since become synonymous with political scandals in the United States and elsewhere.

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800.

The house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone in the Neoclassical style. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage. However, in 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829.