The investigation was plural: a newspaper, a grand jury, a Senate committee, a special prosecutor and a Supreme Court.
Steps below are what those bodies did after 17 June 1972, not how to run a burglary or a cover-up.
Agencies
- FBI / Department of Justice — Initial criminal investigation; later conflicted by White House pressure documented on tape.
- Special prosecutors (Cox, then Jaworski) — Independent prosecutorial track after the Attorney General's office became the story.
- Senate Select Committee (Ervin) — Televised 1973 hearings that produced Dean, Butterfield and the public tape crisis.
- U.S. District Court and Supreme Court — Sirica's burglary docket and United States v. Nixon forced evidence into the open.
What followed
- Process the burglary
D.C. police and the FBI treated 17 June as a criminal case. Address books made CRP a subject, not a spectator.
- Follow the money
Prosecutors and the Post traced cash from CRP toward Hunt, Liddy and the burglars.
- Break the silence
Sirica's pressure and McCord's letter opened the White House. Dean's testimony followed.
- Litigate the tapes
Cox's subpoenas, the Saturday Night Massacre and Jaworski's continuation produced United States v. Nixon.
- Vote impeachment articles
House Judiciary approved articles in late July 1974 once the smoking-gun tape was in view.
- Close with resignation and trials
Nixon left office. Aides and burglars filled the dock. Ford's pardon closed the presidential criminal path.
Turning points
- McCord writes to Sirica — A burglar's letter turned a closed plea into an open White House investigation.
- Butterfield names the tapes — A single Senate answer created the documentary core of the case.
- United States v. Nixon — The Court made the president a witness against himself on tape.
After the fact, overlapping investigators built a record thick enough to force a resignation — and not a presidential verdict.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.