The story is a failed political burglary followed by a documented effort to contain the FBI and the press.
The public ending is a resignation, a pardon and a dock of convicted aides — mixed accountability, thick evidence.
Beats
- Seventeen June 1972
Five men are arrested in the DNC offices at the Watergate. Address books and cash point to Hunt, Liddy and CRP. The White House calls it a third-rate burglary.
- A paper that would not drop it
Woodward and Bernstein keep the CRP money trail in the Post through an election Nixon still wins. Judge Sirica keeps the burglars' case from dying in a quiet plea.
- Dean, Butterfield, tapes
In 1973 McCord writes to Sirica, Dean testifies and Butterfield reveals the taping system. The file becomes documentary.
- Saturday Night Massacre
On 20 October 1973 Cox is fired and two Justice Department leaders resign. A burglary story becomes a constitutional crisis.
- Resignation and pardon
United States v. Nixon forces the tapes out. The smoking-gun conversation ends Republican cover. Nixon resigns on 9 August 1974. Ford pardons him on 8 September.
Watergate is the English civic story of a cover-up that outran a break-in and still ended in a mixed dock.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.