Watergate was the biggest political scandal in the United States. It included illegal activities that helped Richard Nixon win the President re-election in 1972. The Watergate scandal ended with Nixon resigning from being the President. The Watergate break-in was a burglary, wiretapping, violations of campaign laws, and attempted to use government agencies to hurt Richard Nixon's opponents. The Watergate Scandal also involved a cover-up of the brake-in.
The Watergate scandal got its name from the Watergate complex of apartment and office buildings in Washington, D.C. On June 17, 1972 the police arrested five men who were, Bernard Barker, who was a realtor from Miami, FL, and a former CIA operative. Virgilio Gonzales was a Miami locksmith from and a refugee from Cuba. James McCord was former FBI and CIA agent. Eugenio Martinez worked for a real estate firms in Miami and also had connections at the CIA. Frank Sturgis was another associate where Euenio Matinez worked, and he too had CIA connections like Martinez. Two people who planned the Watergate burglary were G. Gordon Liddy a member of the Committee to Re-elect the President. He was a former FBI agent, Treasury official, as well as a member of the White House staff. The other person was Howard Hunt Jr., who used to work as a White House consultant and at the CIA. He was a writer of the espionage novels. They were caught breaking into the Democratic Party's national headquarters, they were caught doing a number of crimes like burglary and wiretapping. In 1973, five of the seven people pleaded guilty and the two other people were found guilty by a jury.
In the beginning of 1973 some evidence was found that ried some of the top White House aides to plans for the Watergate break-in. Also the evidence pointed to people that tried to cover-up the scandal. The evidence said that the White House tried to involve the CIA and the FBI in the cover-up.
