Watergate's 40th Anniversary: President Nixon's Resignation
On 8 August 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned from office, after his administration's attempted cover-up of the Watergate political scandal was exposed.
Richard Nixon was elected President of the USA in 1968. He continued to support America's involvement in the Vietnam war, althought he did not believe it could be won. In 1972 his re-election campaign was in full swing.STF/AFP/Getty ImagesOn 17 June 1972, five men were arrested after attempting to break into the Democratic National Committee's office in the Watergate Hotel. It was later revealed the men including undercover operatives for the FBI and CIA, and had been paid by money from President Nixon's re-election campaign fund.Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe Watergate scandal, which led to President Richard Nixon resigning, was broken by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in 1972, who accidentally stumbled onto the story, while covering a what seemed to be a routine case of a hotel burglary.Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesA lot of the information surrounding Watergate came from Bob Woodward's secret source nicknamed 'Deep Throat'. Woodward would meet with the information in the shadows next to column 32, D floor of the garage at 1401 Wilson Boulevard.Jim Watson/AFP/Getty ImagesIn 2005 Woodward (L) and Bernstein (R) confirmed that 'Deep Throat' really was the former FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt. The journalists had kept Felt's identity, and his role in Nixon's downfall, secret for more than 30 years.Win McNamee/Getty ImagesNixon announced his resignation of the presidency on 8 August 1974: more than 2 years after the Watergate scandal broke. He decided to resign after the US Supreme Court found that he could be impeached, after withholding evidence of his involvement in the scandal from the FBI.Pierre Manevy/Express/Getty ImagesPresident Nixon was succeeded by his vice-president Gerald Ford. Ford gave Nixon a presidential pardon for any crimes committed during his presidency, a month after taking office. Ford lost the 1976 presidential campaign to Democrat Jimmy Carter: many blamed his decision to excuse Nixon for loosing the election.STR/AFP/Getty ImagesAfter leaving office, Nixon did not admit any wrongdoing surrounding Watergate. But in 1977 British TV presenter David Frost was able to convince Nixon to acknowledge some wrongdoing on his part.Stephen Lovekin/Getty ImagesLater in life Nixon's reputation was rehabilitated, as his roles in helping the civil rights movement and opening diplomatic channels between the West, Soviet Russia and Mao's China, were acknowledged and praised. Before his death in 1994, Nixon was acknowledged by many as a respected elder statesman, rather than a criminal.David McNew/Getty Images
