Overview
- A break-in at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972, led to the arrest of five men and began an inquiry that exposed wider political wrongdoing.
- Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein at The Washington Post followed leads that tied the burglary to Nixon’s re-election effort using on-the-record reporting and off-the-record guidance.
- An anonymous FBI source known as 'Deep Throat' met Woodward in a garage basement to help corroborate leads and was publicly identified in 2005 as former FBI deputy director Mark Felt.
- Revealed Oval Office tape recordings and Senate hearings escalated pressure that resulted in President Richard Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, and later convictions of dozens of officials.
- The name 'Watergate' migrated into a productive suffix used worldwide for scandals in politics, sport and culture, with Argentine examples such as Yomagate and recent references like 'Adornigate' cited in anniversary retrospectives.