Watergate

The Watergate "burglars" carried money that could be traced back to Nixon and thus implicated thus reelection campaign. .
             Details of the gathering scandal emerged after the election in news stories in the Washington Post and from a Senate select committee's televised hearings that grew out of them. Not only had Nixon, his aides, and his reelection campaign conspired to sabotage the president's Democratic challengers, but they were now attempting to impede the investigation of the Watergate case.
             As rumors grew that the White House was involved, Nixon tried to protect himself. In April 1973 he fired Haldeman and Ehrlichman, his two closest aides. On national television, he proclaimed that he would take final responsibilities for the mistakes of other, for "there can be no whitewash at the White House. " Still the investigation grew on. In May 1973 the Senate Committee, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, began televised public hearings on Watergate. Millions of Americans watched, fascinated, as the story unfolded, like a mystery thriller. As John Dean, seeking to save himself, testified that Nixon new about the cover-up. Other staffers described the various illegal activities undertaken in the White House. The most dramatic moment came when one aide revealed the existence of a secret taping system in the President's office that recorded all meetings and telephone conversations - supposedly to provide a historical record of Nixon's presidency. Now those atpes could show wether or not Nixon had actually been involved in the cover-up. Also in May, Nixon was forced to agree to the naming of a special prosecutor for the case, Archibald Cox. Working with a federal grand jury presided over by Judge John Sirica, Cox subpoenaed secret tape recordings of presidential meetings and telephone conversations; Nixon refused to release them, citing the doctrine of executive privilege.