jun 17, 1972 - Watergate Scandal Occurs

Description:

In 1972, Nixon decided to run for re-election and set up the Committee to re-elect the President (aka CREEP) to raise funds for the campaign
John Mitchell, former Attorney General, was made Director of the Committee
However, people didn’t initially know that Nixon gave Mitchell a secret fund within CREEP’s budget to pay for the White House Plumbers to spy on + damage Nixon’s potential opponents in the 1972 elections
They proved successful in the work, as several people who had hoped to be the Democratic presidential candidate were disgraced
Eg. the Plumbers persuaded a newspaper to publish damaging (and probably untrue) stories about Edmund Muskie’s wife, where he broke down in tears and believed to have led him to losing the Democratic primaries (Democrat representative)
Then, on 17 June 1972, 5 men were arrested after breaking into offices of the National Democratic Committee in the Watergate complex in Washington DC
They were caught trying to repair bugging devices that, it was later discovered, had been installed during a previous break-in on 28th May