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Richard Nixon is inaugurated as the 37 President of the United States.

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Nixon and his staff recruit a team known as “the Plumbers” to investigate the leaked publication of the Pentagon Papers. On September 9, the "plumbers" break into the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, in an unsuccessful attempt to steal psychiatric records to smear Daniel Ellsberg, the defense analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press.

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One of the “plumbers,” G. Gordon Liddy, is transferred to the Committee to Re-Elect the President where he obtains approval from Attorney General John Mitchell for a wide-ranging plan of espionage against the Democratic Party.

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Liddy’s team breaks into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. for the first time, bugging the telephones of staffers. Almost a month later five men are arrested after breaking in. The items found in their possession were bugging devices, thousands of dollars in cash and rolls of film. Days later, the White House denied involvement in the break-in.

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Woodward and Bernstein report that the FBI had made connections between Nixon aides and the Watergate break-in. Articles by Woodward and Bernstein describe the existence of a major “dirty tricks” campaign conducted against Democratic Presidential candidate Edmund Muskie, orchestrated by Donald Segretti and others paid by CREEP and Nixon’s private attorney

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Nixon is elected to a second term in office after defeating Democratic candidate George McGovern.

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The Watergate break-in trial begins.

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G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord, are convicted for their roles in the break-in at the Watergate complex. They are found guilty of conspiracy, bugging DNC headquarters, and burglary. Four others, including E. Howard Hunt, had already plead guilty. Judge John J. Sirica threatens the convicted burglars with long prison sentences unless they talk.

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Nixon discuss how to pay the Watergate bribers as much as $1 million in cash to continue the cover-up. Two days later, Watergate burglar James McCord’s letter confessing the existence of a wider conspiracy is read in open court by Judge Sirica. The Watergate cover-up starts to unravel.

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L. Patrick Gray resigns after admitting that he destroyed documents given to him by John Dean days after the Watergate break-in. The Watergate scandal intensifies as Nixon announces that White House aides John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman have resigned. White House counsel John Dean is fired. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resigns. And later that night, Nixon delivers his first primetime address to the nation on Watergate, stressing his innocence.

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The Washington Post reports that Dean told Watergate prosecutors that he discussed the cover-up with Nixon at least 35 times. On June 25, Dean testifies before the Senate Select Committee about Nixon’s involvement.

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Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary, meets with Senate investigators, where he reveals the existence of an extensive, secret taping system in the White House. On July 16, he testifies before the Senate Committee in a live broadcast, revealing that since 1971 Nixon had recorded all conversations and telephone calls in his offices.

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Nixon reportedly orders the White House taping system disconnected.

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President Nixon refuses to turn over recordings of his White House conversations to the Senate investigation and to Cox. The tapes are believed to include evidence that Nixon and his aides had attempted to cover up their involvement in the Watergate break-in and other illegal activities. Nixon files appeals in response to various subpoenas ordering him to turn over the tapes.

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White House Watergate counsel J. Fred Buzhardt reveals the existence of an 18 ½ minute gap on the tape of Nixon-Haldeman conversation on June 20, 1972. The White House is unable to explain the gap, although Nixon’s secretary Rose Mary Woods, will later claim she accidentally erased the material.

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Transcripts of more than 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes are released by The White House.

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House Judiciary Committee starts impeachment proceedings against Nixon.

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Three articles of impeachment are debated and approved by the House Judiciary Committee against Nixon—obstruction of justice, misuse of power and contempt of Congress. The impeachment was sent to the floor of the House for a full vote but the vote was never carried out.

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President Nixon resigns. In a nationally televised speech, the president says, "I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as president, I must put the interest of America first...Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow."

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Nixon signs his letter of resignation. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president.

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Nixon is pardoned by President Gerald Ford for any offenses he might have committed against the United States while president.