Chronology of the Watergate scandal

1972
May 28, 1972 - Electronic surveillance equipment is installed at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building.

June 17, 1972 - Five men are arrested while attempting to repair the surveillance equipment at Democratic National Committee headquarters.

August 30, 1972 - President Nixon announces that John Dean has completed an investigation into the Watergate buggings and that no one from the White House is involved.

September 15, 1972 - Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, E. Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord, Jr., and Frank Sturgis are indicted for their roles in the June break-in.

1973
January 8, 1973 - Watergate break-in trial opens. Hunt pleads guilty (January 11); Barker, Sturgis, Martinez, and Gonzalez plead guilty (January 15); Liddy and McCord are convicted on all counts of break-in indictment (January 30).

February 7, 1973 - US Senate creates Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities.

April 17, 1973 - President Nixon announces that members of the White House staff will appear before the Senate Committee and promises major new developments in investigation and real progress toward finding truth.

April 23, 1973 - White House issues statement denying President had prior knowledge of Watergate affair.

April 30, 1973 - White House staff members H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and John Dean resign.

May 17, 1973 - Senate Committee begins public hearings.

May 25, 1973 - Archibald Cox sworn in as Special Prosecutor.

July 7, 1973 - President Nixon informs Senate Committee that he will not appear to testify nor grant access to presidential files.

July 16, 1973 - Alexander Butterfield informs Senate Committee of the presence of a White House taping system.

July 23, 1973 - Senate Committee and Special Prosecutor Cox subpoena White House tapes and documents to investigate cover-up.

July 25, 1973 - President Nixon refuses to comply with Cox subpoena.

August 9, 1973 - Senate Committee files suit against President Nixon for failure to comply with subpoena.

October 19, 1973 - President Nixon offers Stennis a compromise on the tapes - Senator John Stennis (Democrat, Mississippi) would review tapes and present the Special Prosecutor with summaries.

October 20, 1973 - Archibald Cox refuses to accept the Stennis compromise. President Nixon orders Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox, but Richardson refuses and resigns in protest. Acting Attorney General Robert Bork fires Cox. These events come to be known as the "Saturday Night Massacre".

October 23, 1973 - President Nixon agrees to hand over tapes to comply with subpoena.

November 1, 1973 - Leon Jaworski named Special Prosecutor.

November 21, 1973 - Senate Committee announces discovery of 18 1/2 minute gap on tape of Nixon-Haldeman conversation of June 20,1972.

1974
February 6, 1974 - House of Representatives authorises House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether grounds exist for impeachment of President Nixon.

April 16, 1974 - Special Prosecutor issues subpoena for 64 White House tapes.

April 30, 1974 - President Nixon submits tape transcripts to House Judiciary Committee.

July 24, 1974 - Supreme Court unanimously upholds Special Prosecutor's subpoena for tapes for Watergate trial.

July 27, 1974 - House Judiciary Committee adopts article I of impeachment resolution charging President with obstruction of investigation of Watergate break-in.

July 29, 1974 - House Judiciary Committee adopts article II of impeachment resolution charging President with misuse of powers and violation of his oath of office.

July 30, 1974 - House Judiciary Committee adopts article III of impeachment resolution, charging the President with failure to comply with House subpoenas.

August 9, 1974 - President Richard Nixon resigns.

September 8, 1974 - President Gerald Ford pardons former President Nixon.

- US NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION (NARA)