"The Watergate Complex is a series of modern buildings with balconies that looks like filed down Shark's Teeth" (Gold, 1). Located on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. it contains many hotel rooms and offices. What happened in the complex on June 17, 1972, early in the morning became a very historic event for our nation that no one will ever forget. The "Watergate Scandal" and constitutional crisis began on June 17, 1972, with the arrest of five burglars who broke into the Democratic National Committee (DMC) headquarters at the Watergate office building in Washington D.C.. It ended with the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974, (Watergate, 2). At approximately 2:30 in the morning of June 17, 1972, five men were arrested at the Watergate Complex. The police seized a walkie-talkie, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35 millimeter cameras, lock picks, pen-sized teargas guns, and bugging devices, (Gold, 75).
These five men and two co-plotters were indicted in September, 1972, on charges of burglary, conspiracy and wire tapping. Four months later they were convicted and sentenced to prison terms by District Court Judge John J. Sirica. Sirica was convinced that relevant details had not been unveiled during the trial and offered leniency in exchanged for further information. It became increasingly evident that the Watergate burglars were tied closely to the Central Intelligence Agency and the Committee to re-elect the president, (Watergate 1).
Four of these men, arrested on the morning of June 17, 1972, came from Miami, Florida. They were Bernard L. Barker, Frank A. Sturgis, Virgillio R. Gonzalez, and Eugenio R. Martinez. The other man was from Rockville, Maryland named James W. McCord, Jr. The two co-plotters were G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, (Watergate, 2). The senate established an investigative committee headed by Senate Sam Ervin, Jr., to look into the growing scandal. As they were inve...