Modern Presidential Scandals
Watergate background and summary
- The Pentagon Papers and the "plumbers"
- June 17, 1972 burglary
- Links to White House and to Committee to Re-Elect the President
- What the White House did: hush money, perjury, the FBI and the CIA
- Four investigations; the tapes, the subpoenas, and the smoking gun
- The impeachment investigation and Nixon's resignation
A Watergate Cast of Characters
See also photos and bios of "Key Players" in the Washington Post retrospective
The President and the Vice President of the United States:
- Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States
- Spiro T. Agnew, Vice President
- Gerald R. Ford, House Minority Leader, Vice-President, President
Executive Branch Officials:
- Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State (previously, National Security Adviser)
- Richard Kleindienst, Attorney General
- L. Patrick Gray, FBI Acting Director (and nominee for the directorship)
- Richard Helms, Director of Central Intelligence
- Vernon Walters, Deputy Director of CIA
- Elliott Richardson, Defense Secretary; replaced Kleindienst as AG
- William D. Ruckelshaus, Deputy Attorney General with Richardson
- Willam Saxbe, replaced Richardson as AG
- Robert Bork, Solicitor General (3rd highest Justice Dept. official)
The White House Staff:
- H.R. "Bob" Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff
- John Ehrlichman, White House domestic policy advisor
- Patrick Buchanan, presidential speechwriter
- John W. Dean, White House Counsel
- Charles Colson, special counsel to the President
- Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary
- Egil Krogh Jr., White House aide (later undersecretary of transportation)
- David Young, White House aide
- Gordon Strachan, assistant to the president
- Dwight L. Chapin, presidential appointments secretary
- Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary
The Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP; later often rendered as "CREEP"):
- John Mitchell, Chairman (former Attorney General, Nixon law partner)
- Jeb Stuart Magruder, Deputy Campaign Director
- Hugh Sloan, Treasurer
- Maurice Stans, chief fundraiser (former Secretary of Commerce)
- Herbert W. Kalmbach, deputy finance chairman (and Nixon's personal lawyer)
- Donald Segretti, dirty tricks
The Plumbers:
- E. Howard Hunt (former CIA operative)
- G. Gordon Liddy (finance counsel for the CRP; former FBI agent)
- James W. McCord, Watergate burglar (former CIA employee, RNC security
consultant)
- Frank Sturgis, Watergate burglar
- Eugenio R. Martinez, Watergate burglar
- Virgilio R. Gonzalez, Watergate burglar
- Bernard L. Barker, Watergate burglar
The Senate Watergate Committee:
- Sam Ervin (D-NC), chairman
- Howard Baker (R-TN), ranking minority member
- Samuel Dash, chief counsel
- Fred Thompson, chief minority counsel, 1973-74 (later U.S. Senator from Tennessee)
The House Judiciary Committee:
- Peter W. Rodino (D-NJ), chairman
Lawyers and Judges:
- John J. Sirica, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for DC
- Gerhard Gesell, Judge, U.S. District Court for DC
- Archibald Cox, first Watergate Special Prosecutor
- Leon Jaworski, second Watergate Special Prosecutor
- Earl Silbert, DC Federal Prosecutor
- James D. St. Clair, Nixon's personal lawyer for Watergate defense
Innocent Bystanders:
- Daniel Ellsberg, former defense analyst with RAND corporation
- Dr. Lewis J. Fielding, Ellsberg's psychiatrist