Watergate is the common name for the political scandal and .

             constitutional crisis that began with the June 17, 1972, .

             arrest of five burglars who broke into Democratic National .

             Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building in .

             Washington, D.C. The crisis ended on Aug. 9, 1974 when the .

             39th president, Richard M. Nixon resigned. The Watergate .

             Scandal was an incident in American history that changed .

             the role of the presidency in the United States. .

             The situation began in early June of 1972, when burglars in .

             Nixon"s campaign committee broke into offices of the .

             Democratic Party. In a complex chain of events, officials .

             that were high within Nixon"s staff were connected to the .

             burglary and consequently used illegal and immoral means to .

             keep the burglary from being fully investigated. It was .

             these actions by Nixon"s staff known as the "cover-up", .

             that exacerbated the situation. .

             Nixon took office in 1969, after eight years of Democratic .

             rule. Vice president under Eisenhower before his .

             unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1960, Nixon embraced .

             politics, but without the passion of President Johnson. .

             Distant often appearing ill at ease, he was always .

             calculating his next move. That helped .

             him at first, but finally led to his downfall. .

             A micro-managing control freak, Nixon had arranged for the .

             covert tape-recording of many conversations in his office .

             regarding the cover-up. Later, when Congress requested the .

             tapes, Nixon refused to hand them over. After months of .

             legal maneuvering, Nixon finally and begrudgingly, released .

             the tapes. The tapes showed that he had been present for .

             discussions about criminal activity by his staff .

             (Farnsworth, 1999). .

             At this time, the House of Representatives was one step .

             away from voting for the impeachment of the president. .

             Leaders of Congress told him that if he were impeached and .

             tried, he would very likely be removed from office. That .

             would have been the first time in the course of American .