The White House had no involvement in Watergate
| The White House had no involvement in Watergate | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "No one in the White House or the Nixon administration was involved in the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building, which was a third-rate burglary." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Fabrication Propaganda Technique |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 1972 |
| Origin | Statements by President Richard Nixon and his press secretary, Ronald Ziegler, in 1972 and 1973 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-27 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
The claim that the White House had no involvement in Watergate was the Nixon administration's public position for nearly two years after five men were arrested breaking into the Democratic National Committee's offices in Washington on June 17, 1972. Press secretary Ronald Ziegler dismissed the event as a "third-rate burglary." In August 1972 President Richard Nixon said an investigation by White House counsel John Dean had found that no one on the White House staff was involved. No such investigation had taken place. Investigations by journalists, a Senate committee, a special prosecutor and the courts revealed that the burglars were working for Nixon's re-election campaign, that senior White House aides had organized a cover-up, and that Nixon himself had directed it. Facing near-certain impeachment, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.
The claim
On August 29, 1972, Nixon told reporters that, based on Dean's investigation, he could say categorically that no one in the White House staff or administration presently employed was involved in the incident. Nixon was re-elected in November 1972 in a landslide. As evidence mounted in 1973, he continued to deny knowledge of a cover-up. In November 1973 he told newspaper editors, "I am not a crook."
What the evidence shows
- The burglars' links. The men arrested included James McCord, security coordinator for the Committee to Re-elect the President. Investigators linked them to E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, former White House aides working for the campaign.
- Investigative reporting. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post, aided by a secret source later revealed as FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, traced campaign money to the burglars and reported on a broader campaign of political espionage and sabotage.
- Dean's testimony. In June 1973 John Dean testified before the Senate Watergate Committee that he had never conducted the investigation Nixon described and that Nixon had been involved in the cover-up.
- The tapes. In July 1973 a former aide, Alexander Butterfield, revealed that Nixon secretly recorded conversations in the Oval Office. Nixon fought to withhold the tapes, firing the special prosecutor in the "Saturday Night Massacre" of October 1973. In July 1974 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in United States v. Nixon that he must release them.
- The "smoking gun." A tape of June 23, 1972, just days after the break-in, recorded Nixon approving a plan to have the CIA ask the FBI to halt its investigation on false national security grounds. Its release in August 1974 destroyed his remaining support in Congress.
More than 40 people were charged, and many senior aides, including Attorney General John Mitchell and chief of staff H. R. Haldeman, were convicted. Nixon was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, in September 1974.
Why it persists
Watergate became the defining American political scandal, and the suffix "-gate" is now attached to scandals worldwide. It established a template: the cover-up is often worse than the original act, and official denials, however categorical, can be false. It also showed the importance of a free press, an independent judiciary and congressional oversight.
Lessons for readers
- Categorical denials are not evidence, especially when they cite investigations that cannot be examined.
- Follow the money: financial links often reveal hidden connections.
- Contemporaneous records, such as recordings and documents, can overturn official accounts.
- Institutions, including courts and legislatures, matter in holding leaders accountable.
- Dismissive language, such as "third-rate burglary," can be a way to discourage scrutiny.
See also
- We did not trade weapons for hostages
- I did not have sexual relations with that woman
- Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) (Tavris and Aronson)
Sources
- Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, All the President's Men (Simon & Schuster, 1974).
- US Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, Final Report (1974).
- United States v. Nixon, 418 US 683 (1974).
- Richard Nixon, news conference, August 29, 1972, and remarks to the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, November 17, 1973.
- Transcript of the June 23, 1972, Oval Office conversation, released August 5, 1974.