eli5: What was watergate?
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Nixon was paranoid he was going to lose, again (well, he was paranoid about a LOT of things). He got his staff and reelection campaign to break into the opposing political party’s headquarters and steal/copy all their info and playbook. Unfortunately for Nixon, the crooks got caught. He busted his butt to cover things up, but just like Trump’s taxes, the paperwork led back to the Oval Office. Two reporters from the Washington Post named Woodward and Bernstein kept following the trail, and when they had evidence that proved Nixon was behind the whole thing, and destroyed the incriminating evidence (18 minutes of tape recordings), Nixon’s own political party said he needed to go. The next day, he resigned, still the only President who has ever done that. It was a huge betrayal of trust and added to the National trauma of the Vietnam War. It also led many people to (in this case, rightly) believe politicians are crooks.
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