Watergate scandal

=== Scandal escalates ===
Rather than ending with the conviction and sentencing to prison of the five Watergate burglars on January 30, 1973, the investigation into the break-in and the Nixon Administration's involvement grew broader. "Nixon's conversations in late March and all of April 1973 revealed that not only did he know he needed to remove Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean to gain distance from them, but he had to do so in a way that was least likely to incriminate him and his presidency. Nixon created a new conspiracy—to effect a cover-up of the cover-up—which began in late March 1973 and became fully formed in May and June 1973, operating until his presidency ended on August 9, 1974."<ref name="Dean 2014" />{{rp|p. 344}} On March 23, 1973, Judge Sirica read the court a letter from Watergate burglar [[James W. McCord Jr.|James McCord]], who alleged that [[perjury]] had been committed in the Watergate trial, and defendants had been pressured to remain silent. In an attempt to make them talk, Sirica gave Hunt and two burglars provisional sentences of up to 40 years.

Urged by Nixon, on March 28, aide John Ehrlichman told Attorney General [[Richard Kleindienst]] that nobody in the White House had had prior knowledge of the burglary. On April 13, Magruder told U.S. attorneys that he had perjured himself during the burglars' trial, and implicated John Dean and John Mitchell.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/>

John Dean believed that he, Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman could go to the prosecutors, tell the truth, and save the presidency. Dean wanted to protect the president and have his four closest men take the fall for telling the truth. During the critical meeting between Dean and Nixon on April 15, 1973, Dean was totally unaware of the president's depth of knowledge and involvement in the Watergate cover-up. It was during this meeting that Dean felt that he was being recorded. He wondered if this was due to the way Nixon was speaking, as if he were trying to prod attendees' recollections of earlier conversations about fundraising. Dean mentioned this observation while testifying to the Senate Committee on Watergate, exposing the thread of what were taped conversations that would unravel the fabric of the conspiracy.<ref name="Dean 2014" />{{rp|pp. 415–416}}

Two days later, Dean told Nixon that he had been cooperating with the [[U.S. attorneys]]. On that same day, U.S. attorneys told Nixon that Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, and other White House officials were implicated in the cover-up.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/><ref name="UPI 1973 in Review">{{Cite web |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1973/Watergate-Scandal/12305770297723-4/ |title=Watergate Scandal, 1973 Year in Review |date=September 8, 1973 |access-date=June 17, 2010 |work=United Press International |archive-date=July 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722184318/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1973/Watergate-Scandal/12305770297723-4 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"When Judge Sirica finished reading the letter, the courtroom exploded with excitement and reporters ran to the rear entrance to phone their newspapers. The bailiff kept banging for silence. It was a stunning development, exactly what I had been waiting for. Perjury at the trial. The involvement of others. It looked as if Watergate was about to break wide open."
{{Cite book |last=Dash, Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/chiefcounselinsi00dash/page/30 |title=Chief Counsel: Inside the Ervin Committee – The Untold Story of Watergate |publisher=Random House |year=1976 |isbn=0-394-40853-5 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/chiefcounselinsi00dash/page/30 30] |oclc=2388043}}</ref>

On April 30, Nixon asked for the resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, two of his most influential aides. They were both later indicted, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to prison. He asked for the resignation of Attorney General Kleindienst, to ensure no one could claim that his innocent friendship with Haldeman and Ehrlichman could be construed as a conflict. He fired [[White House Counsel]] John Dean, who went on to testify before the [[Senate Watergate Committee]] and said that he believed and suspected the conversations in the Oval Office were being taped. This information became the bombshell that helped force Richard Nixon to resign rather than be impeached.<ref name="Dean 2014" />{{rp|pp. 610–620}}

Writing from prison for ''New West'' and ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazines in 1977, Ehrlichman claimed Nixon had offered him a large sum of money, which he declined.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090205143412/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918947-2,00.html "Sequels: Nixon: Once More, with Feeling"], ''Time'', May 16, 1977</ref>

The President announced the resignations in an address to the American people:

{{blockquote|Today, in one of the most difficult decisions of my Presidency, I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. [...] Because Attorney General Kleindienst, though a distinguished public servant, my personal friend for 20 years, with no personal involvement whatever in this matter has been a close personal and professional associate of some of those who are involved in this case, he and I both felt that it was also necessary to name a new Attorney General. The [[Counsel to the President]], John Dean, has also resigned.<ref name="UPI 1973 in Review" /><ref name="April 30, 1974 video">{{cite web |title=April 30, 1973: Address to the Nation About the Watergate Investigations |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-30-1973-address-nation-about-watergate-investigations |website=Presidential Speeches – Richard M. Nixon Presidency |date=October 20, 2016 |publisher=University of Virginia Miller Center |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230312/https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-30-1973-address-nation-about-watergate-investigations |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

On the same day, April 30, Nixon appointed a new attorney general, [[Elliot Richardson]], and gave him authority to designate a special counsel for the Watergate investigation who would be independent of the regular [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] hierarchy. In May 1973, Richardson named [[Archibald Cox]] to the position.<ref Name=TimeRetrospective/>