The 'smoking gun' tape is released
1974 · Event
The tape of 23 June 1972 — six days after the break-in — catches Nixon ordering the CIA to block the FBI's investigation. It proves he ran the cover-up from the start and has lied for two years. His remaining support in Congress evaporates overnight; he resigns four days later.
On these timelines: Watergate, USA, Master
More from Watergate
- Watergate scandal (1972)
- Resignation of Richard Nixon (1974)
- Break-in at the Watergate (1972)
- The Saturday Night Massacre (1973)
- Supreme Court orders Nixon to surrender the tapes (1974)
- The Senate Watergate hearings open (1973)
- Butterfield reveals the White House tapes (1973)
- Woodward and Bernstein follow the money (1972)
Around 1974
- Vietnam War (American phase) (1965)
- Yom Kippur War (1973)
- Six-Day War (1967)
- Apollo 11 moon landing (1969)
- The Troubles (1968)
- Iranian Revolution (1978)
- Prague Spring (1968)
- Birth of hip-hop (1973)
- Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)
- Night Fever (Bee Gees) (1978)