The Watergate scandal is know to most as one of the most infamous scandals that the presidency of the United States has ever been involved in. On June 17, 1972 the Committee to Re-Elect the President, broke into the Watergate, a hotel in Washington, D.C. , in an effort to obtain information. Nixon denied any knowledge of it or that his administration played any role in it. After the burglars went to court, and then were sentenced, a flood of information was revealed that linked Nixon directly to Watergate. Eventually, an astronomical amount of information was released linking Nixon to the break in, including evidence that Nixon attempted to destroy Watergate files. (53) In March of 1974, the Grand Jury indicted 6 of Nixon's aides, who later on would be convicted. Nixon still insisted on his innocence, on April 30, 1973 he broadcasted to the public that he took full responsibility, but had no personal involvement, stating, "There will be no whitewash at the White House." (54) promising all that he would solve this problem. He continued to say, "The inevitable result of these charges has been to raise serious questions about the integrity of the White House itself. Tonight I wish to address those questions." (55) Nixon was still trying to regain the trust of the American people. Nixon also ironically stated in this address, "I again ordered that all persons in the Government or at the Re-Election Committee should cooperate fully with the FBI, the prosecutors, and the grand jury. I also ordered that anyone who refused to cooperate in telling the truth would be asked to resign from Government service." (56) Later on during this investigation, Nixon would be more than stuborn in cooperating with officials. Further, as he states above, anyone that does not cooperate must resign; hypocritically, Nixon ended up resigning the presidency. The president announced that Defense Secretary Elliott L Richardson would be the new Attorney General and had charged him with full responsibility for revealing the truth behind the Watergate affair. Nixon said "America, in its political campaigns, must not again fall into the trap of letting the end, however great that end is, justify the means." (57) Nixon had complete faith that, "Attorney General, Elliot Richardson will be both fair and he will be fearless in pursuing this case wherever it leads. I am confident that with him in charge, justice will be done." Nixon later on went to close is speech by saying, "I looked at my own calendar this morning up at Camp David as I was working on this speech. It showed exactly 1,361 days remaining in my term. I want these to be the best days in America's history, because I love America....". Nixon would never end up finishing these days. (58)
Nixon, to no ones knowledge, wire tapped the Oval office so he could have future records of any conversation he had there. Once this was discovered, Nixon was ordered to release the tapes. He adamantly denied to release the tapes. Finally, Nixon was charged with obstruction to justice and was forced to release the Watergate tapes. Nixon destroyed his self image and all hope of regaining any faith in the American people once he released these tapes. The tapes were edited, removing anything Nixon didn't want people to hear, and riddled with profanity. Nixon was one of the most revered and respected presidents of all time up until Watergate. After Watergate, Nixon was seen as nothing but a liar to the American people. The tapes unmistakeably proved that Nixon had been part of the cover-up. On August 8, 1974, he submitted a notorious one-sentence letter of resignation, and announced to the public, “I have always tried to do what is best for the nation.” (59) He was the first and only U.S. president to quit the job.