Who, What, When, Where, Why of the Watergate Scandal

Who: President Richard Nixon, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein were involved. Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein were the assigned reporters on the case of the Watergate Scandal.

What: The Watergate scandal was about a break-in at Democratic National Headquarters. It was discovered that the participants were involved with Republican members of Nixon's administration. When news of the break-in came out the Nixon administration tried to cover the incident up. That was what led to the hearings and possible impeachment proceedings. Nixon ended up resigning the Presidency.

When: The event occurred on June 17th, 1972.  Eventually led to the resign of Nixon on August 4th, 1974. He did not want to end up being impeached, so he chose the route of resigning instead.

Where: It began in the Watergate Hotel, which was in the complex located in Washington D.C., but had been felt all around the country. The actual event that triggered the Watergate scandal, the robbing of the Democratic National Headquarters, took place at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

Why: It brought a distrust and cynicism in government that has grown exponentially to the point where we are today and ushered in investigative journalism in the news media. The rules changed dramatically on what reporters delved into and how editors defined what was a major story, from local to national.