The Watergate Timeline
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Over 700 timeline entries examining the scandal as it unfolded day by day
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Today In Watergate History
Friday, April 27, 1973
- After admitting to destroying documents related to Watergate, Gray steps down as acting FBI Director. Mark Felt is acting director for a few hours before Nixon appoints William Ruckelshaus as the new acting director. Ruckelshaus had been leading the EPA and only agreed to accept the position if no one involved was spared prosecution.
- Nixon tells Haldeman the taping system must be kept a secret.
- The presiding judge at the trial of Daniel Ellsberg (who leaked the Pentagon Papers) says he's learned that Hunt and Liddy were also responsible for the burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.
Saturday, April 27, 1974
- Speechwriter Ray Price works with Nixon on his speech to release the edited transcripts in prime time from the Oval Office.
"I think that there's no doubt about the seriousness of the problem we've got. We have a cancer within—close to the presidency, that's growing. It's growing daily. It's compounding. "
John Dean | President's Special Counsel