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Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 79F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Storms may produce some hail. Low near 60F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Updated: August 22, 2026 @ 7:35 am
White House Deputy Special Assistant Alvin Snyder with President Richard Nixon before his resignation speech in 1974
White House Deputy Special Assistant Alvin Snyder with President Richard Nixon before his resignation speech in 1974
PUNXSUTAWNEY — As the United States of America celebrates its semiquincentennial, The Spirit once again looks back to its own coverage of major historical events. This week takes a look at the most infamous political scandal in American history, one that unraveled a presidency and for the first — and so far, only — time ended in the chief executive’s resignation: Watergate.
(Editor’s note: Due to the volume of available information, most of these stories are excerpts and do not appear in their entirety.)
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, first taking office Jan. 20, 1969. Following the publication of the Pentagon Papers, Nixon’s allies formed a group that later became informally known as the White House Plumbers to prevent and respond to similar leaks. White House aides also began an enemies list with the purpose of using government powers to thwart political opponents. Subsequently, the Plumbers were assigned to the Committee to Re-elect the President as Nixon began pursuit of a second term.
The scandal began in earnest May 28, 1972, when Plumbers broke into Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex to bug staffers’ phones. They did so a second time June 17, but were caught and arrested. Journalists quickly began connecting the names of some of the burglars to the government and the CRP. On June 23, Nixon sent instructions to acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray to stay out of the investigation into the Watergate break-in.
Nixon was reelected in a landslide Nov. 7, 1972, winning the largest plurality of votes in American history. But the Watergate scandal deepened as hearings to confirm Gray as FBI director began and Watergate defendants started talking to prosecutors.
Spirit reports on Watergate were sparse until 1973, when it became known that Gray had destroyed files sought in the investigation. Gray subsequently resigned.
April 28, 1973
Watergate Scandal Deepens
WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray III resigned Friday after it was disclosed he destroyed documents from the safe of a Watergate conspirator.
President Nixon named William J. Ruckelshaus to replace him temporarily.
Ruckelshaus, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said he will fill the spot only until the President names a permanent FBI director.
A statement by the White House suggested that Gray apparently resigned under pressure.
It was the second resignation of an administration Watergate figure in 24 hours. Late Thursday, former Nixon campaign deputy Jeb Stuart Magruder quit the Commerce Department suddenly and without explanation.
Gray’s exit came as the Watergate scandal deepened and took a bizarre twist in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
It was alleged in court papers there that two of the Watergate conspirators had stolen psychiatric files of Daniel Ellsberg, who is on trial for espionage. It was Ellsberg who made public the secret Pentagon history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Gray resigned shortly after his friend, Sen. Lowell P. Weicker, R-Conn., said the FBI chief had destroyed two envelopes of documents taken from Hunt’s White House safe after last summer’s wiretapping raid on Democratic offices in the Watergate building.
Weicker said Gray told him the documents, reportedly including forged State Department cables and a dossier on the Chappaquiddick tragedy, were handed to him by presidential aides John D. Ehrlichman and John W. Dean III, who said the papers should “never see the light of day.”
Ehrlichman denied suggesting or ordering that the documents be destroyed.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, DW.Va., the No. 2 Senate Democrat, called for Gray to quit and suggested he may be guilty of a crime. Gray announced his resignation shortly after that, and the White House immediately accepted it.
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