The long shadow of the ‘national nightmare’

04/29/74 - FILE-- President Nixon points to the transcripts of the the White House tapes Monday night, April 29, 1974, after he announced, during a nationally-televised speech that he will turn over the transcripts to the House impeachment invesigators and make them public. For nearly a quarter-century, only prosecutors and archivists have listened to 3,700 hours of conversations recorded secretly by Richard Nixon when he was president. The government is releasing 201 hours of tape Monday Nov. 18, 1996 for public hearing, opening a rich vein of information for historians and Watergate addicts. (AP Photo/File)

Marc Fisher

As the Watergate scandal fades from memory to myth, a central question about the scarring chapter in U.S. history lingers: Did Richard M. Nixon’s misdeeds and downfall strip the nation of its innocence or affirm the resilience of the American system?

At Post Watergate forum, scandal’s players tell their stories

At Post Watergate forum, scandal’s players tell their stories

Robert Samuels

Many of Watergate’s major figures gathered at the complex to tell their stories for a Washington Post forum.

Nixon was worse than we thought

Nixon was worse than we thought

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

How a growing record of evidence reveals the extent of the former president’s crimes.

Investigative journalism is at risk

Investigative journalism is at risk

Leonard Downie Jr.

OUTLOOK | Investigative reporting’s future is threatened in the chaotic digital reconstruction of journalism.

Enough with the ‘-gates’ already

Enough with the ‘-gates’ already

Monica Hesse

Apparently until the end of time, we are destined to pluck random nouns from the news and tack on “-gate.”

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 11: From left to right- Carl Bernstein, William Cohen, Bob Woodward and John Dean talk with each other prior to the 40th anniversary Watergate event at The Watergate office complex on June 11, 2012 in Washington, D.C. To mark the 40th anniversary of Watergate, The Washington Post hosted a live event and discussion including major players from the event and also reporters Woodward and Bernstein who broke the story. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Revisiting Watergate

PHOTOS | Key figures from the Watergate scandal reconvened Monday in Washington.

Katharine Graham with reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the heighth of the Watergate era. COPYRIGHT: Mark Godfrey, April 30, 1973

Watergate meets Facebook

INTERACTIVE | What would the scandal’s Facebook timeline look like? Probably something like this.

Featured video

Watergate: 40 years after the scandal

The legacy and legend of Ben Bradlee

Mary Jordan at Watergate 40th Anniversary

Woodward and Bernstein on Watergate forty years later

The 40th Anniversary of Watergate

Bud Krogh on going to jail

Could Watergate happen again?

Woodward and Bernstein on Watergate in the digital age

Woodward on Deep Throat and the key Watergate sources

Fred Thompson: A Republican on Watergate

Lehrer on Watergate: It was a crime of corruption

John Dean on the days following the Watergate break-in

The Watergate Story

A burglary at a Washington office complex called the Watergate in June 1972 grew into a wide-ranging political scandal that culminated in the resignation of President Richard Nixon two years later. "Watergate" is shorthand for this tumultuous time in America and its enduring impact.

SLUG: NA/DEEPTHROAT DATE SHOT: 04/29/73 - April 1973 (Flatbed scan 05/31/2005 EEL) CREDIT: Ken Feil/TWP CAPTION: Bob Woodward (left) and Carl Bernstein in the Washington Post newsroom.

Part 1: The Post investigates

A curious crime, two young reporters, and a secret source known as "Deep Throat" ... Washington would be changed forever.

05/25/73 - CAPTION: Archibald Cox (center) is sworn is as Special Watergate Prosecutor by Judge Charles Fahy (left) during a ceremony at the Justice Department. Looking on is Attorney General Elliott Richardson. CREDIT: UPI.

Part 2: The government acts

The courts, the Congress and a special prosecutor probe the burglars' connections to the White House and discover a secret taping system.

President Richard Nixon faces television cameras in his oval office, April 30, 1973, to announce the departure of his two closest assistants, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. Only three days before, an aide says, he got his first word that Spiro Agnew was in trouble. And now, after the speech, television technicians would report that he wept. (AP Photo/CBS-TV) StaffPhoto imported to Merlin on Fri Dec 2 20:00:06 2005

Part 3: Nixon resigns

President Nixon refuses to release the tapes and fires the special prosecutor. A decisive Supreme Court ruling is a victory for investigators.

DATE: 12/1/1975 credit: James K. W. Atherton, TWP. CAPTION: L-R: Richard Kleindienst, Mrs. Felt, W. Mark Felt and Helen W. Gandy. Testifying at FBI hearing before the House Gov. Opr. Subcommittee.

Part 4: Deep Throat revealed

After 30 years, one of Washington's best-kept secrets is exposed.

Photos

A look back at Watergate

Watergate scandal key players

What else was happening in 1972?

What else was happening in 1973?

What else was happening in 1974

Bob Woodward - White House "Inside Man"

Videos

Woodward & Bernstein on Nixon's ‘criminal enterprise’

Nixon: ‘I am not a crook’

‘When is somebody gonna go on the record in this story?’

Bob Woodward on Deep Throat

‘Cancer on the presidency’

Ben Bradlee on Deep Throat

Nixon resigns

‘Follow the Money’

Former Post editor Barry Sussman on Watergate

From the archives