Senate Hearings and Important Consequences
The Senate held its first hearing on the Watergate break-in on March 28, 1973. This nearly five hour long meeting generated so many leaks to the media, that committee leaders agreed on conducting all future hearings in public session. Nine months earlier, five burglars and two accomplices were arrested in Democratic National Committee's Watergate offices. Their eventual tie to President Richard Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign, and their conviction in January 1973, led the Senate in February to create the Watergate Committee - the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. Democratic chief counsel, Sam Dash, assured Republicans that
the panel would investigate misconduct by members of both political parties.
His goal was to make recommendations for the reform of election laws. James McCord, security coordinator for the committee to re-elect the President, was preparing to be sentenced for his crime and was asked to cooperate with the Senate inquiry. Hoping to avoid a severe sentence, McCord cooperated with investigators and implicated Dean and Magruder, Nixon's aides, in the break-in. Dean and Magruder then abandoned the cover-up and implicated other White House and CRP officials. In secret session, McCord testified that his boss, G. Gordon Liddy, had informed him that Attorney General John Mitchell had approved the specific burglary plans. McCord also revealed the involvement of Dean, Magruder, and former presidential counsel Charles Colson and promised to have documents that would substantiate his allegations. Investigators were told that Mitchell, Nixon's Attorney General, had approved the break-in, that transcripts of conversations taped at the DNC were given to aide Gordon C. Strachan for delivery to Haldeman, and that Ehrlichman had ordered the destruction of documents. On April 30, Nixon announced the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, and the firing of Dean. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resigned rather than prosecute men he knew. Nixon and Elliot Richardson, the new attorney general, approved the creation of a special prosecutor's office, headed by Archibald Cox of the Harvard Law School.The Senate's Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, under the chairmanship of Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, opened public hearings in May. In the end, 40 government officials were indicted. Dean's testimony linked Nixon and his re-election fundraising committee to the cover-up. Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Mitchell denied wrongdoing and defended the president. Evidence against Nixon, given to Judge Sirica by the grand jury, was turned over to the House Judiciary Committee, which had begun its impeachment investigation. The committee subpoenaed 42 more tapes in April 1974. On April 30, Nixon released edited transcripts but not the actual recordings of 46 conversations. Facing certain impeachment and removal from office, Nixon resigned on August 8 in a nationally televised address.