Watergate

Nixon consistently maintained that he was not responsible for the break-in but simply mishandled its aftermath. However, this first programme shows that the break-in was just one of the crimes instigated by the president himself.

Continuing the series on the infamous burglary that led to President Nixon's resignation. After the Watergate break-in, Nixon took charge of the cover-up himself, determined to prevent the burglars' links to the White House becoming known.

Richard Nixon had the Watergate burglars paid to keep silent about their links to the White House. This cover-up enabled him in 1972 to win a second presidential election taking 49 of the 50 states. But then the facts began to emerge.

Nixon was compelled to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate. But when Professor Archibald Cox demanded that Nixon hand over his secret office tape recordings, Nixon decided he must be fired. The Attorney General refused to fire him and resigned. His deputy refused and was fired. Then the third man in the Justice Department did the deed. It persuaded the American people, for the first time, that Nixon had to go.

President Richard Nixon clung to the White House as evidence against him mounted. The special prosecutor was a southern conservative, and he had allies on the House of Representatives committee. But the automatic taping system he himself had ordered to be installed in the Oval Office contained damning evidence. As more and more tapes were reluctantly surrendered, he found himself increasingly isolated. In the last programme of this series, the House votes for impeachment, and Nixon is left in no doubt that he will be found guilty. Only then does he decide to become the first president to resign from office.