The Pentagon Papers showed that there were leaks in the governments information

The plumbers were set up to fix issues of leaking pipes in the whitehouse

The methods of the plumbers were often illegal

Howard Hunt helped to plan and direct the burglary

The break in happened in the run up to the 1968 presidential election

The break in happened at the offices of the national republican committee

The break in was investigated by reporters from the New York Times

Woodward and Bernstein helped to find links between the burglary and the CREEP

During the trial James McCord revealed that the white house had ordered the burglars to lie

The investigation into the president was headed by Archibald Knox

During the investigation it was found that there were video tapes of the president in his office

Nixon agreed to release all the tapes to the Senate investigation

The tapes initially did not reveal anything about the break in but did show Nixon was rude and a bully

Nixon was forced by the supreme court to release all the recordings, this included the smoking gun

The smoking gun was the evidence that Nixon had tried to cover up watergate from an FBI investigation

Nixon tried to resign but was impeached first

Jimmy Carter took over from Nixon as president

Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed

One of the biggest effects of the watergate affair was the impact on Nixon's legacy and the lack of trust in the office of president.