Shortly before midnight on June 17, 1972, security personnel at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., discovered and detained five men inside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters. The arrests initially appeared to be a simple break-in, but subsequent investigations revealed a broader scheme of political espionage and led to the unravelling of a major scandal that came to be known as Watergate. The five suspects were caught by a security guard and local police after being observed in the DNC offices. Early reports described the group as attempting to place listening devices and photograph documents. The arrested men included individuals with ties to a private security company and, later established through investigative reporting and official inquiries, connections to operatives working for President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. At the time of the arrests, many details were unclear and the story initially received limited national attention. Over the following months, reporters, congressional investigators and prosecutors uncovered evidence indicating that the break-in was part of a coordinated effort to gather intelligence on Democratic campaign strategy. Investigations expanded to examine the campaign committee for President Nixon, leading to revelations of campaign-funded illegal activities, a pattern of political sabotage, and extensive efforts to conceal involvement by administration officials. Key developments included the discovery that funds for the break-in and related operations had been funneled through intermediaries, and that senior officials had engaged in obstruction of justice to impede probes. The scandal prompted multiple congressional hearings, criminal indictments, and a protracted legal and political battle. One of the most consequential findings was the existence of taped conversations in the White House, which ultimately provided critical evidence of the administration’s role in the cover-up. The Watergate investigations culminated in the House Judiciary Committee approving articles of impeachment against President Nixon in 1974 for obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress. Facing near-certain impeachment and removal, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 8, 1974—the first U.S. president to do so. Watergate had lasting effects on American politics and institutions: it prompted reforms aimed at increasing transparency in campaign finance and executive accountability, reshaped investigative journalism’s role in holding power to account, and left an enduring legacy in public consciousness about abuses of political authority. Although the initial arrest of the five men on June 17 was a relatively small law-enforcement incident, it set in motion investigations that revealed a comprehensive pattern of illicit activity linked to the highest levels of government. Many specifics of the operations, including the names and roles of various participants, were established only through years of reporting, legal proceedings and congressional inquiry rather than the first night’s arrests alone.