The Beginning of the Investigation

On June 18, 1972 all around the country, news papers headlines were talking about a burglary at the Watergate office complex. The burglary had been committed by a team of burglars that were caught and arrested inside the Democratic National Committee offices. From police investigation they concluded that the burglary was down by professionals to try and cover their tracks. One of the people arrested was James McCord and was on Nixon's payroll for his reelection committee. Within a several weeks, the investigation had turned up that a former CIA agent, E. Howard Hunt, and a former FBI agent, G. Gordon Liddy, were being indicted for guiding the burglars through the Watergate building by walkie-talkies from a hotel room across from the building. Also the investigators had come across that a check for $25,000 had been deposited in on of the burglars checking accounts. The check came directly from Maurice Stans, the former Secretary of Commerce. This now linked the burglary to Nixon's reelection campaign funds.