An illegal break in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC during the Democratic Convention. What seemingly started out as a common burglary gradually took on greater significance. Largely but not solely as a result of investigative journalism by two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the trail went back to the White House and indeed the Oval Office.
It reflected the paranoia of Nixon and the corrupt and illegal practices of his advisers and cronies. It eventually led to Nixon's resignation and jail sentences for some of the most powerful men surrounding him such as John Dean, Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman.