United States Senate Watergate Committee

The Senate Watergate Committee was a US Senate investigative committee that investigated the break-in into the Watergate Hotel and the ensuing Watergate affair .

The committee unearthed key information showing that the burglars were instructed to break into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in order to bug it, and directly from the Committee to Re-elect the President , Richard Nixon's Political Action Committee for re-election as U.S. President, had been instructed.

Based on the information the committee gathered, 40 government officials were fired and several of Nixon's advisors were convicted of obstruction of justice and other crimes. Due to the work of the committee, the US Congress began the impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon, which immediately led to his resignation.

The members of the Watergate Committee were:

• Sam Ervin ( Democrat - North Carolina ), Chairman
• Howard Baker ( Republican - Tennessee ), ranking member
• Edward Gurney (Republican - Florida )
• Daniel Inouye (Democrat - Hawaii )
• Joseph Montoya (Democrat - New Mexico )
• Herman Talmadge (Democrat - Georgia )
• Lowell P. Weicker (Republican - Connecticut )

The committee had two chief advisors: Sam Dash for the Democrats and Fred Thompson for the Republicans. The hearings began on May 17, 1973, and the committee published its 1,250-page seven-volume report on June 27, 1974. It was entitled Report on Presidential Campaign Activities .