On 17 June 1972, night security guard Frank Wills noticed
+
to notice:
notare
a piece of tape
+
tape:
nastro adesivo
stuck
+
to stick:
pegar, enganchar
to the latch
+
latch:
serratura
of a basement
+
basement:
seminterrato
door at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. He removed
+
to remove:
rimuovere
the tape, which was holding the door open, but on his next round it had reappeared. In response to his call, two policemen in plain clothing
+
in plain clothing:
in borghese
turned up
+
to turn up:
presentarsi
and caught five men in the act of an apparent robbery.
THE POST
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two young reporters at The Washington Post, picked up
+
to pick up:
prendere, raccogliere
the story and refused to let it go
+
to let go:
lasciare andare
. With the help of an anonymous informant they called Deep Throat, and with the guidance and backing of their senior colleagues, Bernstein and Woodward began to uncover an earth-shattering
+
earth-shattering:
sconvolgente, dirompente
truth. With revelation after revelation, they became convinced that US President Richard Nixon was engaging
+
to engage:
partecipare
in criminal activity.
CONGRESS
As things heated up, Nixon and his men took steps to cover up their involvement in the break-in
+
break-in:
irruzione
. The President’s landslide
+
landslide:
schiacciante
re-election in November 1973 appeared to show that, despite the mounting evidence against him, the American public still trusted
+
to trust:
fidarsi
him. However, mainstream media outlets
+
mainstream media outlets:
principali fonti di comunicazione
were publicising the story, and Congress launched its own internal investigation with bipartisan support
+
bipartisan support:
sostegno bipartitico
.
WITNESSES
Over the course of a year, key witnesses testified to an array
+
array:
serie
of clandestine and illegal activities undertaken
+
to undertake:
intraprendere
by members of the Nixon administration. These included bugging
+
bugging:
intercettare
the offices of opponents, ordering investigations of activist groups, and using the FBI, the CIA and the IRS
+
IRS:
agenzia delle entrate (Internal Revenue Service)
as political weapons to protect the presidency. Finally, in August 1974, leading figures in the Republican Party put pressure on Nixon to resign, which led to him being the first and only US president to do so. Fifty years on, The Washington Post maintains an outstanding
+
outstanding:
eccezionale
reputation, and Watergate remains a symbol of investigative reporting worldwide, so much so
+
so much so:
a tal punto
that the suffix ‘-gate’ is used to describe political scandals everywhere.