Spectre of Watergate looms on the horizon

The Watergate break-in, the nasty cross-the-line bugging crimes that toppled an American president, took place in May and June 1972.

Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the US who for so long protested his innocence with vigour and indignation, resigned on August 9, 1974, rather than face impeachment.

These things take time to play out and the two years and some months between discovery and impeachment polarised America. Towards the end of a particularly shabby and dishonest rearguard action by the Nixon administration and the Republican party, even Nixon’s most ardent supporters conceded that Tricky Dicky was well named and unfit for office, especially the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.