Fifty years ago, a political scandal reaching the highest levels of power in the United States government tested the foundations of American liberal democracy and its executive office. Named for a high-profile office building in Washington, DC, the Watergate affair consisted of a bungled break-in at the Democratic Party’s National Committee headquarters, secretly sponsored by officials in President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign committee, followed by a cover-up that would end in disaster for the sitting president. As the public and the media looked on in shock and sometimes outrage, the Watergate scandal brought felony accusations, Senate hearings, sensational trials, and, eventually, the first-ever resignation of an American president.

Drawing on documents, illustrations, books, and photographs from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Un-Presidented: Watergate and Power in America, explores how the organs of a functioning democracy—including judicial processes, a free press, and legislative oversight—bring accountability and fight corruption even amongst the most powerful citizens of the nation. 

The exhibition is organized and curated by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.