On the 23rd June 1972, President Richard Nixon conferred with his Chief of Staff Harry Robbins "Bob" Haldeman. This conversation, known as the 'smoking gun', was the final blow which led to the resignation of Richard Milhous Nixon as 37th President of the United States. The break-in at the Watergate Office complex had only occurred 6 day earlier on the 17th June 1972. This conversation was indicative of the attempts to cover up the participation of the Nixon White House in clearly illegal activities. What is even more extraordinary is that the participants, many of them lawyers, were blind to the fact that they had entered into a criminal conspiracy.

As curious a collection of public servants as one could expect to find. These men sat in the White House, and all but one went to gaol.