In 1972, police arrest five men for breaking into the Democratic Party National Party headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Republicans deny Democratic charges that the “Watergate burglars” were sanctioned by President Nixon’s campaign officials. John Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General, resigns as head of the Committee to Reelect the President.

Elsewhere that year:

• Nixon and Agnew are re-elected president and vice president, respectively.

• Eight Arab terrorists kill two Israeli athletes and take nine others hostage at the Olympic games in Munich. During a shootout with the West German police, five of the terrorists and all of the hostages are killed.

• Richard George Adams, a British novelist, publishes Watership Down, an allegorical rabbit tale based on bedtime stories he created for his daughters.

• Four Episcopal bishops defy church law and ordain 11 women as priests.