How many people were first arrested in the Watergate building in 1972?

The Watergate scandal was a major federal political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974. The scandal stemmed from the June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C., by five men and the Nixon Administration's subsequent attempts to cover-up its involvement in the crime.

Sometime after midnight on Saturday, June 17, 1972, Watergate Complex a security guard noticed tape covering the latches on some of the complex's doors leading from the underground parking garage to several offices, which allowed the doors to close but stay unlocked. He removed the tape, believing it was nothing. When he returned a short time later and discovered that someone had retaped the locks, he called the police.

Responding to the call was an unmarked car with three plainclothes officers. The burglars' sentry, Alfred Baldwin, was distracted watching TV and failed to observe the arrival of the police car. Neither did he see the plainclothes officers investigating the DNC's sixth floor. By the time Baldwin finally noticed unusual activity on the sixth floor and radioed the burglars, it was already too late. The police apprehended five men, later identified as Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis. They were charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications.