FOREWORD<br > As reporters for the Washington Post， we began covering the Watergate<br > story a few hours after five men were arrested at the Democratic National<br > headquarters on June 17， 1972. Our work for the Post on that story lasted<br > more than two years--until Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency on<br > August 9， 1974.<br > After the resignation， some of our most reliable sources said that the real<br > story of those final days of the Nixon presidency had not been adequately<br > told; to report that story and sort through the contradictions would require<br > a concentrated effort of perhaps a year or more. Our editors at the Post<br > agreed. We took a leave of absence from the paper and set up an office on<br > the sixth floor of the Post building. Scott Armstrong， a former Senate<br > Watergate Committee investigator， and AI Kamen， a free-lance writer-<br > researcher， were hired to assist us.<br > We divided the proiect into twenty-two areas of inquiry:<br > President Nixon<br > the Nixon family<br > key White House aides<br > the White House lawyers<br > other senior members of the White House staff<br > the presidential speech-writing staff<br > the White House press o~ce<br > former Nixon aides<br >