Stony Path to Impeachment

* June 17: Five men are arrested in the Watergate complex after burglarizing Democratic National Committee headquarters.

* Nov. 7: Nixon is reelected with more than 60% of the vote.

1973

* April 30: Atty. Gen.-designate Elliot L. Richardson names Archibold Cox as his choice for Watergate special prosecutor.

* April 30: Nixon tells the nation: "I was determined that we should get to the bottom of the matter and that the truth should be fully brought out no matter who was involved."

* Oct. 20: In the "Saturday night massacre," Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, resign rather than follow Nixon's wish to fire Cox.

* Nov. 1: Nixon names Leon Jaworski special prosecutor.

1974

* Feb. 6: House votes, 410-4, to give its Judiciary Committee broad power to conduct an impeachment inquiry.

* Feb. 25: Nixon rejects Watergate grand jury subpoena to testify and tells Judiciary Committee he will comply only selectively with its subpoena of documents.

* March 1: Jaworski delivers his impeachment report to U.S. District Judge John Sirica in a single brown briefcase.

* July 27-30: Judiciary Committee approves three articles of impeachment.

* Aug. 5: Responding to a Supreme Court order, Nixon releases the "smoking gun" tape showing him conspiring in the cover-up just six days after the break-in.

* Aug. 9: Nixon resigns.

* Sept. 8: President Gerald Ford grants Nixon a "full, free and absolute pardon."

****

LEWINSKY

Nov. 15, 1995 to March 20, 1997. President Clinton and Monica S. Lewinsky engage in sexual activity in the White House.

1996

* Nov. 5: Clinton is reelected with 49% of the vote.

1998

* Jan. 16: Atty. Gen. Janet Reno empowers independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr to expand his investigation to include the Lewinsky matter.

* Jan. 26: Clinton says at a press conference: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time."

* Aug. 17: Clinton testifies before Starr's grand jury and then acknowledges publicly that he had an improper relationship with Lewinsky but denies that he committed perjury.

* Sept. 9: Starr delivers to Congress 36 boxes of evidence supporting a report in which the lays out 11 possible grounds for impeachment.

* Oct. 8: House votes, 258-176, to authorize Judiciary Committee to conduct a broad impeachment inquiry.

Compiled by TRICIA FORD / Los Angeles Times