Video: 'CBS News Special Report: The Watergate Indictments, March 1, 1974'

(Friday, March 1, 1974, approximately 11:00 a.m. EST; during the Watergate scandal) — Seven former high-ranking aides to U.S. President Richard M. Nixon were indicted today by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in.

Video: '"Watergate: The Secret Story" - 1992' (Mar. 1, 1974, at 1:18:29)

Never before have so many close and trusted advisers of an American president faced criminal accusations in a single indictment.

The grand jury declined to name any persons believed to be connected, but not indicted, issuing the list as a secret report for a federal judge’s consideration, but in June, President Nixon himself would be identified as one of the persons who had been named by the grand jury on March 1 as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Video: 'WATERGATE AFFAIR BBC DOKUMENTATION 1994' (Mar. 1, 1974, at 3:28:24)

The former White House staffers charged with conspiracy to violate election laws were U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell; White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman; domestic affairs advisor John Ehrlichman; White House counsel Charles Colson; and aides Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian and Kenneth Parkinson.

Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Colson would serve prison sentences ranging from seven to 19 months.