Next June will be the 35th anniversary of the Watergate, the most famous political scandal in American history. What began as a burglary led to the downfall of US President Richard Nixon. It also revealed a web of political spying, sabotage and bribery. This report from Ian Pannell in Washington:

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It was June 17th 1972, early on a Saturday [?]. Five intruders were caught inside the [?] of the Democratic National Committee, adjusting [?] equipment and photographing documents. The Republican Party, the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department, the , the White House and eventually, the president of the United States, all became [?] in the ensuing scandal. Eventually, Richard Nixon was left with no choice but to resign. Three decades later, and the story still holds much [?]. But it also continues to inform today's political climate. The recent reform of campaign [?] was partly the result of continuing efforts to make public life at least appear cleaner. There continued to be large doses of public [?] about politics and politicians, born out of the Vietnam war but [?] in Watergate. The willingness to speak out against President Bush and his policies in the midst of the war on [?] is perhaps the best indication of this. But Watergate was about more than just [?]. It was also about restoring faith in a political system that limits and divides power between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. It's this which many see as the [?] legacy of Watergate.

Ian Pannell, BBC, Washington