WATERGATE: Then and Now : The break-in that led to President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation occurred 20 years ago Wednesday. Here are some of the main players in the scandal.

Richard M. Nixon

Then: President of the United States; White House tapes show he had early knowledge of cover-up; resigned in August, 1974.

Now: Author of nine books; carefully trying to restore his image as elder statesman; lives in Park Ridge, N.J.

John W. Dean III

Then: presidential counsel; pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the cover-up; served 127 days; star witness for Senate Watergate Committee.

Now: investment banker living in Beverly Hills.

H. R. Haldeman

Then: White House chief of staff and Nixon alter-ego; convicted of conspiracy in cover-up; served 18 months in prison.

Now: Santa Barbara businessman and real estate developer; part owner of nine Sizzler steak houses and two Radisson hotels.

John D. Ehrlichman

Then: counselor to the President for domestic policy and a key political adviser to Nixon; convicted of conspiracy in cover-up; served 18 months.

Now: executive of international consulting company in Atlanta; working on a novel about

impeachment of a President.

John N. Mitchell

Then: Attorney general and close personal friend of President; convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to a grand jury; imprisoned 19 months.

Died of a heart attack in 1988.

Charles W. Colson

Then: special counsel to the President; once remarked that he would walk over his grandmother to ensure Nixon’s reelection; served 207 days in prison in connection with the burglary of the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.

Now: founder and chairman of Prison Fellowship, a Christian counseling program.

Jeb Stuart Magruder

Then: deputy director of Nixon reelection campaign; supervised Watergate break-ins; served 218 days in prison for cover-up.

Now: Presbyterian minister in Lexington, Ky.

Donald H. Segretti

Then: Recruited by White House to play dirty tricks on Democrats; falsely claimed that Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D-Wash.) fathered an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old girl;

served five months for distributing false campaign material.

Now: Newport Beach lawyer.

Rose Mary Woods

Then: Nixon’s secretary; transcribed White House tapes and tried to explain how she accidentally caused 18- minute gap.

Now: has been in seclusion for more than 10 years; last known to be living quietly in Washington.

Elliot L. Richardson

Then: Attorney general who refused to obey Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Now: lawyer in private practice in Washington.

The Burglars

James M. McCord

Then: security chief for CREEP and the leader of Watergate burglars; served 69 days for the burglary.

Now: living in retirement in Colorado.

E. Howard Hunt Jr.

Then: former CIA operative and Bay of Pigs strategist who supervised both Watergate and Ellsberg break-ins; served 33 months.

Now: lives in Miami and writes spy novels.

G. Gordon Liddy

Then: former prosecutor and FBI agent who master-minded break-in; refused to testify in court about Nixon White House and once said he was ready to be assassinated as punishment for failure; served 52 months.

Now: hosts a radio talk show in Washington.

Eugenio R. Martinez

Then: anti-Castro Cuban activist who participated in Watergate burglary; served 15 months.

Now: auto sales manager in Miami.

Bernard L. Barker

Then: anti-Castro Cuban activist who participated in burglary; served 18 months in prison.

Now: recently retired from a municipal job in Miami.

Virgilio R. Gonzales

Then: anti-Castro activist who participated in burglary; served 13 months.

Now: locksmith in Miami.

Frank A. Sturgis

Then: anti-Castro activist who participated in burglary; served 13 months.

Now: lives in Miami.

The Investigators

Archibald Cox

Then: the original Watergate special prosecutor who was fired after he refused to back down on subpoenas for White House tapes.

Now: recently stepped down as chairman of Common Cause and from his faculty position at Harvard law school; still teaches at Boston University.

Leon Jaworski

Then: Cox’s replacement as special prosecutor; obtained White House tapes and supervised prosecution of conspirators; did not seek to indict Nixon.

Died in 1982 at his home in Houston.

Sam Dash

Then: chief counsel for Senate Watergate Committee; directed the congressional probe that made Watergate a household word.

Now: faculty member of Georgetown law school.

Sam J. Irvin Jr.

Then: chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee whose folksy wisdom is credited with preventing the investigation from degenerating into partisanship.

Died in 1985 in North Carolina.

Howard H. Baker Jr.

Then: ranking Republican on the Senate Watergate Committee who kept the hearings focused with his repeated question: “What did the President know and when did he know it?”

Now: after a stint as White House chief of staff in the Ronald Reagan Administration, he is a lawyer and a lobbyist.

John J. Sirica

Then: U.S. District Court judge who presided over the main Watergate cases.

Now: retired and living in Washington.