World Blog by humble servant.Watergate. 3-9
3. The Watergate break-in
As part of these illegal activities, in the early hours of 17 June 1972, five men attempted to break-in to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex, about a mile from the White House. When a security guard discovered tape on a door latch outside the DNC HQ he called the police and the five men were arrested.4. The cover-up
It is important to note that Nixon never ordered the break-in at the Watergate complex – the approval for that came from Nixon’s former Attorney General and chair of CREEP John Mitchell – but he colluded in its aftermath to distance his administration from it.
“I can say categorically that… no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident,” he told a White House press corp in the immediate aftermath of the break-in.
In reality he was urging his lawyer John W Dean to cover-up the White House’s connection to the Watergate break-in. Six weeks after the break-in, he had told his chief of staff Bob Haldeman of the burglars and their leaders: “They have to be paid. That’s all there is to that.” The cover-up began.
5. Re-election
Having denied his administration’s involvement in the Watergate break-in, Nixon was able to weather the growing storm surrounding the Watergate break-in and win re-election in 1972 with one of the biggest margins in history, beating his Democrat opponent George McGovern in almost every state in the country.6. Woodward and Bernstein
The tale of how these two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, broke some of the most significant stories in the entire scandal is well documented in the book and film All the President’s Men:Their work was crucial to uncovering the links between the initial break-in and a subsequent cover-up that implicated the US Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA and eventually the White House. Their work mainly involved following the money trial which broadly led from the burglars back to CREEP which had a slush fund to pay for the all the illegal activities that were going in.Their stories were continually criticised and denied by the White House and its press secretary Ronald Ziegler who later had to apologise to the men when it transpired that all of what they wrote was true.
7. ‘Deep Throat’
The most famous source in journalistic history, ‘Deep Throat’ was the name given to a senior source that Woodward relied heavily on in steering him in the right direction when it came to investigating Watergate.
The source was, in journalistic parlance, on deep background which meant he could not even be quoted anonymously. This led one of Woodward’s editors to label him after the famous porn film at the time Deep Throat. Deep Throat was later unmasked as the FBI’s number two Mark Felt.8. All the President’s Men
One of the most striking things about Watergate is how male dominated the whole saga and the whole Nixon senior circle was hence the name of best-selling book All the President’s Men. By early 1973, cracks began to appear in the cover-up of Watergate when FBI director Patrick Gray testified at hearings intended to confirm him as permanent director of the FBI that he had been asked to keep the White House abreast of the Watergate investigation on a daily basis. He had been asked by John Dean, Nixon’s lawyer, and said that Dean had “probably lied” to investigators.
Soon afterwards one of the Watergate burglars, James McCord, wrote to Judge John Sirica claiming that he had perjured himself in testimony by lying about the nature of the burglary saying it had been a CIA operation when in fact it involved other government officials. Soon after Dean began co-operating with Watergate prosecutors and Gray resigned as head of the FBI after it emerged he had destroyed files connected to the scandal.
At the end of April 1973 there are further departures as White House officials John Ehrlichman, Bob Haldeman, and attorney general Richard Kleindienst all resigned because of their involvement. Dean was fired.
9. The White House Tapes
In May of ’73, the Senate Watergate Committee began nationally televised hearings into the growing scandal. The hearings involve Senator Sam Irvine and special prosecutor Archibald Cox. They prove the connection between the initial burglary and CREEP and subsequently the White House. Dean’s continuing co-operation leads to the revelation that Nixon and he discussed Watergate at least 35 times.
As part of these illegal activities, in the early hours of 17 June 1972, five men attempted to break-in to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex, about a mile from the White House. When a security guard discovered tape on a door latch outside the DNC HQ he called the police and the five men were arrested.4. The cover-up
It is important to note that Nixon never ordered the break-in at the Watergate complex – the approval for that came from Nixon’s former Attorney General and chair of CREEP John Mitchell – but he colluded in its aftermath to distance his administration from it.
“I can say categorically that… no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident,” he told a White House press corp in the immediate aftermath of the break-in.
In reality he was urging his lawyer John W Dean to cover-up the White House’s connection to the Watergate break-in. Six weeks after the break-in, he had told his chief of staff Bob Haldeman of the burglars and their leaders: “They have to be paid. That’s all there is to that.” The cover-up began.
5. Re-election
Having denied his administration’s involvement in the Watergate break-in, Nixon was able to weather the growing storm surrounding the Watergate break-in and win re-election in 1972 with one of the biggest margins in history, beating his Democrat opponent George McGovern in almost every state in the country.6. Woodward and Bernstein
The tale of how these two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, broke some of the most significant stories in the entire scandal is well documented in the book and film All the President’s Men:Their work was crucial to uncovering the links between the initial break-in and a subsequent cover-up that implicated the US Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA and eventually the White House. Their work mainly involved following the money trial which broadly led from the burglars back to CREEP which had a slush fund to pay for the all the illegal activities that were going in.Their stories were continually criticised and denied by the White House and its press secretary Ronald Ziegler who later had to apologise to the men when it transpired that all of what they wrote was true.
7. ‘Deep Throat’
The most famous source in journalistic history, ‘Deep Throat’ was the name given to a senior source that Woodward relied heavily on in steering him in the right direction when it came to investigating Watergate.
The source was, in journalistic parlance, on deep background which meant he could not even be quoted anonymously. This led one of Woodward’s editors to label him after the famous porn film at the time Deep Throat. Deep Throat was later unmasked as the FBI’s number two Mark Felt.8. All the President’s Men
One of the most striking things about Watergate is how male dominated the whole saga and the whole Nixon senior circle was hence the name of best-selling book All the President’s Men. By early 1973, cracks began to appear in the cover-up of Watergate when FBI director Patrick Gray testified at hearings intended to confirm him as permanent director of the FBI that he had been asked to keep the White House abreast of the Watergate investigation on a daily basis. He had been asked by John Dean, Nixon’s lawyer, and said that Dean had “probably lied” to investigators.
Soon afterwards one of the Watergate burglars, James McCord, wrote to Judge John Sirica claiming that he had perjured himself in testimony by lying about the nature of the burglary saying it had been a CIA operation when in fact it involved other government officials. Soon after Dean began co-operating with Watergate prosecutors and Gray resigned as head of the FBI after it emerged he had destroyed files connected to the scandal.
At the end of April 1973 there are further departures as White House officials John Ehrlichman, Bob Haldeman, and attorney general Richard Kleindienst all resigned because of their involvement. Dean was fired.
9. The White House Tapes
In May of ’73, the Senate Watergate Committee began nationally televised hearings into the growing scandal. The hearings involve Senator Sam Irvine and special prosecutor Archibald Cox. They prove the connection between the initial burglary and CREEP and subsequently the White House. Dean’s continuing co-operation leads to the revelation that Nixon and he discussed Watergate at least 35 times.
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