TT #10 -- 13 Facts about the Watergate Scandal

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Watergate investigations dragged on for two years before President Nixon resigned. Numerous Executive Branch abuses of power (and crimes) were uncovered, causing enormous ripple effects. Congress and the public became more cautious about Executive Branch secrecy, and reporters became more focused on finding real dirt behind politicians' pristine images. Below is a simplified overview of the scandal.

1.  "Watergate" refers to a volcano of scandals that erupted after five men were arrested in June 1972 for breaking into the Democratic Party office (located at a Washington DC hotel/office complex called "The Watergate," see photo).

2. Investigations uncovered illegal acts involving high-level members of Nixon's Administration: e.g., break-ins, political espionage, wiretapping of journalists and citizens....

3.  President Nixon had a recording system that taped  many of his conversations. The "Watergate Tapes" contained damning evidence against the Administration.

4.  Archibald Cox, the first Watergate special prosecutor, tried to get the tapes. Nixon ordered two Justice Department officials to fire Cox; they resigned, instead. Eventually, Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox (aka, the "Saturday Night Massacre"). Later, President Reagan nominated Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Senate refused to confirm him.

5. A tape called the "Smoking Gun" evinced that Nixon, himself, had conspired to cover up the break-in.

6. Not wanting to give the Watergate Tapes to Congress, Nixon claimed Executive Privilege. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ordered Nixon to hand over the tapes anyway. 

7. Nixon handed over the tapes and resigned 10 days later (August 1974), to avoid a formal impeachment. He was the only U.S. president to resign.

8. Vice President Gerald Ford became president.  In  September 1974, he pardoned Nixon.

9. Among those operatives who went to prison over Watergate were: 

John Mitchell: Nixon's Attorney General and campaign director, who helped plan the break-in. He died in 1988.

John Dean: White House Counsel, who masterminded the cover-up. He was convicted of crimes but cooperated with prosecutors to reduce his sentence. He is now a political commentator, who supports impeachment of President Bush.

Bob Haldeman: White House Chief of Staff,who was involved in the cover-ups. He died in 1993.

John Ehrlichman: White House staffer who created "The Plumbers," a group that tried to plug embarrassing info leaks and to destroy Nixon's political enemies. He died in 1999.

E. Howard Hunt: worked for CIA, later for the White House. As one of Ehrlichman's "plumbers," Hunt co-engineered the break-in. He died in 2007.

G. Gordon Liddy: a former FBI agent who worked for the White House before moving to Nixon's campaign committee. Among other things, Liddy co-engineered the break-in. Now, Liddy has a talk-radio show and does guest spots on Fox.

10.  The "Pentagon Papers"  were secret government reports about the Vietnam war, which showed that the Johnson Administration had misled the public about the war. In 1971, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg gave the papers to the New York Times. The newly publicized deceptions fueled public opposition to the war.

11. CREEP (Committee to Re-elect the President) was a fund-raising group for Nixon, which used slush funds and laundered money. CREEP operatives broke into a Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office to find discrediting information.

12. All the President's Men is a book (and movie) describing Watergate, written by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who were among the journalists that helped expose the scandal.

13. Deep Throat was the code name of Woodward and Bernstein's secret source. His real name was W. Mark Felt: he was Associate Director of the FBI until 1971. In 1980, Felt was convicted of a felony for ordering FBI agents to illegally break into to Vietnam-war protesters' offices.  President Reagan pardoned Felt.  After decades of denying being Deep Throat, Felt revealed his identity in 2005.

Sources:

Jurist Legal Intelligence              Washington Post's Watergate Story

WatergateInfo.com                   Wikipedia

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Comments

[Tink]

Now that's something I know about. I even made a project in highschool about Watergate!
My TT shares 13 things to do or see in my hometown Velsen / IJmuiden in The Netherlands.

[Mark Caldwell]

As political scandals of the 20th Century go there are few as big and it has the added bonus of leading to one of the best West Wing openings when Oliver Babish has the tape recorder that won't stop recording...

[WorksForMom]

Once again, I learned something at your weekly T13 post. I still can't believe we finally learned about deep throat first in 2005!

[Nicholas]

Even after all that has been written, I was still unclear about who some of those people were. I remember when Nixon resigned. I was in Canada. The whole room cheered when the news was announced.

[Malcolm]

Since I was a little kid when Watergate happened, I don't remember all of the details. What I do remember is that I would always get mad when the networks would interrupt regularly scheduled programming to report on Watergate. Later on, I do recall learning about CREEP in a U.S. Politics and Government class.

[The Nononsense]

Like every week, soo educating!!!

[pussreboots]

Speaking of Watergate, I'm going to be reading All the President's Men soon. LOL. Happy TT.

[nap warden]

Surprisingly enough, I knew alot of that. Thanks public high school. I don't feel stoopid;) Great list as usual!

[Jenny McB]

So we are more suspicious of executive secrecy? A lot of good that has done for us lately.

[Lori]

Man...thats some great info. I feel very History illiterate...(man I hope I spelled that right!) lol...Happy TT.

[Ed]

great and educational TT as we have came to expect.

[Carolan Ivey]

I always enjoy your TTs. :) As I was reading this one I couldn't help but think the current administration sure has taken more than a few pages from Nixon's playbook...

[Maribeth]

Thank you very much for that. I was always aware of The Watergate Scandal (but by name only) you just gave me a history lesson in less than five minutes and much better than any teacher ever tried.

[Lara]

I remember living thru Watergate and Nixon's resignation when I was younger. And it scared the crap out of me -- to the point that I learned not trust politicians in the least. Bill Clinton was the first one I sort of started to trust again....and look how well that turned out!!
Great TT as always!

[Thomma Lyn]

That's an excellent summary of the Watergate Scandal! As always, thank you for a fascinating and educational TT!

Happy Thursday Thirteening, and thanks for visiting mine. :)

[Joy T.]

I LOVE coming over here for TT! Always so informative and interesting.

[Dallas Meow]

dang.
I knew nothing 'cept what I learned from the movie Dick.

[Damozel]

Nice going, my brilliant colleague; you have summed up a huge scandal that went on for years in a nutshell. I am so stumbling THIS.

[Xakara]

I can't be the only for whom this week's lesson rang with eerie current context familiarity. But that's all I'll say.

Thanks! This is always among my favorite stops. :)

~X

[Michelle B]

This is a very interesting piece of history (and one I don't think about often!) Thanks for sharing!

[mom not mum]

Great list - I find it funny that after watergate we have labeled many other scandals with "gate" at the end. My nephew did a report on Nixon for school a few years ago - we all learned a lot helping him.

[Robin from Israel]

You left off the most important thing - they preempted SESAME STREET (!!!) for the "men in suits" as I called it as a child (the hearings)! I've never gotten over it.

[Vickie]

So much we forget over the years thanks for the refresher course.

[Judy Callarman]

I had a three-year-old and a 9-month-old baby at the time of Watergate. I remembering that I often sat there listening to the broadcasts, amazed. I left a lot of housekeeping undone to keep up with it.

It's a good thing John Dean decided to tell everything--Nixon really damaged the American trust in the Presidency, for all time, I guess.

[Hootin' Anni]

Oh........man, this makes one so upset! I do detest the 'executive privilege'....with any president!!! That sucks.

*breathe deep Anni*---"It'll be okay, soon.

[Elle Fredrix]

Thanks for the detail. I was too young to care about any of this when it happened (and Canadian besides) but it's interesting to get all the facts.

[Sparky Duck]

Great list, all the Presidents Men was one of the first sparks of politics that i can remember. Do you thinks its interesting the John Dean has become such a go to guy for political shows now?

[Sue]

Interesting list! Happy TT and thanks so much for dropping by!

[Gattina]

I have to say that when it happened I was pregnant and had other things in mind then Watergate of course. Afterwards I heard and read a lot about it, but the only thing which I really kept in mind was that everybody said Nixon was a very good president IF .....

[busy]

I was young, but I remember this stuff.

[Joanne]

Why couldn't it have been this straight forward when I learned about it in history class? Happy 13! Thanks for visiting.

[J. Lynne]

If you know anything about the Watergate scandal, I recommend the comedy "Dick," which presents a light-hearted look at the scandal from a different point of view, showing that sometimes it's important not to piss off the wrong people or in Nixon's case, his teenage dog-walkers, who accidentally become "Deep Throat" in this fictional alternative history.

Happy TT!

[J. Lynne]

Oh, and an interesting piece of trivia, former President George Bush was actually the man in the Republican Party who advised Nixon that it was time to resign.

[The Gal Herself]

Monica Lewinsky stayed at the Watergate. Chandra Levy used jog near there. It's amazing what a scandal-magnet that building became!

Thanks for walking us through the scandal. We need to be reminded what happens when we sacrifice our right to know for Executive Privilege.

[Joshua]

Wow! Amazing info. I never knew that. Another learning for me. Thanks! Happy TT!

[erin]

I didn't know half of that information, sadly enough. I have seen the movie All the President's Men, though. Good list. Mine is just random facts about me. Happy TT!

[Chris]

I always enjoy reading your thirteens because much like mine brings back memories or little known facts about sports, yours does the same for me with politics and the like. I will have to stumble this one today. Thanks for all the good stuff. :)

[Cindy Swanson]

As always, a very informative and educational TT! I was in high school when this happened, and frankly, I wasn't paying too much attention. :(

[Yuriko]

Happy TT! Thanks for sharing!

[Joely]

Wow, I didn't realize Deep Throat had come forward. Very cool list as usual. Happy TT!

[Frigga]

Watergate eh? That was well before my time and from everything I've ever heard, it sounds like the full truth has never and will never be told.

In any case - I wholeheartedly disagree with your comment on my TT13 - I'm disappointed in your rush to judgement. However, if you want to retain that opinion go for it, but you're missing out on some good stuff!

[L-Squared]

I love that your TTs are so interesting and educational. I'm always learning something new!

[Amy Ruttan]

Very cool. I knew only a little about Watergate. Interesting how the secret keeper was called Deep Throat, ummm isn't that a porn movie? Interesting, goes to prove what might go through some politician's heads (no pun intended).

[Amy Ruttan]

Very cool. I knew only a little about Watergate. Interesting how the secret keeper was called Deep Throat, ummm isn't that a porn movie? Interesting, goes to prove what might go through some politician's heads (no pun intended).

[Jennifer]

I"m another one who really doesn't know all those facts about Watergate.
Thanks for dropping by my site earlier!

[David]

Lived through it. Thx for the stroll down a dark alley off memory lane...

[Vixen]

If I ever missed one of your TTs I would be missing out on such fun, fascinating information. When I was a freshman in college (1981) G. Gordon Liddy was one of our convocations. Really surprised me what an amazing speaker he was. Of course, I was very young and impressionable.

[Alasandra]

Thanks for visiting my TT, and thank you for listing all the interesting facts about Watergate. The only one I knew was Deep Throat.

[TeaMouse]

Being Canadian, I don't know much about Watergate but this was interesting.

[Southern Girl]

That was fascinating! About the only thing I really remember from that time was President Nixon announcing his resignation, leaving the White House and Ford taking the oath of office. But then I was only five or six. ;)

My TT is up, too:
http://southern-born-and-bred.blogspot.com

[Nicole Austin]

Another great TT and informative post. Its amazing Felt was able to remain silent until 2005.

[Ann Aguirre]

Lots of interesting facts there! I'm glad Mr. Liddy has profited and got a talk show out of Watergate. Hehe.

[Julie]

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and for such an educational TT!

[Natalie]

Great TT!

[Deb - Mom of 3 Girls]

I'd never known that much about Watergate - it's very interesting to learn more about what happened and who was involved. Thanks! :)

[tommiea]

I was too young to remember any of this....or at least the nitty gritty details. Goes to say, you learn something new everyday.

Thanks for visiting my TT.

[RittyRats]

This list should also have included Chuck Colson, who was special counsel to Nixon, and one of the Watergate Seven. He served his time in prison, then later created Prison Fellowship.
Yep, this definitely is a walk down the murky dark waters of US politics, of which the nation has never recovered. Today I believe the American public should be impeached simply because of their apathy. What a sorry, lazy lot we have become! Who said those who don't know their history are condemned to repeat it? Hang on for the ride!
Just returning a visit to my site; hope you have a great weekend!

[Mallory]

Robin, I soooo remember that! I was a little kid watching my Sesame Street or some show and that boring Watergate show that mom liked would come on. I hated that show! lol

Thanks for catching me up on what really happened...well explained.

[samulli]

See, and again I learned something new. I knew virtually nothing about the Watergate scandal - except the name and the fact that Nixon had to resign because of it.
Deep Throat I connect only with X-Files. But I like this CREEP committee. Never was one more appropriately named... :o)

[Christina]

Wow! Now that is an impressive T13!

[Stien and Andi]

Very interesting list! Hehehe, great name for that CREEP group... Sounds just like something I would choose ;-)
Happy TT to you!

[Choosing Voluntary Simplicity]

I have enjoyed reading this very interesting and informative post. Thanks for visiting my site.

[nikki]

very informative. as someone who was born after that scandal, i read your tt with hungry eyes. thanks for clearing it up!

[coaldancer]

Ah, the memories. Nice job summarizing such a complicated piece of history.

[Open Grove Claudia]

I went to graduate school with a guy who was in prison with these guys. He said that Haldeman was an amazing poker player. He was funny, interesting, and never bitter for the way things turned out. Just a great guy - that's what he said.

Of course, he was my 4th grade Presidential person to follow. We stopped that project mid-year when all the shit hit the fan.

Great TT! :)

On a Limb - www.on-a-limb.com

[Kara]

Thanks for clearing this up - I lived through it as a young girl. Found a lot of information here that I hadn't know. Great TT.

[Amy]

I learned stuff from this TT!! =)

[Michelle at Scribbit]

I just remember it being one of the ugliest buildings in all of D.C.

[el-e-e]

Hey, thanks for visiting my TT!

[Janet]

So we can blame Nixon for the creation of the media frenzy! And hmmm...maybe John Dean knows what he's saying, having been through it once already...

Where they SERIOUS? CREEP? Idiots!

Thanks for visiting me; sorry I'm visiting so late!

[nononsense girl]

I'm glad I liked you to my blog. You guys are always interesting!!!! Happy TT!

Mine is up @ http://thenononsense.blogspot.com/2007/09/13-things-that-went-wrong-this-week.html

[Joy T.]

I 'thought' I knew a lot about Watergate. Turns out I didn't. Always nice coming here for TT!