Watergate

Watergate, an apartment complex in Washington, D.C., was the site of a botched burglary of Democratic National Committee (DNC) offices on June 17, 1972, perpetrated by nonaligned covert operatives—known as the Plumbers—working for President Richard M. Nixon, who had originally won the presidency in 1968 with law and order as a major plank in his platform. The name of the apartment complex became synonymous with the journalism that doggedly pursued the president's cover-up of the break-in and with Nixon, the only president in U.S. history to resign.

[Page 825]Two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, investigated the burglary, in which the Plumbers were planting listening devices in the office of DNC chairman Lawrence F. O'Brien, and their gumshoe work kept the story alive. The New York Times, led by the reporting of Seymour Hersh, also probed the illegal activity. Eventually, in the spring of 1973, when the Senate began to investigate the incident, the news operations of the three major television networks and PBS made coverage of the congressional hearings must-see TV. The coverage made stars of Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina and Congressman Peter Rodino of New Jersey, chairs of the two committees investigating Watergate.

A year later, Rodino's House Judiciary Committee recommended three articles of impeachment against Nixon for abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and contempt of Congress. Then the full House voted 410–4 to begin impeachment hearings. Nixon, with flagging support from his core in the Republican Party, decided to resign on August 8, 1974, rather than face impeachment. The investigations into the matter led to more than 70 convictions, including members of Nixon's cabinet and White House staff.

Bernstein and Woodward, supported by their boss, Ben Bradlee, pursued the story of the burglary, originally reported by police reporter Alfred E. Lewis, and discovered a connection to the White House and the president's reelection committee. Early in the Post investigation, the reporters found that one of the burglars, James McCord, who said he had been in the CIA, was connected to E. Howard Hunt, a former CIA officer who was listed as being in the White House. The Post duo scrutinized public records and benefited from an anonymous source named “Deep Throat,” who turned out to be the assistant director of the FBI, W. Mark Felt, whom Woodward had met briefly while he was in the Navy. Felt told Woodward to follow the money and the story would unfold. Woodward found that a check for $25,000, a donation to the Committee to Re-elect the President, was in the bank account of one of the burglars.

The White House consistently told the country that Deep Throat's information was false or misleading, although there was speculation that the source was inside the inner circle. It must be noted that Felt had been in line to replace J. Edgar Hoover, but when the long-time FBI director died in May 1972, Nixon chose L. Patrick Gray as his successor.

Reporters for the Post's Metro section, Bernstein and Woodward were unfamiliar with how the upper echelons of the federal government functioned and had to learn as the story unfolded. They faced extreme resistance from the White House. However, damaging evidence came from Felt, other FBI agents, and eventually some of Nixon's aides.

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