Happy 50th Anniversary, Watergate!

On this date in 1972, I was a kid waiting at home for news about the delivery of my baby sister, who was born on this date.

Meanwhile, about 11 hours earlier on that very same day, five “burglars” were arrested after breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building.

The anniversary wasn’t initially on my radar until I stumbled across a fascinating and entertaining four-part CNN documentary, called Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal. It include fresh interviews with many of the players, including actual co-conspirators, investigators, prosecutors and journalists. This includes former Counsel to the President John Dean, former Deputy Chief of Staff Alexander Butterfield (who revealed during the hearings the existence of the audiotapes from the Oval Office), Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and television reporter Leslie Stahl, in one of her earliest assignments (she was in the courtroom that day along with Bob Woodward when the burglars first appeared in court). Also interviewed is Barry Goldwater, Jr., who was a college roommate of Dean’s and whose father, Senator Barry Goldwater, was a friend and resource for Dean at the height of the scandal—according to Dean, the elder Goldwater advised him, “Nail the son of a bitch!”)

I actually already know the Watergate story rather well. Nevertheless, the series parses out the chronology and details that led to the downfall of President Nixon and his enablers, much of it from the perspective of Dean, who of course played a pivotal insider role from both ends of the spectrum—brought in early on in the effort to cover up the break in and protect the White House, Dean soon realized he was being set up to be the fall guy. This realization, along with his ethics—and recognizing that he did not have the stomach to keep such secrets for the remainder of his life—he began cooperating with the Senate Watergate Committee as well as the Justice Department.

The documentary also makes connections to other incidents of presidential misconduct through today, including Reagan, Bush (George W.), Clinton, and You Know Who (in fact, Michael Cohen is included among the talking heads of commentators and historians who offer their perspective).

Among the most interesting observations made near the end by one or two of the commentators relates to President Ford’s pardon of Nixon. While the pardon angered and disappointed many at the time—and likely played a role in Ford’s subsequent election loss—it’s generally been accepted over time as a judicious act that allowed the country to move forward rather than get mired in additional years of scandal that might only further erode faith in government. Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein is among those who admits that while he was shocked by Ford’s action at the time, he came to see the wisdom of it. But given what’s happening today, some observers in the documentary now wonder whether it was so prudent, noting that as a result of not going through the process of prosecuting Nixon, we are experiencing difficulty in navigating and dealing with the misconduct being investigated today. Granted, they also acknowledge that it was believed such brazen misconduct would never happen again.

Of course, after I finished the series, I ended up watching All the President’s Men for the umpteenth time—and was delighted when some of the lines from one of the principals mentioned in the documentary turned up in the film.

(By the way, my sister isn’t on Facebook, so I have privately sent her my happy birthday wishes to her!)

Bonus Anecdote: By the way, perhaps one of the funniest yet most shocking details revealed in the documentary was John Dean recounting that, as the Watergate scandal worsened, G. Gordon Liddy, head of the White House Plumbers unit who ordered the break in and clearly was psychotic, told Dean, “I know what you have to do, just don’t do it at my house because I have kids at home.”

Taken aback, Dean assured Liddy that no such action would be necessary lol.

The Washington Post also looked at the making of All the President's Men here.