Break-In at the Watergate
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Journalism During the Watergate Scandal By Olivia Hess Break-in at the Watergate Aspects That Led The Burglars To The Five men were arrested on June 17, The Plumbers 1972 afer being caught breaking into Washington Post the Democratic National Committee The plumbers were originally a covert Headquarters at the Watergate ofice Investigation: White House Special Investigations complex. These five men, pictured be- Unit, hired by Richard Nixon, to pre- low, were charged with attempted bur- vent the leaking of classified informa- glary and attempted interception of The Break-In tion to the media. However, this group telephone and other modes of commu- turned to doing illegal activities when nication (1). The burglars were hired by During Richard Nixon's second term a it began working with the Committee the plumbers to carry out the break-in, break-in occurred at Democratic Na- to Re-elect the President (CRP). The which was arranged by CRP. The break- tional Committee headquarters at the group was headed by John Erlichman; in was discussed under a project called 1. Watergate.info, "Watergate Bur- Watergate ofice complex in Washing- Others members included G. Gordon Operation Gemstone, a operation that glars," http://watergate.info/bur- ton D.C.. News quickly spread and five Liddy, who was recruited by White referred to a series of illegal acts initial- glary/burglars (April 2, 2016) burglars were found guilty of the break- House Counsel John Dean to perform ly suggested by G. Gordon Liddy, fea- in. Commotion in the Washington Post intelligence gathering for the CRP, E. tured above the picture of the burglars 2. Washington and Lee Yearbook ofice drew the attention of two Wash- Howard Hunt, Egil Krogh, David Young, (2). The funding for these clandestine (Lexington, VA: Washington and Lee ington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and CIA liason John Paisley. Once the acts was obtained by laundering mon- University, 1981), 99. and Carl Bernstein. Through the most unit branched out by doing work with ey through Mexico. intense investigative reporting ever CRP, their work became to harass seen at the time, these two reporters Nixon's opponents. They did this successfully connected the Nixon ad- through various measures, such as ministration to the burglary. Further in- wiretaps, burglaries and intercepted vestigation of the administration and mail. those closely connected to it led to the discovery of multiple abuses of politi- cal power by the Nixon administration. The investigative journalism during the Watergate scandal has contributed greatly to the way in which journalists in the 21st Century go about inspecting stories. G. Gordon Liddy, far lef, the General Counsel to the Finance Committee of CRP (2). The Watergate Burglars (1). 2 Watergate Research Project Newspaper Te Investigation During the first couple months of investigative reporting, Woodward and Bernstein were Failures of FBI strongly questioned and doubted by other newspapers. Despite During the Watergate trial of G. Gordon these doubts, the duo continued Liddy and James McCord, Washington to explore the watergate scandal. Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward began looking over the ex- hibits and papers filed as evidence with The Source the court. Woodward called the phone numbers listed in the address books of On June 19, 1972, Washington Post the burglars. One of the first people he journalists Bob Woodward and Carl called said, "The FBI? They never, nev- Bernstein received information from a er contacted me. I never talked to government oficial who was given the them." Woodward was appalled that nickname "Deep Throat". During a the FBI had made such a fundamental phone call with Woodward and Bern- investigative failure of not calling every stein, Deep Throat told the journalists single person listed in the books. that former Nixon staf member and Woodward and Bernstein wrote a long former CIA agent Howard Hunt was un- analysis of the trial, titled "Still Secret: doubtedly involved in the scandal. This Who Hired Spies and Why," observing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (4). bit of information gave the two journal- that the Liddy and McCord trial is no- ists enough leverage to call an investi- table for "questions that were not gation of all of the White House's activ- asked, answers that were not given, ities, which significantly sped up a trial witnesses who were not called to testi- Intercepted Letter that would have otherwise been an ex- fy, and some lapses of memory by ceptionally slow and lengthy one. Deep those who were" (6). At the bond hear- During their investigation, Woodward Throat, later revealed as W. Mark Felt, ing for Liddy and McCord afer the trial, and Bernstein intercepted a letter writ- is the most famous anonymous source Judge John Sirica stated he hoped the ten by James McCord, one of the bur- in American history. Felt was the num- proposed Senate investigation would glars, to Judge John Sirica. In the letter ber two oficial at the F.B.I who helped find out what the trials did not. McCord stated, "there was political Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein pressure applied to the defendants to bring down Richard M. Nixon. To main- plead guilty and remain silent" (7). tain the secrecy of their source, Wood- Throughout the letter McCord wrote ward would ofen take numerous taxis that he preferred to speak with the and walk long distances to meet with Judge himself and not anyone in the Felt in the middle of the night. Their government, whose decisions would book All the President's Men confirms have been afected by President Nixon that Felt mainly afirmed information (8). The discovery of this letter allowed 3. Carl Bernstein, and Bob Woodward. Woodward and Bernstein received the court system to successfully find G. All the President's Men (New York, NY: from other sources (3). Gordon Liddy guilty on accounts of Simon & Schuster, 1974), 132. conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping Democratic headquarters. 4. Columbia Journalism Review, ed., "The Moments," Columbia Journalism Review, http://www.cjr.org/feature/ the_moments.php. (March 22, 2016). 5. Tim Weiner, "W. Mark Felt, Watergate Deep Throat, Dies at 95," The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/12/19/washington/19felt.html? _r=0. (May 3, 2016). 6. Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein, "Still Secret - Who Hired Spies and Why," The Washington Post, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ still-secret---who-hired-spies-and-why/ 2015/09/21/24102d0a-6075-11e5-9757- e49273f05f65_story.html (May 4, 2016). 7. Watergate.info, "James McCord's Letter to Judge John Sirica," http://wa- tergate.info/1973/03/19/mccord-letter- to-judge-sirica.html (January 24, 2016). W. Mark Felt with his wife, Audrey, on NBC's "Today" show in Washington in 1978. (5) 8. Ibid. Watergate Research Project Newspaper 3 Bob Woodward's notes from one of the many early morning parking garage meetings with Deep Throat (9). 9. Harry Ransom Center, "Mark Felt Notes," http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/ex- hibitions/web/woodstein/deepthroat/ felt_notes1.html (May 4, 2016). 4 Watergate Research Project Newspaper Media According to an article written by Leonard Downie, the "dogged inves- Reporters vs. Nixon tigative reporting by Woodward and Bernstein and their colleagues even- Many news reporters were not very tually helped probe other news me- fond of Richard Nixon. If the media had dia, federal investigators and liked him, he could have benefited Congress to act, leading to more rev- from the media's ability to prevent cer- elations, criminal prosecutions, Sen- tain stories from being written. Mem- ate hearings and ultimately Congres- bers of the press, both fueling Nixon's sional impeachment hearings" (9). early career and destroying him later, abandoned standards of objectivity. In the end, this relationship fueled disas- ter by pushing the country towards the The Post Stories events that occurred during the Water- gate Scandal. For months following the break-in, Woodward and Bernstein wrote front Former President Nixon had a way of page stories that revealed connections dealing with reporters that was difer- between the burglary and CRP. ent than any other President before him. While intimidating journalists and Their first story, the Dahlberg story, avoiding White House reporters, are was released on August 1, 1972. This now common presidential practices, story included the detailed discovery of they were originally Nixonian tactics. a $25,000 cashier's check from Kenneth The resignation of Richard Nixon is Dahlberg, Nixon's Midwest campaign seen as a victory for the media; Re- finance chairman, that had been de- porters successfully destroyed the life posited into the bank account of one of of a man that made their career's espe- the Watergate burglars (10). The re- cially dificult . Investigations done by lease of this article sparked three in- Woodward and Bernstein helped ex- vestigations. Without Woodward and pose the President's criminal activities Bernstein's investigative skills the cov- which resulted in his eventual er-up of the Dahlberg story could have downfall. succeeded. In an interview with David Frost in May The most important story was released 1977, President Nixon admitted "I A snippet of the famous Dahlberg Story by Woodward and Bernstein (12). on October 10, 1972. This story, the brought myself down" (15). Acknowl- Segretti story, disclosed that the bur- edging that he made a mistake and glary at the Watergate hotel was part of was, therefore, removed from ofice by a political spying program run by the journalists who jumped at the oppor- White House (13). In their book All The tunity to take down a man they saw as President's Men, Woodward and Bern- a sneak. stein wrote, "Watergate could have been scheduled before the president's re-election chances looked so good and perhaps someone had neglected to pull the plug" (14).