Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth’
Those lyrics from ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd in response to Neil Young’s Southern Man. Ahhh…the battle of the bands!
Watergate broke in 1972 during Richard Nixon’s second term as president. The break in occurred at the Democratic National Headquarters offices in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. It was and is an example of dirty politics: an attempt to get information of the election campaign plans of the Democratic party through any means possible…even if illegal.
Watergate captured our attention. I was 14 years old at the time and it was a topic of discussion in at least one class at high school.
And it was impossible to escape news coverage.
I wind you back to the media landscape in 1972:
- 3 US TV networks dominated the market
- Nightly newscasts at 6 pm were ‘must see TV’...Walter Cronkite anyone?
- 2 networks in Canada
- 2 daily newspapers, the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail
- Local radio
Watergate dominated the news in all media, especially TV. It ushered in new phrases including ‘Deep Throat’ a particularly memorable one in reference to the source that gave the reporters much inside information.
‘Tricky Dick’ was another that was applied to President Richard Nixon…and it stuck for the rest of his life.
Along with probably his most memorable utterance, ‘I am not a crook’.
After the fact, the movie ‘All the President’s Men’ told the incredible story of the lies, duplicity and tactics that the President and ‘all his men’ told to defend themselves.
Watergate was also a two part story. The first was the break in itself which was illegal.
The second part and the more interesting one was the ‘Coverup’ that escalated right up to the President himself in the process swallowing up everybody in the executive branch of his Presidency.
A sidebar: Richard Nixon was a Republican. I can’t help but note with much interest that US politics since 2016 have taken place at the hands of Republicans. But I digress…
But the story that caught my interest concerned one of the Watergate conspirators, John Dean, chief counsel for President Nixon from 1970 until he was fired by in April 1973.
He was involved in early strategy sessions discussing plans to bug the Democratic headquarters and later to photograph documents.
After the break in occurred and the coverup was in full swing, he was intimately involved in advising the President and team on defensive strategies.
But he smelled a rat! And he was right. He was being set up as a scapegoat for the entire affair and despite his deep involvement, decided to look after himself.
‘United we stand, divided we fall’!
He decided to cooperate with the Senate Watergate Committee who were investigating the Watergate scandal. He made a deal that resulted in him being found guilty at his criminal trial but with reduced jail time. His testimony and subsequent trial was covered by all the news outlets, in particular TV. They enjoyed massive ratings and we enjoyed front row seats to the biggest political drama we had seen.
Dean’s testimony was crucial in linking Richard Nixon to Watergate. He resigned in disgrace and was forever tainted. He never got redemption.
Dean on the other hand rose from the ashes and built a new life first as an investment banker (and why not), an author and lecturer.
And that’s what we like isn’t it. Redemption comes to the person who is contrite, takes responsibility for their actions and pays the price. That strategy wipes the slate clean…you get to move on with your life.
But Watergate was just the beginning…
Watergate exposed the darker, corrosive nature of politics. Today with social media, politics has become a dismal game that preys on our basest fears.
James Taylor captured the zeitgeist in this song about Nixon and Watergate:
I just now got the news; He seems to tell us lies
And still we will believe him; Then together he will lead us
Into darkness, my friends
Until next time…