Sometimes the biggest stories are accidental. Such began one of the biggest stories in the history of Washington, D.C. It was the story of a bungled burglary, two reporters and a president.
In July of 1972, Bob Woodward, a freshman reporter for The Washington Post, was assigned to cover a burglary at the Watergate office complex. Five men were caught after breaking into the office of the Democratic National Committee, located at the Watergate.
It didn’t take long for Woodward to realize that this was no ordinary burglary. The suspects each had large amounts of cash, bills with consecutive serial numbers. One of the burglars was found with a piece of paper on which was written a telephone number for the White House.
Through research for the story, Woodward received a tip that confirmed a link between the burglars and the White House. As the story was becoming more complicated, Woodward was assigned a partner, Carl Bernstein, a seasoned reporter.
One of the most notorious figures in the Watergate story was an old administration official known only as Deep Throat. It would be this informant who would guide Woodward and Bernstein to an almost unbelievable truth.
Deep Throat would meet with Woodward in a dimly lit parking garage. The exchange of what each knew would be in small doses. The recurring advice given by Deep Throat was to follow the money. With deadlines, sketchy sources and an editor reluctant to print anything obtained from unnamed sources, the reporters pursued every lead and went through hundreds of documents.
Shortly after Richard Nixon was sworn in for his second term as President, the Senate appointed a special committee to investigate the Watergate scandal. With what was reported in The Washington Post and the discovery by the Senate committee of secret tapes, Nixon’s presidency began to unravel.
The diligent work of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein brought one of the biggest scandals in political history to a head. It only takes one word, Watergate, to describe the impeachment and downfall of President Richard Nixon. The scandal also involved the CIA, FBI and members of the president’s cabinet. The purpose of the break-in was to find anything damaging against the democratic presidential candidate running against Nixon and assure that the president would be re-elected.
Watergate did more than bring the president down. It also became a catch phrase for many scandals to follow, by dropping the “water” and adding a new word. There have been many scandal “gates” over the years since Watergate.
One might think that elected officials would take a page from the Nixon years. It might be wise for them to realize that as long as there are politicians, there will be journalists following every move they make, looking to become the next Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
