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The Ghosts of Watergate
If you’ve been watching the news at all today, you know that it is the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. Given my love of politics and presidential history, those of you who know me can probably guess that Watergate is of huge interest to me. One of the things that bother me now, is the way the public seems to be overly concerned with the identity of Deep Throat (the deep background source of Bob Woodward for his and Carl Bernstein’s stories). While I share the curiosity, and believe it is important for the context of the full story to know his identity, I think too often the true nature of the scandal gets lost in the ‘whodunit’ of this aspect.
What historians and the public should focus on in regards to Watergate, at this time, is the lingering effects the scandal had on government. So much came out of the investigation that still haunts government operations today. The immediate resignation of the president and the ascension of Gerald Ford had the initial effect of changing the course of policy, foreign and domestic. That one is obvious. Ford’s pardon of Nixon and the midterm elections of ’74 swept a huge freshman class into Congress bent on reform. The reforms these first-time Congressmen put into place still effects us today. The natural bounce back of conservative sympathy led to the Reagan years that changed the political temperature of the country to what is now a conservative leaning society.
This is merely the skin-deep version of Watergate’s effect. The deeper scars manifested themselves in the laws of special prosecution to fight the natural inclination to secrecy in the executive branch- forcing the presidency into a protective enclosure rather than a genuine openness. This conflict led to Iran-Contra and the several “Clinton-gates” that have plagued the government for the last two decades. Overall a feeling of suspicion and mistrust pervades today. All of government is branded with the scarlet letter. Government is like any institution- it has its evil participants bent of self-aggrandizement and enrichment. But it is also overwhelmingly made up of intelligent, hard-working, and decent people who have dedicated a piece of their lives to public service. This permanent smear is probably the final crime of Watergate.
Watergate is a vast puzzle. With so many players and so many intrigues, it can be studied for quite some time. For the best account of the actual scandal, nothing is more vital to understanding Watergate than Woodward and Bernstein’s “All the President’s Men”. I also recommend, though with some warnings, a book titled “Silent Coup” which seeks to uncover the secret designs behind the break-in, a conspiracy agenda to cover a covert White House operation “The Plumbers” and their various crimes on behalf of the Nixon Administration. The book is steeped in conspiracy and the reader must (as with all conspiracies) but into an initial supposition. Another fascinating book is by Nixon interviewer David Frost called (if memory serves) “The Nixon Interviews”. This book is essentially Frost’s diary of the infamous series of interviews Frost and Nixon conducted after his resignation. This was the first time Nixon had talked in length about Watergate and shows another side of the many faceted Nixon personality. Finally another Woodward book, “Shadow” is concerns itself with the legacy of Nixon and Watergate on the presidents who followed. Of course these few books are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to written material about Watergate. It is interesting to see some of the old faces still around, Watergate figures (G Gordon Liddy, Charles Colson, John Dean), Congressional investigative figures (minority counsel Fred Thompson now Senator from Tennessee, majority assistant counsel Hillary Rodham- I’m sure you’ve heard of her). These figures, and others, are part of the rich tapestry of political scandal…they show how much (or maybe how little) has changed.
last modified Jun 17, 2002 at 14:30
Ooh Ron, you are so hot when you talk about politics. Hee hee!
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