The Democratic National Committee headquarters the day
after the break-in
June 17, 1972
Not Just Any Burglary
By John F. Stacks
It was
actually the burglars' second break-in at the Democratic National
Committee's headquarters in the Watergate office-apartment-hotel
complex. The first time they bugged the phone, but on this night they
were trying to fix the inoperative listening device. Sent by President
Nixon's re-election committee, they set off a cascade of stupidity by
taping open the lock on an office door, wrapping the tape in such a way
as to be visible to building guard Frank Wills. The first time he saw
the gray tape, he peeled it off and threw it away. When he noticed that
someone had replaced it, he called the cops. The political espionage was
utterly unnecessary. Richard Nixon was going to win in a landslide
anyway. Rather than fire all those responsible for the break-in, Nixon
instead paid the five arrested burglars hush money from an illegal White
House slush fund; urged the CIA to close down the FBI investigation;
told his subordinates to lie to investigators; discussed a variety of
illegal cover-up plans in the Oval Office, knowing a tape recorder was
already in operation there; fired the special prosecutor for the case
who had been hired by his Justice Department; defied court orders to
turn over the tapes; and then, faced with certain impeachment by
Congress, announced his resignation on Aug. 8, 1974, the only American
President ever to quit the job. The scandal poisoned national politics
and undermined public trust in government for decades.
TIME Cover
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