By Richard J. McGowan. Watergate was more than the fall of Richard Nixon. Historians have had 30 years to dissect the diverse assortment of backgrounds, psyches and political nuances that were arrayed for the scandal to flow and ebb—from G. Gordon Liddy and the Cubans to Nixon and his acolytes and the various prosecutors.
They have explored the myriad conspiracy theories but never unearthed anything that altered the irrefutable fact that a paranoid president, surrounded by political amateurs drunk on power, attempted to trample the Constitution. Here’s one version of the events of Watergate from the chief investigator and chief-of-staff of then-Sen. Lowell P. Weicker.
On the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, the usual cast of characters made the rounds of talk shows to claim their 15 minutes of fame and pontificate about their role in the conspiracy. Over the years, the same talking heads, from Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post to former Nixonites like “born-again” Chuck Colson and the ever self-serving John Dean have been resurrected every Watergate anniversary. [Read the entire article as PDF…]
Taken from
The Barnes Review, March/April 2003: Watergate Revisited
VOLUME IX, NUMBER 2