Good morning. Its Tuesday, June 17, 2014, 42 years to the day that five men, one of whom told police he once worked for the CIA, were arrested for burglary at a Washington hotel complex known simply as the Watergate. The target of the attempted break-in was the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the five suspects were caught not just with burglary tools, but sophisticated electronic espionage equipment as well -- and three tiny tear-gas guns. Four of the men were Cuban exiles or Cuban-Americans. The fifth, John W. McCord Jr., was indeed a former CIA agent. Curiously, the men identified themselves as anti-communist. This description suggested that the crime was not, as a White House official said dismissively two days later, a third-rate burglary. In the ensuing two years it would make household names of numerous members of Congress, White House aides and presidential campaign election officials, a steadfast federal judge, and two young Washington Post reporters. In the era of instantaneous Internet searches, every quiz is an open-book test. But without consulting Ma Google or Yahoo, see how many of the following 10 Watergate scandal-related questions you can answer: (1) The name of the security guard who noticed tape on the latches of the DNC offices at the Watergate and called the cops? (2) Who had the first Washington Post byline on the story? (3) Which Nixon administration official used the third-rate burglary line? (4) What was the courthouse nickname of U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica, whose hard stance toward the five original defendants helped break open the case? (5) The names of the attorney general and deputy attorney general who resigned rather than follow White House instructions to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox? (6) The Justice Department official (and future Supreme Court nominee) who did fire Cox? (7) What future presidential candidate worked as a lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee pursuing impeachment proceedings against Nixon? (8) Who disclosed to congressional investigators that President Nixon had a taping system in the White House? (9) Which Watergate figure inspired Peter Graves character in the television series Mission Impossible? (10) Who told Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money? Answers: (1) The sharp-eyed security guard was named Frank Wills. (2) Post police reporter Alfred E. Lewis, whose piece ran on June 18, 1972. (The first piece by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein ran the following day.) (3) White House press secretary Ron Ziegler, who added that Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it is. (4) Maximum John. (5) Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus. (6) Robert Bork. (7) Hillary Rodham Clinton. (8) Alexander Butterfield. (9) E. Howard Hunt. (10) Supposedly, this was said by Woodwards secret source, Deep Throat, who turned out to be FBI official Mark Felt. The phrase is not in All the Presidents Men, the book by Woodward and Bernstein, however. But it is in the movie of the same name, so years later NPR tried to track down the source of the quote. Bob Woodward and William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay, credited each other. Carl M. Cannon Washington Bureau Chief RealClearPolitics
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 15:18:56 +0000
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