Watergate

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Watergate

• The history of Watergate and how two journalists
  brought down a presidency

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History

• In June of 1972, five men were arrested in a
  burglary at the Watergate Apartments in
  Washington, D.C.

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June 17, 1972

• During the early morning hours, a security guard
  notices that an office is being burglarized in
  the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C.
• He calls police. Five men are arrested, including
  a former CIA agent. All five men are wearing
  suits, ties and rubber gloves.

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A burglaryso what?

• What was unusual was that this burglary was at
  the Democratic National Headquarters.

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Heres what made it strange

• It was right before President Richard Nixon,
  a Republican, ran for re-election.

• The men were only after file folders. All of the
  men had large amounts of cash in their pockets,
  supposedly as payment for the burglary.

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The Reporters

• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were two young
  reporters at The Washington Post who investigated
  the story behind the burglary.

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Bob Woodward

• A reporter at the Washington Post. He was known
  for making a hundred phone calls each day and
  working on stories for hours and hours.

• Woodward graduated from Yale University and
  started out reporting for a local Maryland
  newspaper.

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Bob Woodward

• He called the editor of The Washington Post every
  week until he was hired as a reporter. On his
  first day of work, Woodward made over 100 phone
  calls, just looking for a story.
• He was an average writer, but better at getting
  information.

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Carl Bernstein

• A reporter at the Washington Post for ten years
  when the story broke. He was messy, a chain-
  smoker and very pushy and obnoxious doing
  whatever needed to get information for a story.
• He was a better writer than he was at getting
  information.

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When the Watergate burglary happened, The
Washington Post ran the story on Page One.The
New York Times ran it on Page 28.No one took
the story seriously except the Post.
Initial Coverage
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The day after the break in, Woodward had worked
on the story from nine in the morning until eight
at night. Woodward wrote a small story about a
former CIA agent being arrested in connection
with the burglary.
Initial Coverage
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Listening to Answers

• As part of the story, he called the U.S. Attorney
  General to ask him if he knew anything about the
  burglary.
• He was told, The burglars were not operating for
  us or with our consent.
• Woodward hadnt even asked that question.

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Amount of Research

• Because Woodward was suspicious that the burglary
  was really a cover-up for something else, he
  began investigating the story.
• Woodward realized that he needed someone to do
  the writing while he did the calling.

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Woodward found out that Bernstein was also
interested in finding out what had happened. He
ended up asking Bernstein to help him work on the
story.
Amount of Research
He and Bernstein asked their editors if they
could work only on this one story.
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Sept. 15, 1972

• The five Watergate burglars, plus two members of
  the White House staff, are found guilty of
  planning and taking part in the break-in.
• In addition to taking files, the men had tried to
  bug the Democratic National Headquarters.
• Since two of the men had direct ties to the White
  House, Woodward and Bernstein tried to find out
  more.

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Over the next few months

• Woodward and Bernstein were able to prove that
  not only was the White House staff involved in
  the Watergate break-in, but other things as well.
• The U.S. Attorney General, John Mitchell,
  controlled a secret fund for President Nixon to
  provide money for the break-in and other shady
  activities.
• Some people who worked
• for Nixon had been
• threatened with their lives.

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The After-Math

• Woodward and Bernstein worked for months to
  uncover the entire story of Watergate.
• The publication of their stories caused the U.S.
  Senate to investigate President Richard Nixon.
• Nixon chose to resign as president once the truth
  came out.
• Most people in the U.S. said they didnt trust
  the president, let alone the government.

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So What???

• It wasnt the break-in that was so
• bad. It was the cover-up of the
• break-in.
• President Nixon went to great lengths to make
  sure he was not connected to the break-in, when
  he had actually ordered it.
• This called into question the integrity and
  honesty of the president himself.

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Where did they get the information?

• Woodward and Bernstein had many sources, some
  unnamed, but their most famous source was called
  Deep Throat.
• This was a secret source that had inside
  information about the president and the Watergate
  break-in.
• They never revealed the mans name.

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His identity was one of the longest running
journalism secrets.
Deep Throat
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One of the biggest secrets in journalism history

• Only three people knew Deep Throats identity
  Woodward, Bernstein and their editor, Ben Bradlee.

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When will we know who Deep Throat is?

• Many people guessed who Deep Throat was, but
  Woodward and Bernstein said they wouldnt reveal
  the mans name until after Deep Throat dies.
• He hasnt died.

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Mark Felt

• FBIs number 2 man
• Served as the deputy director of the FBI
• 30 year career

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Mark Felt is Deep Throat

• Deep Throats identity became known on May 31,
  2005 when he stepped forward and identified
  himself.
• He identified himself. The reporters only
  confirmed it once Felt made the announcement

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The Pulitzer Prize in 1975

• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, along with the
  Washington Post, received a Pulitzer Prize for
  reporting the Watergate scandal.
• The Pulitzer Prize is the highest award given
  yearly in American journalism.

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The work of two journalists resulted in changing
the history of the United States.
The Power of the Press
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