June 17th, 2022
My Dear America:
It doesn't seem like 50 Years have gone by since the break in at the D.C. Watergate Complex but the calendar doesn't lie, although I wish it would sometimes.
Although I was more than halfway through writing about the start of the July 6th Hearings I could not ignore the significance of todays date, June 17th.
It was 50 years ago today on June 17th of 1972 when 5 men were arrested in the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, Office and Apartment Complex in Washington, D.C..
Luckily for Bob Woodward, a reporter for the Washington Post, he was given the assignment of going to check on the court appearance for the burglars who were arrested at the Watergate Complex. While at the court appearance Woodward found out that one of the burglars, James McCord, had worked at the CIA and was now working with (CREEP) The Committee To Re Elect The President (Nixon)
What the hell was this guy and four Cubans, who he would find out later were also CIA, doing in Democratic Headquarters.
Well, Unlucky for Richard Nixon and Company, Bob Woodward and his Reporting Partner, Carl Bernstein, were now on the job of uncovering what was at that period of time the most incredible political scandal that anyone could conceive of, never mind remember.
Woodward and Bernstein were guests on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week celebrating their their Seminal book on Watergate, "All The Presidents Men" 50th Anniversary Edition.
Speaking of celebrating books on Watergate my first Published book was "Letters To A Lost Nation: A Watergate Chronicle". Like "All The President's Men" my book is also available in Paperback and E Book Format on Amazon.com. It is also available in several E Book Formats on Smashwords.com.
Quite Frankly anyone who is not familiar with Watergate may find tons of books available on Amazon on the subject. Almost every one of the President's men who went to jail wrote a book about Watergate. Judges and Prosecutors also wrote books on the subject.
Many of those individuals who were locked up as a result of the Watergate Scandal ended up doing OK later on in their lives. I have already written about G. Gordon Liddy in a Previous Blog Post and Podcast. Liddy has passed on but not without an odd but interesting and successful career as an Actor and Radio Host, among other things.
John Dean, the Young White House Counsel who Richard Nixon and his advisors, John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman clearly tried to set up as the Watergate Patsy turned the tables on Nixon, Ehrlichman and Haldeman and testified truthfully to the Senate Select Watergate Committee and to Federal Prosecutions of others involved in the scandal. Although Dean still went to jail his sentence was much briefer than it would have been had he not cooperated with the Justice Department's prosecutions of many of the President's men.
As I have said before The CNN Series on Watergate featuring John Dean as the Narrator and Producer is excellent. The Paramount Plus Series "Gaslit" also gives an interesting perspective on Watergate through the Nixon connected couple, John Mitchell and his Wife, Martha Mitchell. John Mitchell was a Law Partner of Richard Nixon, who became United States Attorney General and the 1972 Campaign Manager of the Committee To Re Elect The President. Mitchell went to jail while Richard Nixon went to his home in California after his resignation. Martha Mitchell was known to cooperate with journalists including Woodward and Bernstein and apparently revealed to those Journalists quite a lot about what she knew about Watergate.
The History Channel is also featuring their 6 part Watergate Series today starting at 6:00 PM. One more perspective on Watergate has been featured prominently on the excellent Showtime Series, "The First Lady".
As we watch the shocking revelations regarding Donald Trump during the January Sixth Committee Hearings Richard Nixon seems to be a bit more palatable in comparison.
Neither of these two bastards should have ever seen the inside of the White House, never mind been elected. But they were elected and as Republicans seem to be hell bent on altering the political playing field all over the country it is time to remember the lessons of both Watergate and Treasongate.
Nixon is gone. He will never be back in the White House again.
Trump is still around and he is poisoning the political system and getting ready to re enter the White House again in 2024.
It is time to learn the lessons from the January Sixth Committee Hearings, as well as the Senate Watergate Hearings and keep the Monster From Mara Lago from rising again.
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
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