The Mysteries of Watergate

Prior episodes have shown that the Nixon Presidency, churlishly cynical though it may have been, was the victim of deceitful journalism by the Washington Post which cast it far more villainously than deserved. Was the harm of this journalism limited to this particular epoch? Unfortunately, no. This episode will show but a few examples of how this greatly ballyhooed style of “investigative” journalism caused far more harm than partisan electoral advantage. In its effort to prosecute a target, ...

G. Gordon Liddy, a lawyer, former FBI agent and chief operative in the White House Plumbers unit at the time, was a central focus for Watergate activity, even though he is correctly, and admittedly, seen as a dupe. But he was an honest man, incapable of insincerity, such that his 1980 memoir, Will, is know to be the most candid and honest of the Watergate confessionals. Liddy, stoutly refusing to seem a “rat,” said nothing about the scandal until this book, and therefore it was no...

As of late March 1973, it looked like all the pieces were falling in place for the CIA to avoid exposure of its role in the Watergate scandal and to hide the salacious information actually targeted. If Watergate continued to be viewed as a campaign fiasco, John Dean’s and Jeb Magruder’s testimony against their superiors in the White House would be increasingly valuable. But there loomed, as Watergate burglar James McCord was unleashing to Judge Sirica about the White House, ...

If the Washington Post was not intentionally covering up the “CIA defense” which we discussed in the last episode, it would blare a headline about it when it was later documented that Howard Hunt, the Watergate burglary supervisor, had earlier been planning it, correct? And if the prosecution believed that the CIA defense was truly “spurious,” why did the prosecutors work so hard to rebut it? Did the prosecution agree that Hunt’s motives sprang from his Mullen and Company employme...

History has paid little attention to Alfred Baldwin, the Watergate wiretap monitor, and his knowledge. That is most likely the result of the Washington Post feigning ignorance of his existence for the crucial first several months of the scandal. Was the Washington Post truly ignorant of his overhearings, which would have radically altered the narrative? And were Washington Post reporters, as claimed, ignorant of his name and role prior to October 1972? Is there a circu...

The Watergate burglary and arrests were noteworthy, but the scandal did not heat up or capture the public's attention for four months. So, why does it matter if the Washington Post's widely reprinted burglary arrest reporting was missing key details? What were those missing details, and were they of history-shaping effect? And if the Washington Post knew of these details but failed to report on them, why would they want to create, rather than solve, one of the Mysteries of W...

This second part of our discussion of The Narrative explains how otherwise odd, idiosyncratic evidence from The Mysteries of Watergate fits snugly into the revisionist narrative. This evidence, to the extent disclosed and analyzed correctly, would have explicated the motives of major actors, but in fact was not disclosed or well explained by conventional treatments. ________________________________________ Thank you for listening! For more information such as a hyperlinked Cast of...

The character Deep Throat, who we now know was Mark Felt, the Associate Director of the FBI at the time of Watergate, is the most intriguing of Watergate characters regarding the journalism so crucial to understanding the scandal. This episode explores the motive and intent of this source when he meets with Woodward in their first all-night parking garage meeting, and thereafter. Why did he do it? Was he out to “get” Nixon or some other end. And did the Washington Post and B...

G. Gordon Liddy’s salience comes from his unmatched centrality to all major factions participating in this odd drama. He worked with the White House, the CIA Plumbers, the Cuban Watergate burglars, John Dean and Jeb Magruder, even John Mitchell and Attorney General Richard Kleindeinst. Moreover, while perhaps duped, Liddy is brutally honest and in his own strange way highly principled. His recounting of his involvement in Watergate did not emerge until the stat...

Watergate can only be explained by its target. Yet for the past 49 years the Washington Post and historians have not told us where in the office the burglars were, and what key evidence one burglar tried to get rid of. And who exactly was Eugenio Martinez? Would his identity tell us anything? And what role did mysterious cop Carl Shoffler play? Tune in for a wild ride with The Mysteries of Watergate. ________________________________________ Thank you for listening! For...

On the night of May 16-17, 1973, Bob Woodward had his most dramatic encounter with his normally cool source Deep Throat. Agitated, hurried, he warned the reporter that “Everyone’s life is in danger!” The dramatic scene is featured in the movie and book, All the President's Men, but never reported by the Washington Post. In the book, the reporters noted that nothing ever came of these terrifying warnings. Is this true? And what does this have to do with Michael Stevens, the Chicag...

We know that the first wiretapping and burglary were fruitless. Why did the burglars go in a second time, against the wishes of both Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy? How does Richard Nixon's White House Counsel John Dean fit into this story? The resolution of this question, hidden until now, will explain much to solve The Mysteries of Watergate. ________________________________________ Thank you for listening! For more information such as a hyperlinked Cast of Characters, visit themyste...

Sexual obsession throughout D.C.’s established institutions leads by labyrinthine path to Watergate. In this episode we meet the White House Call Girl who is a leading character in the drama, along with intelligence agencies looking for illicit sexual dirt. ________________________________________ Thank you for listening! For more information such as a hyperlinked Cast of Characters, visit themysteriesofwatergate.com. And if you like what you've heard, please leave us a 5-star rev...