February 22 1975: The men who work closest to Richard Nixon in the White House and in politics today were sentenced to prison for their role in the Watergate cover-up. Watergate, US news, History 2019
For over two years President Richard Nixon secretly taped his White House conversations. ibid. caption
Vietnam threatened to dominate the 1968 election … Over a million Americans had been drafted. ibid. commentary
Kissinger Aide Quits in Protest Over War: Dr Morton I Halperin, one of the first men recruited by Kissinger in 1968 for a White House job, wrote Kissinger a letter of resignation last week. ibid. newspaper article
He [Nixon] intensified American bombing … They also used Napalm and cancer-causing defoliants. ibid. commentary
The Pentagon papers, seven thousand pages long, documented the history of American failure and dishonesty in Vietnam, evidence that many had known the war was unwinnable. ibid.
Chuck Colson was a ruthless ambitious young lawyer who quickly became Nixon’s favourite hatchet man. ibid.
Infuriated by leaks to the media, Nixon ordered Ehrlichman to create a secret White House organisation to identify leakers and attack them – starting with Daniel Ellsberg. ibid.
Nixon was truly loyal to Mitchell and refused to make him the fall guy. ibid.
How high up in the White House does it go? And is the president himself involved? ibid. Dan Rather
Again and again over the following months Nixon pressured his staff to attack the Democrats. ibid. commentary
The crown jewel of Nixon’s strategy was Vietnam. ibid.
Watergate just wouldn’t go away. There had already been rumours of payoffs to the Watergate burglars and suddenly they weren’t just rumours any more. ibid.
Katharine Graham and the Washington Post didn’t give an inch. ibid.
The Watergate committee took its job seriously. Starting in May 1973 its hearings produced a series of shocks, all broadcast live on national TV. ibid.
John Dean has gotten to the bottom of page 90 in a statement that is expected to to be about 245 pages … Almost every paragraph contains some sort of bombshell. Watergate II, television news
Though increasingly isolated, Nixon continued to fight including blocking requests from Ervin’s Watergate Committee. ibid.
The Senate Watergate Committee has just voted unanimously to issue a subpoena to President Nixon for the tapes that he has refused to release to the committee. ibid. television news 24 July 1973
Vice-president Agnew is under criminal investigation by federal authorities in his home state of Maryland. ibid.
For the first time in over a century Congress started thinking about impeachment. ibid.
He [Nixon] had set up a conspiracy based in the White House. It was run by a group of ex-intelligence agents, and they already planning to bug, burgle, and blackmail Nixon’s opponents. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head III: Money Changes Everything, BBCiplayer 2021
There were four Watergate break-in attempts. White House Plumbers I: The Beverly Hills Burglary, Sky 2023
The president asked for a real son of a bitch to handle the Pentagon Papers leak. And naturally they thought of you. ibid.
Good luck with your little project. ibid. Dean to Hunt
I guess it’s just you and me against the entire radical left. ibid. Hunt to Liddy
What kind of drug addict brings his own drugs to the crime scene? ibid. Liddy to plumbers
Hunt: What are we talking about here?
Dean: Espionage, sabotage, infiltration, disinformation, electronic surveillance, recruiting … The same shit they do to us every election. ibid.
Reminds me of the time I busted Timothy Leary. White House Plumbers II: Please Destroy This, Huh, Liddy
Leaders are returned unharmed but disorientation after the Convention … ibid. Hunt
A million dollars is a hell of a lot more money than I had in mind. ibid. Attorney General
Miss, I assure you nothing I do is accidental. ibid.
Remember, photograph everything. White House Plumbers III, Hunt
I don’t think I’m cut out for this, sir. I’m sorry. ibid. inside man
That plastic gun in a recipe for disaster. ibid. Liddy
I have the right tools. In Miami. ibid. Plumber
We cannot break in a third time, Gordon. ibid. Hunt
Is any of this nickle-and-dime cloak-and-dagger stuff necessary? ibid. Hunt’s wife
I have to tell you, Gordon, this is sounding more and more like the Bay of Pigs. ibid.
I fucked up. I fucked up so badly … My job just went fubar. White House Plumbers IV, Hunt to son
Liddy’s wife: How was work?
Liddy: Comme ci, Comme ca. There is a chance I will be going to prison. ibid.
Bloke on golf course: What the fuck did you people think you were doing in there?
Liddy behind tree: Saving the country from communism, sir. ibid.
Hunt and I are beginning to take the fall. But we expect to be taken care of company-style. ibid. Liddy
You and I need to talk before the trial. There are a couple of things we need to sort out about Watergate pronto like the book. White House Plumbers V, Liddy to Hunt
Why not kill you, huh. Hell, that’s occurred to me sometimes. ibid.
If the FBI is in on it, what the hell am I supposed to do now? ibid. Hunt
That dumb Quaker hired us to bug the DNC; meanwhile he was taping himself. ibid. Hunt to Liddy
We are protecting our country, our way of life, ourselves. We are protecting our honour. ibid. Liddy to Hunt
49 people were found guilty of crimes related to Watergate and served time in prison. Richard Nixon was never charged. Howard Hunt served two and a half years in a minimum security prison. On his deathbed, he may or may not have confessed to the Kennedy assassination. Gordon Liddy served only four and a half years in prison after his sentence was commuted by President Jimmy. ibid.