<p>I was 10, I remember nothing except the gap in the tapes, and I’m not sure I even understood what that meant. I’ve always felt embarrassed about my lack of understanding about Watergate because I was too young to understand at the time and also didn’t get the history in school because it wasn’t history yet, it was happening in the moment. What do you remember about Watergate?</p>
<p>I was older, and I remember it well. That was the summer my family moved, and I was bored to death. I watched a lot of tv, and those of you who are my age know that there wasn’t much on tv back then … so I saw lots of Watergate coverage. Gosh, was it THAT long ago???</p>
<p>I remember it. Digging up dirt on the opposition, enemies lists, “what did the president know and when did he know it”, the arrogance of power, (40 years ago or last week?)</p>
<p>I was graduating college and remember being transfixed by the hearings–but I was a Poli Sci major. So many memorable characters–Sam Ervin, Sam Dash. I also remember the Saturday Night Massacre in the fall–I think I was in the NYC subway in the wee hours on Sunday where I grabbed a copy of the freshly printed New York Times and read in fascination. And then Nixon resigned during my honeymoon the following year. Interesting days.</p>
<p>Nothing firsthand as I was not even a glimmer in my parents’ eyes back then. I wouldn’t be born for a few more years.</p>
<p>Now as a student of history, politics, and human behavior(for fun)…reading about it and listening to some of the publicly released Nixon tapes has been very interesting indeed…</p>
<p>I was working as a secretary at a university medical center (putting hubby #1 through med school!) We were on the West coast so at lunch, lots of people (doctors, nurses, and everyone else!) crowded into a large TV lounge to watch the proceedings. (no internet or instant news in those days) It was riveting.</p>
<p>I watched the hearings on TV, read many newspaper articles, read Bernstein & Woodward’s book, and also saw the movie “All The Presidents Men.” </p>
<p>It taught me how easily millions of voters can be duped by political machines. I don’t question my vote for George McGovern in 1972 one little bit. He would have made a fine President.</p>
<p>I was 10 and just remember being very bored by it all! And thinking I was right to have voted for McGovern when we had a mock campaign/election in fifth grade.</p>
<p>It was to me at the time a proxy war about Vietnam, facilitated in its entirety by a leadership too stubborn to do anything but dig in - the famous “bunker” imagery - and make the coverup more encompassing. I can’t see it becoming so large without that context.</p>
<p>Nixon was elected with the promise to seek “peace with honor”, which was a goal Americans generally agreed on though it meant continuing the war as a way of getting out. This was an echo of LBJ’s speech about the “silent majority” supporting the war - which I watched at the table with my dad. But it didn’t work. The N.Vietnamese were, apparently to our surprise or under-estimation, were willing to incur massive casualties and hardship to outlast us - because they knew at some point we’d go home, sort of like Afghanistan today. The country became much more divided. The Paris Peace Talks were an exercise in humiliation - 2+ years spent talking about nothing, meaning the shape of the table - and the tide turned to wanting to get out no matter what. </p>
<p>In that context, the same dogged pursuit of a coverup of a stupid burglary done without approvals by the people in charge became a symbol. We could do something about this even if we couldn’t do anything about Vietnam. (As for me, I was really glad the draft lottery call ups stopped a year or 2 before I was eligible. The draft was the main motivator for protest.)</p>
<p>All this said, I hated Nixon and yet respected much of his policy. He worked for universal health coverage and even considered a national guaranteed income as a solution to both poverty and welfare. But his concentration on national honor - which would perhaps resonate today with the right even though his policies would no longer be considered Republican - brought ruin and discord. </p>
<p>As for the hearings, I remember 4 things vividly:</p>
<ol>
<li>Martha Mitchell and her drunken late night phone calls.</li>
<li>The gentle tone of the hearings, something that really contrasts with the near-shoe pounding inanity of today. Funny, but you can look at the McCarthy hearings back in the 50’s and it looks like Joseph McCarthy’s model of behavior is the one that has survived most. </li>
<li>John Dean’s testimony. </li>
<li>Rosemary Woods demonstrating how she stretches and sometimes erases tapes. Silly.</li>
</ol>
<p>I remember it being appointment TV–years before that term was coined. It was a drama that played out across several settings–the hearing rooms, the White House, and the courts. </p>
<p>And it was a plot full of twists and turns: the tapes, the Saturday Night Massacre, and a president saying, “I am not a crook.”</p>
<p>I also remember thinking, “Could this really be happening? Is Nixon really a goner?” And, “If Spyro Agnew hadn’t gone to jail, he could be president.”</p>
<p>I might have also been wearing a paisley shirt, but never a Nehru jacket or a leisure suit.</p>
<p>I lived in DC and was in high school - so yes, I remember it well. My senior year (1972-73) I was a boarder at my high school and I spent a lot of time arguing with my Republican friends. Most of the exciting stuff (Saturday Night Massacre, release of the transcripts) happened while I was doing a gap year in France. My recollection was that the French were pretty bemused by it all. By the time Nixon resigned I was in Tanzania for the summer, and I remember very well my Dad coming home with the cable to tell us. </p>
<p>It sounds silly, but I think the thing that most shocked me was Nixon’s language and all those [expletive deleted]'s. I’d never, ever heard an adult talk like that.</p>
<p>I was in high school, and was riveted. My school set up a small b&w TV set in the library, and we were allowed to go in and watch during our free periods. </p>
<p>Thomas Mallon has written a very good fictionalized account of the time called, appropriately enough, Watergate. Highly recommended.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recommendation, booklady. I hadn’t heard of it before but just ordered it - looks like a great read.</p>
<p>I was 18 and had just finished my first year away at college. My dad and I had different political beliefs at the time (lots of us could say the same thing, I’m sure). He’d been a Nixon defender and I remember most how disappointed and then angry he got at Nixon as the hearings continued. He eventually became a big Sam Ervin fan. :)</p>