The Watergate complex, located on the banks of the Potomac River in Northwest Washington, D.C., consists of a five-star hotel, a high-end office building and two luxury apartment buildings. The main entrance of the building, there is an artificial small waterfall flying down, the water fluttering in the sky, so that the whole building complex has the “water gate” reputation. [2]
On the night of June 17, 1972, a staff member of the Democratic Party headquarters left the Watergate building and happened to look back into his office. He was surprised to see several pillars of light moving in the office, which had been turned off. The colleagues have gone, so who came into the office, do not turn on the lights, but shine a flashlight everywhere? He immediately returned to the Watergate building and told the security staff. Security guards immediately searched the room in question and caught five suspicious-looking men wearing surgical gloves. One of them, James McCord, claimed to be a former CIA employee. In fact, he was the chief security adviser for President Nixon’s re-election committee and had been ordered to install wiretaps at the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex. The Washington Post gave the story a prominent front page story the next day. [3]
On August 29, Nixon assured the national public: “At my direction, Mr. Dean, the President’s counselor, has been investigating all leads thoroughly. I can say unequivocally that the investigation has shown that no one in the White House, no one in this administration, no one on the payroll was involved in this folly.” [4]
A series of events, especially the president’s performances, temporarily deceived the public. Nixon defeated Democratic candidate George McGovern by a rare landslide and won re-election. While Nixon and his aides were celebrating and elated, one anonymous letter after another arrived at the courthouse, telling the court that there was something more to Watergate. [3]
Congress, which was dominated by the Democrats, decided to set up a special commission to investigate the presidential campaign thoroughly. Sure enough, on March 23, 1973, McCord exposed Dean, the White House counsel, in court. Nixon decided to ditch the car and make Dean the scapegoat.
Dean was no pushover. He was not willing to go down without a fight. When he learned that his crime was punishable by forty years in prison, he voluntarily confessed and revealed to the prosecutor for three hours, hoping to atone for his guilt and obtain a pardon.