WATERGATE: A Transformation in American Political Culture

Nevertheless, what came to be known as simply as Watergate unfolded only very gradually. Frequently, as with the discovery of the June 17 store, it was revealed only as a result of accidents. Although the stash away was discovered and reported fully four and a one-half months before the 1972 election, it never developed into a major write up during that period. The figures immediately involved in the break-in were not indicted until mid-September, their trials began the following(a) January, and a Senate select committee to investigate the whole consequence was established in February.

As characterized by Woodward, "the break-in at the Watergate was like the thread on a very elephantine sock" (Woodward 1). In following the story, Woodward and Bernstein relied crucially on a source in or close to the White dramaturgy whom they nicknamed "Deep pharynx," from the title of a porn movie that caused a public stir at the time. The identity of Deep Throat has never been revealed, and continues to be a matter of speculation and dispute. As Woodward and Bernstein pursued the story journalistically, Senate investigators pursued it from a lawful and form _or_ system of government standpoint.

In the summer of 1973, investigators discovered in the course of map technical questioning that Nixon had installed a taping system in the White base to record conversations, and a series of legal confrontations followed as the Senate committee sought to gain access to the tapes.

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Transcripts of the now-public tapes make interesting reading. A likeness of a March 20, 1973 meeting between Nixon and White dramaturgy aide H.R. "Bob" Haldeman shows that Nixon at that point considered but rejected making a "statement" that would ac fellowship White reside knowledge of and involvement in covert political activities of which the Watergate break-in itself was only a part (Transcript 25-26). Instead, in April of 1973 the White House issued a statement that President Nixon had had no prior knowledge of the break-in.

Siskovic, Jean E.; and Saunders, Paul. Nixon's America: a presentation by Michael Barone. Washington, DC: The Nixon Center (November 2, 1999). National Archives. Watergate: A Chronology.

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