Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we thought - The Washington Post

Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we thought - The Washington Post:

Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we thought

View Photo Gallery — A look back at Watergate: The Watergate scandal in pictures, from the break-in to the congressional investigation to President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation.

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By Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, Published: June 8

As Sen. Sam Ervin completed his 20-year Senate career in 1974 and issued his final report as chairman of the Senate Watergate committee, he posed the question: “What wasWatergate?”

Countless answers have been offered in the 40 years since June 17, 1972, when a team of burglars wearing business suits and rubber gloves was arrested at 2:30 a.m. at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the Watergate office building in Washington. Four days afterward, the Nixon White House offered its answer: “Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it was,” press secretary Ronald Ziegler scoffed, dismissing the incident as a “third-rate burglary.”