The Unintended Legacy of Watergate

The scandal that rocked the Nixon presidency also prevented the future destruction of presidential records.

Arrest reports and recovered equipment show that the Watergate burglars relied on portable radios to coordinate movements between lookouts and the team inside the DNC offices. The back of this radio, which was entered as an exhibit in the burglars’ trial, contains the mark “AL” and likely refers to Alfred Baldwin who served as the crew’s lookout man. Photographed by Peter Adams at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

In the early morning of June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Willis noticed that someone had taped open the lock of a basement door in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. Suspicious, he called the police who quickly responded and discovered five burglars inside the 6th floor suite that housed the Democratic National Committee. It was their second time breaking into the DNC after attempting, but failing, to wiretap the office’s phones. This time they were arrested.

The burglary was eventually connected to President Nixon’s re-election campaign setting in motion a coverup and subsequent struggle to access taped conversations with White House aides that revealed Nixon’s attempt to obstruct Watergate investigators. Facing near certain impeachment, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9th, 1974.

After the scandal, Congress would pass reform legislation such as the Ethics in Government Act, which allowed for the creation of an independent “Special Prosecutor” when investigating the executive branch. It also passed the Presidential Records Act (PRA) which designated that all records created or received by the President and their administration are the property of the United States government for safekeeping in the National Archives.

The PRA made it possible for the records of each administration dating back to the presidency of Ronald Reagan to be stored and made available at a former president’s presidential library. Without the PRA, many of these records would likely disappear into private collections, become lost to negligence, or be destroyed.

The cost of losing access to this history is incalculable. It would severely limit the public’s understanding of what transpired behind closed doors during a presidency and make it all but impossible to hold power to account.

On a personal level, without the PRA, I would never have been able to conduct the research necessary to locate and photograph records for my book. In that way, we all have five burglars to thank for the level of transparency we enjoy today.

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