10 Watergate truth.

Watergate is still one of the most concerned and controversial events in American history. The initial attempt to secretly record what happened at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., turned into a complete political nightmare, ruined dozens of people's careers, permanently damaged Richard Nixon's presidency, and changed the American public's view of it. The following are 10 the thorny facts you need to know about the Watergate scandal.

1. The tape on the door made the thief arrested.

The Watergate Incident began in June 1972, when five thieves-Virgilio Gonzá lez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martí nez and Frank sturgis-were arrested when they broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. ... complicated. It was quickly determined that the organization had links with the presidential re-election Committee and the White House itself.

The whole break-in was called off when a security guard at Watergate noticed tape on the latch of the basement of the building and the stairwell leading to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. This tape was left for James McCord, who works for the CIA and the FBI. Frank g. wells, the security guard, thought the workers put it there, so he took it away. But when he reappeared, the videotape reappeared, which was enough for Wells to call the police and warn them that there might be a burglary.

Bob woodward and carl berstein didn't start Watergate.

* * * Journalists bob woodward and carl berstein will always be famous for their investigation work in Watergate, but they are not the first people to report the break-in in the newspaper. In the newspaper of1June 8 18, a long-term police reporter named Alfred e Lewis got his first signature on this story. In the obituary written by WaPo 1994 for Lewis, the writer Martin Weil expanded Lewis's contribution. He said, "A well-known and trustworthy figure of a senior police officer, [Lewis] entered the building with investigators and was not challenged all day. There is no other news media to collect available information. "

The details obtained by Lewis helped the newspaper editor believe that the crime went far beyond simple burglary, and Woodward said that Lewis's work "laid the foundation for the newspaper to report this story".

Nixon's own paranoia created evidence to sink him.

President Nixon may not face any consequences because of his crimes. There are many others to blame, and there is no evidence to directly link the president with illegal activities. It is easy to imagine that he would reasonably deny everything, condemn the perpetrators as misguided supporters and move on. Except he took a statement. A lot. Although Nixon was not the first person to record the White House meeting, he was very paranoid when he was in office. He thinks that when he is spying on his allies and competitors, they must be doing the same thing to him. In that paranoia, he eavesdropped on his office in the White House, which was a serious mistake and would eventually create "conclusive evidence". On the tape, you can hear Nixon talking with Haldeman, director of the Human Resources Department, about asking the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to intervene in the FBI's investigation of the invasion.

A few years ago, bob woodward came across mark felt, the future "Deep Throat".

When Woodward was a lieutenant in his twenties, he was sent to the White House to deliver a package. While he was sitting in the waiting room waiting for someone to sign, he met mark felt, deputy director of the FBI. The two began to talk, and Woodward asked Felt for his phone number in order to keep in touch. Woodward recalled that he occasionally called Felt for career advice and regarded him as a mentor.

Finally, Felt began to provide Woodward with inside information, starting with the details of the assassination of Alabama Governor george wallace. A month later, after Watergate, Felt, who had never been a fan of Nixon, became Woodward's natural source of news.

We don't know the purpose of the thief's intrusion.

Are they looking for evidence that Cuba is related to the Democratic Party's fund-raising? Did they get financial secrets against DNC Chairman Larry O'Brien? Or a political and strategic vision? Or link prominent Democrats with prostitution? We really don't know and we may never know. Thief James McChord asserts that these are the main competing theories, but the decisive information about what the robbers are looking for is zero.

6. Americans disapproved of Nixon's stepping down at first.

By the middle of 1973, only about a quarter of Americans supported Nixon's stepping down, although the story about the secret recording and cover-up of the Oval Office began to make headlines. In fact, according to Gallup poll, the first time most people supported the removal of the president was in the poll published on August 5, 1974/kloc-0, a few days after the House Judiciary Committee approved the impeachment clause. On August 9, Nixon officially resigned.

7.*** The chief prosecutor thinks Nixon didn't know about Watergate.

James neill-the chief prosecutor of the trial witnessed the conviction of Haldeman, Attorney General john mitchell and Nixon's domestic adviser john D Ehrlichman-unequivocally believed that the President did not order or know about eavesdropping or burglary. Watergate hotel. His evidence? Neil told Time magazine: "When Nixon was told (about the invasion), the video showed some of his surprises." . In particular, he pointed out a tape of1June 23, 972, in which Nixon asked Haldeman, "Who did this?" ? Is that Liddy? "Nixon may not know that someone broke in, but he must know his people. Haldeman is also the person Nixon talked about to stop the FBI investigation.

8. The origin of Watergate salad is still a mystery.

The famous "Watergate Salad"-a mixture of pistachio pudding, canned pineapple, whipped ingredients and chopped nuts-reflects people's obsession with desserts sold as salads in the middle of this century. However, the exact origin of this name remains a mystery. According to NPR, before Watergate, there were rumors that it was the staple food of a restaurant before the scandal, but this theory never had any practical significance. We do know that it has many similarities with the same outdated Watergate cake. Watergate cake is a little earlier than it, combining pistachio pudding with cake mixture. But no one knows how this dish got its name.

The website points to a woman named Christine Hatcher, who promoted one of the first cake recipes on September 1974 (she said she got it from a friend of a friend). When asked about its origin, she replied, "I don't know the origin of cookbooks. I don't know why it's called Watergate Cake, unless it's full of nuts! "

9. The National Archives tried to preserve the blank of 18.5 minutes in Nixon's recording.

One of the most concerned aspects of Watergate incident is the mysterious interval of 18.5 minutes, which happened in the recording of the conversation between the President and Haldeman a few days after 1972 was stolen. The following year, when these tapes were summoned and people questioned the lost audio, Rosemary Woods, Nixon's secretary, testified that she accidentally deleted some of the recordings when she was on the phone (although experts doubted whether this could even be achieved through the technology she was using).

Until 2003, the National Archives was still trying to find a way to retrieve the lost recordings, which were kept in a climate-controlled basement. But all attempts to save audio similar to the test tape failed (the actual tape itself is not part of the test).

John Carlin, the then American archivist, said in a statement: "I am very satisfied that we have explored all methods to try to restore the sound on the tape. The candidates are very qualified and use the latest technology in their pursuit. We will continue to save tapes and hope that future generations can try to restore important parts of our history again. "

Scandals above 10.200 are accompanied by "doors".

Thanks to Watergate, whenever there is a scandal, no matter how small, someone will knock at the door at last. Since 1970s, hundreds of companies such as Nipplegate, Tomato-gate, Gamergate and Billygate have entered the news cycle. It even entered the Oxford English Dictionary, further consolidating its position in our dictionary. Naturally, all these "door" scandals are led by the language of Gategate (also known as Plebgate), in which the British politician Andrew Mitchell was accused of swearing to the police at the exit of Downing Street 10 after asking Mitchell to use the sidewalk door instead of the main entrance. (Although Mitchell later apologized for being rude to officials, he denied using rude words and called them "civilians". )