Watergate’s 50th anniversary and the Jan 6 committee hearings

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the Watergate scandal, when five men – ultimately tied directly to President Nixon’s administration—broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The investigation and scandal that followed showed a “paranoid” Nixon and his advisors at the center of a coverup involving bugging and spying on political opponents and led to his resignation. Today, we look back at that history and how it forever changed the American perception of government and the presidency. We’ll also discuss yesterday’s Jan. 6 select committee hearings on how former President Trump pressured Vice President Pence to reject the electoral votes and talk about the parallels between the Watergate hearings and the insurrection hearings.

Our guest is journalist Garrett M. Graff, author of Watergate: A New History and Director of Cyber Initiatives at the Aspen Institute. (@vermontgmg)

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The Washington Post Opinion What Watergate can teach us today “But enough people — from those in the chambers of Congress to those in any spot in the country near a television set or a newsroom desk — cared 50 years ago to make government work again when it appeared to have broken. The worst mistake anyone can make today is to give up on it because it has broken again.”

The New York Times ‘Watergate: A New History,’ by Garrett M. Graff: An Excerpt “As the upheaval rippled through politics, voters—or at least many southern voters—turned against the liberal dreams of the New Deal and the Great Society. The peace, love, and understanding of the “Age of Aquarius” that had begun to characterize sixties culture turned into something darker and more selfish by the end of the decade.”