Watergate And The Reputation Of Richard Nixon

Created on Saturday, 08 January 2011 11:26

On May 28, 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. and were arrested while they were still in the building. American politics has never been the same since then. 

What seemed like a routine break-in was actually the tip of a mammoth political iceberg, which ran from the intelligence operatives to members of the White House staff and finally to President Nixon himself, a man whose mission to find dirt on his opponents led to his ultimate and extremely public downfall.

This Discovery Channel retrospective (produced in 1994) is, bar none, the most comprehensive, intelligent and exhaustive documentary you could ever find on the subject. Going far beyond a basic rehashing of the events, Watergate takes the viewer painstakingly through the entire scandal, from break-in to resignation. The documentary utilizes video footage, newspaper coverage, those infamous White House tapes, and most impressively, interviews with all the in 1994 still living participants in the Watergate scandal (with the exception of Henry Kissinger), some reading from their own notes.

It's amazing to hear the details of America's biggest political debacle straight from the horses' mouths–Haldeman, Erlichman, Liddy, John Dean, even Nixon himself via his 1977 interview with David Frost.

This is a 4 hour clear-eyed portrait of Watergate from the inside that covers this fascinating chapter of American history better than any other previous documentary with regard to this subject.

The Reputation Of Richard Nixon

 

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