Continues. Host welcome back. The summer of 1973 and millions of americans were tuned in to watch the Senate Watergate hearings. The testimony led to Richard Nixon resigning the following year. Captain scott joins us. She is a associate historian and author of the Book Congress in vietnam and watergate area. Catherine, thank you for joining us. Take us back to 1972, 1973. What was happening in washington and what led to the creation of these senate the committee in the senate . Guest it is important to understand the context of the special committee. 1972 was a president ial election year. Richard nixon was seeking reelection for another term. He was going to face as yet undetermined democratic opponent. Prior to june 17, 1972 the name watergate in washington dc was known primarily as the name of high end condo and Office Complex situated along the banks of the potomac rer. After the break and water june 17, 1972 became synonymous with the largest political scandal that had ever occurred in the country. To set that stage, on the Early Morning of june 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the dnc, Democratic NationalCommittee Headquarters at the watergate complex. They were apprehended. They were arrested. They were Strange Group of regulars. They carried with them a lot of highend surveillance equipment. Among the five, were four cuban emigres. One of the cubans carried a contacts notebook that included a notation for howard hunt with the cryptic next to it w house, the white house. They have thousands of dollars in bills in their equipment. Immediately people began to make connections between the burglary and president Richard NixonReelection Campaign because there was a money trail. Thanks of the dogged reporting of Washington Post journalists, Carl Bernstein and bob woodward, it soon became clear there was a connection between the president s Reelection Campaign committee and this burglary at the dnc. The question was how i up how high up did it go . That was set the stage would set the stage for the investigation. Even before the order to get committee is formed by the senate, there is these burglars, the original five they broke into the dnc and then the additional two who served as accomplices are arrested. They are arraigned and indicted. They await trial. As the trial unfolds in Federal District court, five of the defendants pleaded guilty. Two of them enter a not guilty plea they are found guilty by a jury. As a trial unfolds, the federal judge becomes really troubled by the prosecutions case. He thinks theres a lot of holes in the case. He thinks not everything has been revealed over the course of the trial. He decides to hold off on sentencing these defendants until the senate when he left the senate is going to create the special committee. Host who made the decision . Who is controlling the senate at the time . Democrats or republicans . Guest in the senate, people are reading the same headlines. Theyre watching the trial with interest. Senators are asking questions about the connection between watergate burglars and the white house. The white house has been denying the connection to his Reelection Campaign and above varies burglary at the dnc. The senate is controlled by democrats. Many of them are eager to get to the bottom of these allegations. They also are watching the federal prosecution, the federal case and saying theres a lot of Unanswered Questions. The way things are going it looks like were never going to get to the bottom of the burglary and find out who was behind it. The senate does what congress has done in the past which is create a special committee. Early 1973 the Senate Leadership is beginning to think about what the committee will look like. One of the senators, senators arvin rice resolution that will create the special committee and the Senate Leadership begins is think seriously about who will be on the committee. And the purpose of the committee. Host i want to remind viewers if you would like to call in it is the 50th anniversary of the Senate Hearings in washington dc our phone lines are by region. Eastern central timezones, 2027488000. Mountain pacific timezones, 2027488001. You can text and interact via social media. I want you to talk about how it was made up, who was working the and the rationship. Guest this committee has potential to be politically very revelations that may come out of the course of t investigation may be politically explosive. We have a senate controlled by democrats that will b investigating republican president. Senators are deeply concerned that the investigati cannot be partisan. The people assigned Tthe Committee should not be seeking some kinof political or partisan advantage. By having this big platform. The Senate Leadership works carefully to establish the makeup of the committee. They the really smart choice majority leader mansfield make some assigned the tax chairmanship to senator durbin of north carolina. He sets the tone for the committee particularly in his really fantastic relationship with the polyp that republican leader of the committee and they work exceptionally well together. I want to say couple of things before we get to the other members about senator irvin. Senator irvin was a conservative democrat. He cannot be labeled as a liberal out to get the president. That was a really important of his resume. He had come into the senate in 1950s. Its taken part in other important Prominent Senate investigations including the investigation to senator mccarthy in 1954 that led in part to his censorship by the senate. Senator durbin was senator sam ervin has voted on a number of policy issues over the course of the next demonstration. He is not someone whos going to be perceived to be out to get the president. He was known in the senate to be a constitutional expert. He served in enough, supreme court. He had a harvard law degree and although he exuded a folksy charm, he was absolutely look smart. He knew the constitution backwards and forward. He like to quote the bible. Over the course of the investigation he would have his questioning with charming stories from his native north carolina. He was lowkey but he was also incredibly smart. Host what really stated goals of the committee . Guest to get to the bottom of three things. The watergate burglary and any effortver up the connection from the burglaryo the white house. The second stated goal was understand better any kind of dirty tricks that have been employed or the course of the 1972 president ial campaign. The third piece of the investigation was understand better understand any financial improprieties that had occurred. A financial transaction. Money that had been donated over the course of the president ial election that had not been declared. That been made under the table. Three primary goals. The structure the committee was such it have a broad mandate to investigate the 1972 president ial election broadly. Howard baker as the vice chairman of the committee was very much in favor of the at broad mandate. He comes from he has powerful family, political connection himself. His father was a member of the house of representatives. He represents the state of the tennessee in u. S. Sena. He h just won his second term weoined the committee. He has he is deeply ambition. He comesn with a lot of politil knowledge. He understands the situation very well. He is himself lowkey but ambitious and works really well established as quickly a beautiful working relationship with senator ervin. Host the here in on the way in mid may 1973. De, former white houses was john counsel. Im going to play cliper marks began in late june of 1973. [video clip] it is a difficult thing to testify about other people. It is far more easy for me to explain my own involvement in this matter. The fact that i was involved in instruction of justice, i assisted another in purging testimony. The fact that i made personal use of funds that were in my custody. It is far easier to talk about these things myself than to talk about what others did. Some of these people ill be referring to our friends. Summer man i greatly admired and respected. Protected with reference to the president of United States i would like to say this. It is my honest belief that while the president was involved, he did not realize or appreciate that at any time to application of his involvement. I think when the facts come out, i hope the president is forgiven. I will commence with a generalel description of the atmosphere that existed in the white house prior to june 1972. To one who was in the white house and became somewhat familiar with the inner workings, the watergate matter was inedible outcome of excessive concern over the clinical impact of demonstrators, excessive concern over leaks, an insatiable appetite for political intelligence, all coupled with a doityourself white house staff regardless of the law. However, the fact that many of these elements in this climate culminated with the creation of Covert Intelligence operation as part of the president s Reelection Committee was not by conscious design, rather than accident of faith. These of course are my conclusions that i believe they are wellfounded in fact. This committee however is not interested in my conclusions. Their interest in the batch as i know them interested in the facts as i know them. Host what were the impacts of his testimony and the fact that came out of it . \ guest it was just explosive. His testimony came six weeks after lowerlevel white house staff and lowerlevel stock from committee to reelect the president testifying. Theyre putting the case in pyramid form to the top level staff of the white house. By the time john dean testified in late june 1973, washington was on fire. He offered explosive testimony that suggested the type of culture that permeated the white house that permeated the white house the allowed for the creation of this special intelligence gathering unit that broke into the watergate Office Complex for the second time they were arrested, that was the second breakin. What it did was set up a he said he said situation. John dean suggested the president knew about the effort to cover up the watergate breakin. John dean offered over the course of the testimony which lasted over several days, his Opening Statement was more than 200 pages long and took him about five hours to read. He was the type of person who had carefully document everything. He offered details about meetings that suggested he was a really reliable witness. What he was suggesting was the president himself had been involved in the coverup. That was explosive. It was up to the Senate Committee to figure out how they were going to get how they were going to determine whether john dean was telling the truth or whether Richard Nixon would always denied being involved was telling the truth. Host chris is first up. Louisville, kentucky. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing this morning . Host good. Caller i wanted to share i am a 70 oneyearold vietnam veteran. I was a young command with was happening. I want to get contacts with the lady context with a lady. Back then there were three tv stations that rotated got to be sold big they rotated which station was covering the hearing and during that time that was the first time my recollection that politicians freely began really began to become work stars because watergate engulfed the whole country. The important names i want to share. John dean. John dean opened it off and set it off and we watched it like it was a soap opera. Every single day. Some of the other names. One of my heroes for the rest of my life was sam ervin. Sam are fed was such a brilliant man sam ervin it was such a brilliant man. It was like watching listening to shakespeare. He was s brilliant. Anotr ro was barbara jordan. She had everybody enthralled. The statement i remember that changed the whole thing was when howard baker said we need to find out what did the president know and went to he know it. That statement set the whole think in a different place. The other names elizabeth holtzman. John butterfield. The two organizations part of the president and the plumbers. Host remember all of this . Caller it galvanized the whole country because we just washed it and washed it and we knew even as it was happening, we could hear and see the historical significance and how in america no one is above the law. Guest thank you for the call. It is so cold with chris what is so cool about what he just explained it feels to him even 50 years later. He was not alone. Millions of american households tuned in to watch these hearings. Before Cable Television there were three major broadcast networks. Abc, cbs, and nbc. The first two weeks of the Senate Hearings they display steadily programming. The point about the soap operas is dead on the because the soap operas were all for a time. These hearings play live. Pbs recorded all of 200 hours of hearings and play them every evening some people came home from work they could watch them in the evening. It was a media sensation. After the first two weeks, the three networks began to take rotational turns broadcasting being supplied. The hearings live. Every american was touched by the hearings in part reflected in polling numbers. Only six weeks after the watergate hearings began, 97 of americans polled they knew about watergate. 67 of those polled said they believed Richard Nixon was in some ways connected to the burglary or coverup. It was a sensation. Chris really offered those sentiments very thoughtfully. And he would not be alone. His memories of those names. It has been 50 years people still members john deans testimony. Host howard baker. Guest and what the president know and what do you know it. A question he offered several times over the course of the hearing. Their lease stuck in peoples mind and it was coming from the it stuck in peoples mind is coming from the lead public in the committee was significant itself. Caller great conversation. A couple of quick points. Who adjudicated nixon did not own the tapes . John deere facilitated the cover up meanwhile kissinger was up to their eyeballs in the cambodian incursion. The third think they changed journalism. Thank you. Guest i will start with the third one. The duo, dynamic duo of woodward and bernstein. Without their target reporting in the second half of 1972, the story may have died. It is interesting to note deite their good reporting in the second half of the year, nixon won reelection in a landslide. The allegations never seem to undermine his popularity among the American Public that he handily won the election. Host the cambodian incursion . Nixon and kissinger. Guest there are so much going on in the white house at this time. A part of the story about getting the access to the nixon tapes is that we get we have an understanding that the watergate story, burglary and cover about cover up is going on at the same time to make the administration is working on these major Foreign Policy initiatives that were always for him, first and foremost in terms of what he wanted to leave behind as a president ial legacy. Host deborah is next in allentown pennsylvania. Caller good morning. I wholeheartedly agree with the last two callers about how galvanizing this event was. I am of the road where i voted the first time in president ial election in 1972. When 18yearold were given the right to vote. My question for the guest, given the fact that president ford then pardoned Richard Nixon for his act, i have to wonder, the death set a new precedent did that set a new president for the peril of the country is in now with all the allegations of President Trump and the difficulty trying to hold him accountable . These things that are factual and proven. Could you comment on what went into resident board decision on that . Who guided him in that way . I know on the blanket note is supposedly he did not want to do detriment to the country. Guest president ford would later explain about his historic decision to pardon Richard Nixon after Richard Nixon resigned from office. One, he did not want the nation to become further mired in the watergate scandal. He wanted the nation to move on. He thought a pardon would help to do that. He also suggested that by mixing nixon excepts of the pardon was a kind of admission of guilt. Ford maintains it was the right thing to do up into the end of his life. He always maintained that was a decision he stood by until the end. In terms of setting a precedent, i did not know it set a precedent. I do know that it was a decision that was that bothered many people across the country, including my parents. They still talk about the pardon in a very disappointed way. Host lets go back to more testimony. Alexander butterfield Deputy Assistant to president nixon. This is from mid july 1973. He was the one that revealed there were white house tapes. [video clip] are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in oval office of the president . I was aware of listening devices. When where those devices place in the oval office . Approximately the summer of 1970. I cannot begin to recall the precise date. My guest is my guess is the insulation was made between april or may of 1970 and perhaps the end of the summer or early fall of 1970. Are you aware of any devices that were installed in executive Office Building of the president . Yes, sir. Where they installed at the same time . There race taught at the same time. Can you tell us how they worked . How they were activated . Do not have the Technical Knowledge but i will tell you what i know about how those devices were triggered. How they were installed for historical purposes to record the president s business and they were installed in his two offices. Host what impact that testimony have . Guest it was huge. After john dean made this statement linking president nixon to the coverup and then establishing that john dean said it in the president denies it. How will we ever find out what was the truth . The committee, fortunately, in the course of interviewing alexander butterfield, learns the president has recording Devices Installed throughout the white house and in the executive Office Building where he also works. It was explosive. It launches a new phase of the inquiry which is the hunt for the tapes, access to the tapes. Host lets talk to eli in newton center, massachusetts. Caller good morning. I am curious about the watergate connection of someone who is still currently involved in some of our modern day political scandals. I know roger stone testified at the watergate hearing. Im not familiar with his actual connection with the event. Can you talk a little bit about that . How he could how it could shed light on the current political medscape in the skin as he is currently wrapped up in. Guest i know he was employed by the committee to reelect the president. Whether he was a witness of the hearings, i will have to look into that. I do not recall. I dont recall his testimony. 50 years later we are still learning about some of the details of the watergate scandal. In terms of what we know today i would suggest say it will take us a while to piece together stories of Current Events that are currently gripping our headlines. Host we got a guess joining us on zoom to talk about Media Coverage during that time. David greenberg history journalism and media studies professor. Welcome to the program. Give us a sense of how big a media event these Senate Hearings were. Guest it was unlike anything the country had ever seen. There had been televise Senate Hearings before. But nothing on this scale where it went on for so many days, so many people tuned in to watch. The hearings were not only broadct live during the day, but we play at nig replayed at night on pbs. Other news channels showed excerpts. People had a chance to follow the developments on detail on a daily basis. All of the revelations you have been talking about, butterfield and dean, had people in real time hit people in real time. It was millions in video audience and some estimates say almost 80 of americans watched some of the hearings live. It was National Gathering around the television and also radio and of course, plenty of press print coverage that provided the country in a way that was hard to find. Host explain how it was broadcast. You talk about it will be live and replayed and the networks that would air it. Guest initially, there is not a lot of hope that this would get. Great ratings i believe only one of the Major Networks, i forget which one, plan to show during the daytime and preempted viable so barbaras which are so popular soap operas which were popular in the afternoon. But after it was on for a while and proved to be much more popular and of great public interest, the other networks followed suit. It became back in those days the president gave an oval office address, all the Major Networks would cover it live. Nobody thought it a problem. Competition for ratings was not the same thing as it is today. In the evenings we now know pbs newshour which has been the mcneil newshour. Step got his start with it got its start with watergate because they would each evening show this type of it from that days hearing with their own neutral, nonbias, objective analysis. Other networks would also show clips, highlights from the day watergate hearings. Some of them may have also shorted late at night in every broadcast. Ample opportunity to see it throughout the day. Host i was going to ask you about wanting to watch it afterwards but this would have been live during the workday. People miss work . Guest absolutely. It became mustsee tv. People stayed home or found ways to put it on at the office if there was a television at the office. It was magnetic. It became something you would go by a store window with a television in it. It might be showing their. There is a sense that this is topic a, the leading story, especially during those weeks when you had to some of the star witnesses. There were other weeks may be that coverage lag comparatively. It was not a constance constant but over the course of months it was regular viewing for millions of americans. Host what impact it eventually had on Public Opinion, given so Many Americans watched it . Guest theres a lot of evidence from the polling to suggest it did turn the tide. It was an important step in the erosion of support for president nixon. Once with john dean and some of the other witnesses we began to realize the president himself was up to his neck in the scandal. The scandal winced so much further than a single or even second watergate break in but it amounted to what the John Mitchell called, the attorney general in next campaign manager, the white house horrors. Because all the way from kissinger and nixon doing wiretaps in 1969 on reporters in National Security council staffers to track down weeks all the way to track down leaks to all the way to parts of the cover up so going on in 1973. The erasure of tapes evidence that was necessary for the prosecution. Watergate comes the encompass so much more than just the break in undemocratic headquarters in 1972 the democratic headquarters in 1972. People get involved in learning the details of this whole enterprise. These colorful figures testifying before the senate panel who seem like out of a mafia film. Selfstyled tough guys. Unapologetic. Arrogant. This created a sense of lawlessness amuck in the nixon white house. You look at where people were at the start of the hearings, where despite everything we had learned, the president was still in decent shape, politically, and by the end there was a real seriousness precariousness test for density to his presidency. Host because Something Like this happen could do Something Like this happened as far as tv media reaction . Guest certainly, we can debate with the trump scandal which of them rice the level of watergate and the sweep temper democracy. My own view is that it is not surpassed nixon. It ranks right up there. We did have hearings, the january 6 hearings. We found perhaps because of todays fractured media environment and perhaps because of our polarize politics, we did not have the same effect from january 6 hearings. For a lot of people that watched him they were relevant tory. They help connect the dots to show much greater premeditation and involvement on the part of donald trump and his inner circle. In the capital right the days leading up to it. They did not turn Public Opinion in the same way. People remained come after those hearings, pretty much of the views that they had held beforehand. The media environment changes the National Mood changes. The current polarize and partisan media environment we have now will not last forever. We do not know what it will look like in 20 years but as things change theres an opportunity for things like this to happen again. We really cannot predict the future but at the present moment it seems like the hook for watergate moment, hook on the part of a lot of President Trump critics, did not materialize. Host David Greenberg professor of history journalism and media studies at rutgers university. Thank you for joining us. Guest glad to be with you. Host will go back to the phones now. Thank you for your patience. Mike in ohio. Caller thanks for cspan. I was a freshman at texas state in 1971. I was very disappointed that got a landslide in 1972. The first election i ever voted in. That said, i went to an all Boys High School before going to college. I learned a lot about forgiveness. I for gave nixon the day he resigned august 1974. I supported general ford when he pardoned. Both of my friends did not want him to be pardoned but i thought we all need forgiveness. I can say this safely, nixon was the last person i ever hated. From that point on i could hate nobody. I cannot hate dick cheney. I do not hate donald trump. I do not like the guy but i do not hate him. I do believe nixon, had to be at had he been alive, he would told the republicans did not do this for me because are part of clinton [indiscernible] i would to see senator ted kennedy say host what you think about the relationship between clinton impeachment and nixon not impeachment . Guest it is a different situation. We never get to the impeachment situation with Richard Nixon because he decides to resign. Theres an senate piece of the story. The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against nixon. It looks as though the house is poised to approve the articles of impeachment is getting broader body which would then send the impeachment trial to the United States senate. Theres a critical meeting on august 7 soon Republican Leadership one of those present as Barry Goldwater, 1964 republican president ial candidate. They tell president nixon that if there is a Senate Impeachment trial, he cannot count on the support of even 10 of the senators out of the 100. At that moment Barry Goldwater confesses he is not one of these 10. He would not support the president if there was a president ial impeachment trial and escalators Richard Nixon resigns and two days later Richard Nixon resigns. That piece of the story is important because he realizes this is not a process he wants to roll out in public. Host jack in idaho. Caller good morning. I am struck by the consequences how that happened during the watergate. I just came out of the service out of vietnam. I had my first job and i watch the whole hearings. I was very much involved in would bid on. See what went on. When i look at the book rainy in the state, im totally drawn to what is going going today and the similarities. Or the not so good similarities that have happened. Back in that day there is a cemetery. There is the meeting between the republicans is a walk nixons office and asked them to resign. And he did because he did not have support. Now you have a presidency, Donald Trumps presidency and all of the i will call them dirty tricks that went on in regarding his quote russian collusion. Then we have a report that comes out and says we got an issue with four major institutions within the United States. One, the fbi. Two, the justice department. Three, the Democratic Party. And have a great and Hillary Clintons apparent support for the negotiation and four, the legacy media. Host lets they only watergate by any relation with with the happened 50 years ago to current politics . Guest we talked about the Senate Watergate committee was a great success. But we have not mentioned and i think it is worth talking about is the ways the Senate Watergate committee did not wrap things up. There were questions unanswered. They could not over a course every year explore and completely cover definitively all the information the broad mandates that have been offered. When the issue the final report in february june 74 it is a luminous report, more than 2000 pages. It offers a lot of legislative recommendations and what happens is the senate decides to create another special committee in 1975 to explore some of the Unanswered Questions from the watergate investigation. That investigation is known as the church committee, investigating the National Intelligence community because fbi and cia have been located in watergate scandal. The committee wanted to determine how and why. It is one of those stories where once in his body does a bit of work and then the next investigation picks up from there. Host jay in indiana. Good morning. Caller good morning. I wanted to followup on some things speaker said about mcgovern. If i recall, watergate was still going on. George mcgovern ran against Richard Nixon. Nixon was not terribly popular at the time. There was resistance to vietnam. There are people who did not like nixon but they ran a successful Smear Campaign against george mcgovern. He had chosen a running mate name Thomas Singleton who was found to have had under psychiatric hold a some time. George mcgovern had been a decorated war hero during world war ii and was believed by mcgoverns campaign that would not be helpful to him in campaign in which war was figuring so heavily. I wanted to mention that. It is not necessarily support for nixon, it was a Successful Campaign against mcgovern that helped put in office. I would also like to say thank you for cspan which would have covered all of this. Host how to be existed we definitely wouldve covered them gaveltogavel. Guest does a to points from the caller. Thank you for that. George mcgovern was a decorated world war ii veteran. He was a prominent vietnam war voice in the senate when he ran for president in 1972. The caller is making a great point about what we know about watergate and the scandal over the broad scandals that in because business that it encompassed. The Election Company was focus committee was focus on narrowing down the foot the Democratic Candidates in a way that he might run against perhaps the least effective of the least strong Democratic Candidates. We know there was 30 tricks played against various candidates in 1972 year including george mcgovern. President nixon did when 49 states in the rhetorical estates. The next year in early 1970 three, Richard Nixon had an Approval Rating of about 68 . I understand the colors point that some people did not support an exam but he did have high polling numbers that first year second term. Host how do explain his high polling popularity and it was going on with watergate . Guest he had been largely untouched by the scandal. Demonstration had been effective at keeping, suggesting it was not related to the president. The president did not know anything about it. It is just people trying to protect the nations best interests and going after doing these dirty tricks. That worked for a time. But it is the Senate Watergate investigation that revealed over the course of the hearings, really educates the American Public about the nixon own it ties to the watergate scandal. Host chris in pennsylvania. Hi. Caller good morning. Jack in utah it a good correlation. It had to do with then and now. Im talking about the context of the things nixon did. Here is the question. Where are the bernsteins and would worse today . Were they more committed to a ferocious pursuit of exposing corruption because they were younger and popular more formidable in the idealistic kennedy years . Could you mention a few things about that . Considering all of the things that are coming out about the doj and fbi and president today. Thank you. Guest woodward and bernsteins work in helping to uncover watergate kind of launched a new investigation investigate of journalism. I think their youth was a contributing factor. I think there may be less encumbered by some of the old assumptions that other their superiors may have had about how to approach these stories and maybe how to challenge power. They use their sources very effectively. The Senate Watergate committee does establish a relationship with woodward and bernstein. Sam , chief claims he did not get information that was particularly useful for them. They were running ahead of bernstein and woodward investigative reports. Im not a media specialist but it is a very different media landscape that woodward and bernstein were operating in 1973 as David Greenberg noted earlier we have a much more fractured media environment today. It is difficult to draw a lot a parallels between then and now in terms of media. Host rob in arizona. Caller good morning. I hope everyone remembers the reason for this holiday. My question is deep throat. The person who gave bernstein and the other reporter the information on the watergate scandal. Was the name ever produce who deep throat was . Thank you for taking my call. Guest yes. Deep throat was market felt, a deputy at the fbi and likely to step into directors position. He believed he was only to become director of fbi after J Edgar Hoover death. At the he was passed over for the job he began to do the work of the third to do the work of deep throat. Host evan in california. Caller can you hear me ok . Host yes, go ahead. Caller i remember the watergate hearings. I remember the pardon of nixon. I remember clinton investigation, especially now the chop investigation right and left. On the one hand, think factor i would like to say when investigations like this take place at the highest political figures in our country, people oppose it because they say it will make us look like a third world country, which the disparaging comment on other countries. I like to observe these politicians are third world type politicians and they are the ones that make our country look like a third world country, not the investigation of them. Your comments. Guest just to take a watergate example, those faces we saw at that committee day, senator arvin, howard baker, they become national figures. Sam ervin was not necessarily widely known beyd e senate or here on capitol hill. Prior to this investigation and these hearings. He becomes a kind of folk hero. One of the earlier callers mentioned that. A couple of people created senator Sam Ervin Fan Club in california and for aew dollars you could join the fan club and you could be a cardcarrying member of that the fan club. The interesting piece is many of theeople who embrace sam ervin because of his role in watergate probab csider themselves to be politically liberal, liberal democrats. But he had not been embraced by liberal wink of the Democratic Party did most of the senate career. He had filibustered civil rights legislation that came before the senate. He had been a pump an opponent of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights act of 65 and medicaid of 1965. It is to say these characters who people came to admire over the course of the investigation, they were complex figures. Host lets take a look at a clip from woodward of the Washington Post reflecting on watergate. [video clip] conducted what is the Gold Standard of congressional investigations. Nixon miscalculated, as many of you recall, nixon said im going to invoke executive privilege and not let them testify. Then nixon in one of his many delusions thought, i will let them testify and they will help me and of course, they came up and tore nixon apart. This led to the discovery of the tapes. Sam ervin the great thing other than the investigation that senator arvin date is his final report. Four 4000 pages and in that he asked the question, what was watergate . He answered it. He said watergate was an attempt to subvert and destroy the process of selecting president ial candidates and a president. Then he goes through this. He would not never abated the tough questions and he said why watergate . Why did this happen . His answer and it is the end of the report. The lust for power. Host bob woodward. One more call. Al in des moines, iowa. Good morning. Caller good morning. Fascinating show. A huge cspan band. I had to pick a bond with one of the gentlemen earlier who said bone with adjustment earlier who said nixon was the first scandal. Andrew jackson right after u. S. Grant as president. He was impeached by the house and hurting in the 20s also had his scandal. Host we will get a quick last comment. Guest it is true this was not the first president ial scandal although in the 20th century i would say it is the largest president ial scandal and thanks to the Senate Watergate hearings it became embedded in National Consciousness as the political of the nations history that is the lasting tribute. [laughter] author host