FIRST WOODWARD & BERNSTEIN WATERGATE STORY PUBLISHED 50 YEARS AGO TODAY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On June 19, 1972, the Washington Post published the first Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein story on the Watergate break-in.
The front page story followed an initial story written by Alfred E. Lewis and published on June 18, 1972.
The Woodward and Bernstein story states that James W. McCord, Jr.*, a former CIA employee and "salaried security coordinator for President (Richard M.) Nixon's reelection campaign," was one of the five men arrested in their attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters."
Photographs of James W. McCord, Jr. and the other men involved in the break-in were included in the story. The others were Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis.
Three of these men, according to the first article by Alfred E. Lewis, were native-born Cubans and a fourth trained Cuban exiles for guerilla activity after the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
*James Walter McCord, Jr. (1924-2017) was born in Waurika, Oklahoma & educated at the University of Texas, Austin & George Washington University. JWM served in the US Army AF in WW II & after worked for the FBI & CIA.
He directed a counter-intelligence program against the Fair Play For Cuba Committee & was sentenced to a 1 to 5 year prison term for his role in the Watergate affair. JWM was released after 4 months because of his co-operation in the investigation.
SOURCES
"Five Held In Plot To Bug Democrats," by Alfred E. Lewis, The Washington Post, June 18, 1972, www.washingtonpost.com/
"GOP Security Aide Among Five Arrested In Bugging Affair," by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Washington Post, June 19, 1972, www.washingtonpost.com/
"The Story that broke the Watergate burglary news and led to a scandal," by Alfred E. Lewis, The Washington Post, June 13, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/
