DNC HQS BURGLARIZED BY NIXON OPERATIVES
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel here in the Nation's Capital. According to Constitution Daily...
"The burglars used tape to hold open the latches on door locks at the DNC office. A sharp-eyed guard, Frank Wills, saw the tape and called police."
The burglars, arrested after being caught in the act, included...
James W. McCord, Frank Sturgis, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez and
Eugenio Martinez.
McCord was later linked to Richard M. Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President*. The FBI learned of a connection to E. Howard Hunt**, former long-time CIA operative, through an address book taken from Barker.
Why did Nixon's re-election committee break-in to the DNC headquarters?
According to J. Anthony Lukas, they "were trying to determine what Lawrence F. O'Brien, the chairman of the DNC, knew about some shady dealings between Nixon and Howard Hughes and ... trying to dig up some dirt with which to persuade the Democrats to withhold what they knew about the Nixon-Hughes relationship."
While Ron Zeigler, President Nixon's press secretary, referred to the break-in as a "third-rate burglary," an extensive investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Watergate, led to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.
*Committee to re-elect the President (CRP) was a fund raising organization for Richard M. Nixon organized in 1970 & opening offices in Washington, D.C. spring 1971. Its activities included money laundering & illegal slush funds. CRP paid $500,000 for legal defenses of the Watergate burglars.
**Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. (1918-2007) was born in Hamburg, NY & graduated from Brown University (1940). EHH Jr. served in the US Navy, Army Air Corps & Office of Strategic Services during WWII. He was a CIA officer from 1949 to 1970. EHH Jr. also published 73 novels.
SOURCES
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel here in the Nation's Capital. According to Constitution Daily...
"The burglars used tape to hold open the latches on door locks at the DNC office. A sharp-eyed guard, Frank Wills, saw the tape and called police."
The burglars, arrested after being caught in the act, included...
James W. McCord, Frank Sturgis, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez and
Eugenio Martinez.
McCord was later linked to Richard M. Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President*. The FBI learned of a connection to E. Howard Hunt**, former long-time CIA operative, through an address book taken from Barker.
Why did Nixon's re-election committee break-in to the DNC headquarters?
According to J. Anthony Lukas, they "were trying to determine what Lawrence F. O'Brien, the chairman of the DNC, knew about some shady dealings between Nixon and Howard Hughes and ... trying to dig up some dirt with which to persuade the Democrats to withhold what they knew about the Nixon-Hughes relationship."
While Ron Zeigler, President Nixon's press secretary, referred to the break-in as a "third-rate burglary," an extensive investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Watergate, led to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.
*Committee to re-elect the President (CRP) was a fund raising organization for Richard M. Nixon organized in 1970 & opening offices in Washington, D.C. spring 1971. Its activities included money laundering & illegal slush funds. CRP paid $500,000 for legal defenses of the Watergate burglars.
**Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. (1918-2007) was born in Hamburg, NY & graduated from Brown University (1940). EHH Jr. served in the US Navy, Army Air Corps & Office of Strategic Services during WWII. He was a CIA officer from 1949 to 1970. EHH Jr. also published 73 novels.
SOURCES
"10 fascinating facts about Watergate 42 years later," The Constitution Daily, www.blog.constitutioncenter.org/
"Why the Watergate Break-in?," by J. Anthony Lukas, The New York Times, November 30, 1987, www.nytimes.com/
"Why the Watergate Break-in?," by J. Anthony Lukas, The New York Times, November 30, 1987, www.nytimes.com/
Watergate Security Guard's Notes
June 17, 1972
