Garrett Graff Discusses His Book, Watergate: A New History (2022)

♪ JUDY: FEW PRESIDENTIAL SCANDALS OCCUPY A PLACE IN AMERICA'S CULTURE LIKE WATERGATE. THIS SUMMER, IT WILL BE 50 YEARS SINCE FIVE BURGLARS CROAK INTO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE HEADQUARTERS SETTING OFF A SERIES OF INVESTIGATIONS THAT ULTIMATELY LED TO THE RESIGNATION OF THEN-PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON. AS HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR GARRETT GRAFF TOLD ME RECENTLY, THE SCANDAL WE ALL THOUGHT WE KNEW WAS ACTUALLY A SERIES OF EVENTS. THAT IS THE FOCUS OF HIS LATEST BOOK, WATERGATE: A NEW HISTORY. WELCOME TO THE NEWSHOUR. CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BOOK. IT HAS BEEN 50 YEARS. A LOT OF BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN. WHY DID YOU THINK IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER ONE AND ANOTHER ONE THAT IS 800 PAGES LONG? >> AS MUCH AS WATERGATE HAS BEEN SLICED AND DICED OVER THE YEARS, IT HAS BEEN A QUARTER-CENTURY SINCE ANYONE ACTUALLY TRIED TO

LAY OUT THE FULL STORY START TO FINISH. DURING THAT TIME, WE HAVE HAD AN ENORMOUS NUMBER OF NEW REVELATIONS THAT DRAMATICALLY CHANGE THE ARK OF THE STORY THAT WE THOUGHT WE KNEW. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS TRIED TO WRITE A HISTORY OF WATERGATE KNOWING THE IDENTITY OF DEEP THROAT, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR MARK FELT OUTED AS THAT FAMOUS SOURCE FOR WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN TO THE NIXON TAPES HAVE COME OUT. NEW FBI FILES HAVE BEEN DECLASSIFIED. WE HAVE LEARNED ALL SORTS OF THINGS ABOUT SOME OF THE ASSOCIATED SCANDALS WITH WATERGATE ITSELF. I FOUND IN RESEARCHING THIS IS THE WATERGATE STORY WE THOUGHT WE KNEW IT IS NOT WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. JUDY: IN CONNECTION WITH THAT, YOU WRITE THAT IT IS MORE THAN ONE EVENT. IT IS NOT JUST A BURGLARY. IT IS A NUMBER OF THINGS. A LOT OF IT HAD TO DO WITH THE WAR IN VIETNAM. HE WENT ON TO SAY I WAS AN ENTIRE MINDSET -- YOU WENT ON TO SAY IT WAS AN ENTIRE MINDSET. DARKER THE THING WE SHORTHAND AS

WATERGATE, THE MOMENT WHEN THE FIVE BURGLARS ARE CAUGHT IN THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE OFFICES AT THE WATERGATE OFFICE COMPLEX IN D.C. IN JUNE 1972 IS ONE TINY SLICE OF THE CRIME AND CRIMINALITY AND ABUSES OF POWER BY THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION THAT UNFOLDED OVER THE COURSE OF HIS PRESIDENCY ACROSS WHAT ENDED UP BEING A DOZEN VAGUELY RELATED SCANDALS WITH SOME OF THE SAME PLAYERS. THE TIME THAT BURGLARY GETS TO THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS IN THE SPRING OF 1974, WATERGATE MORPHS INTO THIS MUCH BIGGER UMBRELLA THAT ENCOMPASSES ALL OF THESE DIFFERENT SCANDALS AND ALL OF THESE SHADOWY WEIRD IS ZANY PLAYERS. JUDY: I WAS STRUCK BY THIS LINE. YOU SAID IT IS THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD ABOUT POWER IN D.C.

THE DRIVE TO PROTECT IT. HOW IT IS CHALLENGED. HOW IT FLOWS. THE BEST AND THE WORST OF THIS CAPITAL CITY. >> THAT IS PART OF WHAT MADE ME SO FASCINATED WITH WATERGATE AT THIS MOMENT IN OUR POLITICS. WHAT YOU SEE IS THIS MOMENT FROM 1972 TO 1974 WHEN WASHINGTON WORKS. WHAT IS SO FASCINATING ABOUT THE POWER AS IT UNFOLDS IN THE CITY BACK THEN IS UC ALL OF THE DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS COME TOGETHER TO FORCE NIXON FROM OFFICE, TO INVESTIGATE HIM, TO PROSECUTE HIS TEAM IN A WAY THAT NONE OF THEM COULD DO ON THEIR OWN. IT BECOMES HIS INCREDIBLE STORY ABOUT THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. HOW ARTICLE ONE OF THE CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE TWO, ARTICLE THREE INTERLOCK AND PLAY WITH THINGS LIKE THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND THE REPORTERS WHO COVERED THAT STORY. TO DO SOMETHING THAT NO ONE OF THEM COULD DO ON THEIR OWN. JUDY: YOU ALSO NOTE HOW

WATERGATE WAS A DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN OLD WASHINGTON AND NEW WASHINGTON. EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEAN BY THAT. >> WATERGATE IN MANY WAYS AS THE TURNING POINT, THE CENTRAL HINGE THE 20TH CENTURY IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. YOU HAVE THIS MOMENT WHERE YOU HAVE THIS NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS USHERED IN TO WASHINGTON. THIS IS A GENERATION THAT RESHAPES THE CAPITAL. RESHAPES WASHINGTON. MANY OF THE PARTS OF THE INVESTIGATIVE PRESS WE ARE NOW USED TO, THE WASHINGTON PRESS CORPS, YOU SEE FIRST COME TO THE INVESTIGATIVE MINDSET IN THE MIDST OF WATERGATE. SO MUCH OF THE REFORMS, THE PROTECTIONS AROUND ABUSES OF POWER, PRIVACY, CIVIL LIBERTIES IN AMERICA GROW UP OUT OF THE WORST OF WATERGATE. JUDY: HOW MUCH NEW WAS THERE TO FIND OUT? >> ONE OF THE GREAT MAXIMUMS -- GREAT MAXIMS I FEEL LIKE A WHOLE COUNTRY ADOPTED AFTER WATERGATE

WAS THIS IDEA THAT THE COVER-UP WAS WORSE THAN THE CRIME. WHAT WE LEARN ACTUALLY WITH ALL THE ACCUMULATED KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAST 50 YEARS IS THAT IS PROBABLY NOT TRUE WITH WATERGATE, WITH THE NEXT IN YEARS. IN MANY WAYS, THE CRIMES WERE TERRIBLE. THERE WERE MANY MORE OF THEM THAN WE KNEW AT THE TIME. THERE WERE REASONS TO BELIEVE NIXON EVEN WALKED RIGHT UP TO THE LINE OF OUT RAT TREASON IN TRYING TO ENCOURAGE THE COLLAPSE OF THE PARIS PEACE TALKS THAT WOULD END THE VIETNAM WAR TO KEEP THE VIETNAM WAR GOING FOR HIS OWN POLITICAL BENEFIT IN THE FALL OF 1968 AS HE WAS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT TO MANY OF THESE DETAILS HAVE ONLY COME OUT IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. JUDY: YOU MENTIONED THE CRIMINALITY OF RICHARD NIXON. I WAS STRUCK BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN YOU SAY AFTER ALL THIS TIME YOU SPENT STUDYING NIXON THAT YOU WERE TAKEN BY THE SIMILARITIES AND THE CONTRAST WITH FORMER

PRESIDENT TRUMP. >> AS WE RECKON WITH THE ABUSES OF THE NIXON YEARS, THE SCANDALS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND OF COURSE THE TWO IMPEACHMENTS THAT DONALD TRUMP WENT THROUGH AS PRESIDENT AND JUST AFTER HIS PRESIDENCY. IN MANY WAYS, THE THINGS THAT WORK IN 1972, 1973, 1974 DID NOT WORK DURING THE TRUMP YEARS. IT IS WORTH THINKING ABOUT WHY THAT HAPPENED AND THERE IS A LOT WE CAN LEARN ABOUT HOW WASHINGTON DOES NOT WORK TODAY BUT GOING BACK AND LOOKING AT THE NIXON YEARS. JUDY: IT IS QUITE AN UNDERTAKING. QUITE A BOOK. WATERGATE: A NEW HISTORY ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WATERGATE BREAK IN. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.