We Spent the Night in the WATERGATE SCANDAL ROOM!!! | History Traveler Episode 120
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- When it comes to political scandals, there is nothing that tops The Watergate Scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. In this episode, we're traveling to Washington DC where we are staying OVERNIGHT in the room where the Watergate burglars were set up on the night that the unraveling of the Nixon administration began. So much to see and learn in this one! Enjoy!!!
(Note: In the episode, I erroneously said that they tape on the door was discovered by a janitor when in fact it was discovered by a security guard named Frank Wills. Apologies for the error.)
For more on The Watergate Hotel, visit their website at www.thewatergatehotel.com
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Thanks!
Can u go into the rooms on the 6th floor office area? Tours ?
When you heading to Gettysburg?
@@Rowehouse1819 - Very soon 🙂
@@TheHistoryUnderground what's your email address again? You sent me your email before .
I would like to talk to you a little about it if you don't mind🙂👍
@@Rowehouse1819 - thehistoryundergroundchannel(at)gmail.com
Just got back from Gettysburg a few weeks back.
The flashlights kept Forrest awake so he called the front desk and the rest is history.
Ha! 100% how it went down.
Tom Hanks shot that scene from the window in room 804 at the Watergate. You can rent that room as well.
@@TheHistoryUnderground Damn that Forrest Gump! ;) Always clueless about what he was getting in the way of! ;)
I so love how The Watergate Hotel embraced it's role in U.S. history. Thank you for showing this! I do believe that Elvis Presley stayed at The Watergate Hotel when he stayed in Washington, D.C. when he met Richard Nixon at the Whitehouse.
Yeah, I love how they've integrated that into their story. Pretty cool experience.
In its day, the Watergate was THE place to stay for everyone who was anyone in Hollywood. However, its construction was VERY controversial. A posh Georgtonian of the era said, "...it's like inviting a stripper to your grandmother's funeral..."
Crazy year, 1972 the break-in took place, early fall Munich Olympics, but nothing compares to the silliness of these last 14 months.
I was 24 years old when this happened, one of the biggest black eyes to the USA. Lowest ones on the totem pole took the fall for this, higher ranking got little or nothing. Glad they are able to laugh about it now, the hotel is amazing. Thank you
Glad that you enjoyed it!
I know this history so well, and I owe that to my middle school Social Studies teacher. The trials were going on at the time and she offered us extra credit for watching and listening to the news. She gave us word searches, crossword puzzles and fill in the blanks and we got the answers from watching the news on TV and reading the newspaper. I don't think I had ever read the newspaper before, but I wanted that extra credit. Any way, this is where my love for history began. I was watching history in the making and it was all so intriguing. Thanks for the video! Loved every minute of it.
Awesome! Glad that your teacher had you do that.
Compared to dirty politics of the last 30 years what Nixon did is mild. He should not have been forced to resign.
No shortage of drama in DC lol
@@TheHistoryUnderground Or any other government.
One of those times when you don't want to leave your room, so you "resigned" yourself to staying in for the evening.
On that card under "No need to break in" should also have "YOU'RE NOT A CROOOK!" there just for the hell of it😂!
Important correction to your account of the break-in. It was discovered by a security officer named Frank Wills, not by a janitor. Wills was making rounds when he discovered and secured the taped door. When he checked the door later in the shift, the tape had been replaced. Wills called the police, and the rest is history. His performance was textbook-perfect, and it is being used to train officers in 2021.
You're right. I'll note the correction in the description. My bad. Thanks!
I was 10 years old and spending the summer with my aunt. She was glued to the TV everyday during the trials. My cousin and I spent the summer playing in the creek behind her house. We were oblivious to the brevity of the moment.
Quite the spectacle. I would imagine that the creek was more fun.
It wasn't really that brief. It went on for 26 months, from arrests to resignation. I bet the creek was far more interesting though ;)
Just wanted to say KUDOS for a fine commentary on the Scandal Room at the Watergate Hotel. Prior to covid, I was the Bell Captain/head doorman at the Watergate, and I wrote the tour for the Scandal Room back in 2017. In the past, whenever anyone stayed in the room, a private tour with me was included. Since writing the tour, I've had the honor of presenting the room to Prime Ministers, Ambassadors, Generals and Admirals of NATO, and celebs. But perhaps my greatest honor and privilege was, over time, meeting some of the very characters that participated in the events of that infamous night in our history and the subsequent trial -- even having become friends with the arresting officers and the last man to leave the DNC office on the night of the break-in. The highlight of my tours, however, had to be when one of the Watergate prosecutors endorsed my tour on her Twitter account. Ms. Jill Wine-Banks was the only female on the prosecution team. She had come to The Watergate to launch her book tour. I gave her and her entourage a tour of the room and was able to share a question / answer with her for about an hour afterward. Fascinating woman! I'm glad to hear you intend to come back --- perhaps next time I can give you the tour and share some extra anecdotes not usually found in the history books.
Oh wow! That is so cool! Thanks for sharing that!!!
Very fitting video with G. Gordon Liddy's passing just the other day.
He was a fascinating character.
Well done J.D.
Thanks!
I was a high school Freshman in ‘72. It was shocking that the President was resigning. Thanks for giving context at the beginning. Excellent video!
Thanks!
Yes, I learned more about what actually transpired in the scandal from this video than I did in either high school or university. I swear you can learn more from You Tube than you can from a high school or college classroom these days.
And Monica lived in the apartments there I think. Also ironic that this was posted shortly after Liddy passed away.
Yes, I forgot to mention that. And yeah, I couldn't believe that Liddy passed away just as I was putting this footage together.
@@TheHistoryUnderground She is one of several famous people who lived there. Senator Bob Dole still lives there, and the late Justice Ginsburg had a residence there. And one of the men who went to jail for the crime lived there, John Mitchell.
I thought forest gump was responsible for uncovering the watergate scandal...lol pretty neat room..love the channel I am a huge American history fan
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Haha, that's so awesome. Hotel really has a James Bond film feel to it. Great episode as always!
Thanks! It definitely had that vibe to it.
George Gordon Battle Liddy just died this past week. Chief White House “Plumber”. I remember it all.
I was looking to see if that information made it to the comments...😉
Definitely an interesting character.
Extremely sad to hear that. G-Man was the best.
I luv DC. Visited Oct 2019 from UK. So much to see there. A very underrated city. Georgetown one of my Favourite places with the Exorcist Steps and waterfront for lunch
Agreed. Love it there.
That's so amazing, I was only 1 year old when that took place, I wish I could time travel back to the '70s , I sure miss that decade
To quote you as you stood out on the Watergate balcony: "Golly!" This really was something special!! 😃
What a great video JD , thank you for making history come alive. I was nine years old and lived in the Maryland Suburbs when President Nixon resigned.
An interesting little foot note , before the scandal congress had verbally agreed on a national health care bill that Nixon would have signed if Watergate had never happened. Today’s Republicans are not my fathers political party.
I remember watching all this scandal. I was a teenager then. Enjoyed watching this.
Thanks! Pretty interesting to stand in that place where it all unraveled.
I was 6 yrs old and I'm completely amazed at what I actually remember, apparently I watched way to much television at a very young age...😉
I hope one day you'll be able to go to Ouradour-Sur-Glane in France, it is a very important places for us French and the Germans.
You should make a video about this village and makes the anglophone world learn about the tragedy of this village.
That place is quite high on my list of places to see.
Thank you for all that you do sir.
So nice of you! Thanks!
How cool was that?! Thanks for bringing us along to a pretty cool journey through our history, no matter how uncomfortable it might be sometimes. Wild how what happened in that room tipped over all the Dominoes.
When I worked in talk radio, one of the public figures I was able to meet (and get an autograph from) was G. Gordon Liddy.
Oh wow! Very cool.
Dang - I had no idea you could stay in that room. Fascinating!
Pretty cool experience
What an amazing place! It's an unsung museum. Thanks for this, JD
Too cool! I wonder whatever happen the the janitor that found the taped door lock?🤔
Good question!
@@TheHistoryUnderground It wasn't a janitor, it was a security officer by the name of Frank Wills. He passed away on September 27, 2000 but his logbook showing where he wrote in the details of what he found is in the National Archives and can be found online here:
catalog.archives.gov/id/304970
That is so cool! I remember being glued to the TV during the Watergate hearings. I was all of fifteen or sixteen. It was all so fascinating! It's great that we can finally have a little fun with such heavy duty history.
Yeah, I would imagine that it wasn't so fun at the time. Definitely an interesting story.
And you've done it again! Never fail to impress with your spoken commentary and filming. I was a spotty faced 11 year old with a strange liking for news bulletins. Here in the UK we got pretty much everything from the BBC, (Military family, - wouldn't think of any other source), and I remember constantly baffling my mother with questions she couldn't answer about Mr Nixon and the goings on in America as the nightly news gave us all the latest info. I remember watching the resignation speech live as well. Thanks for a little snatch of my childhood coming back and a truly fascinating upload.
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Something i never knew thank you for showing us
This is the coolest thing!!!! I love history and staying in history is awesome.
Did you play what was on that reel-to-reel recorder? I bet the counter was at the 18 minute mark, right? Hee-hee!
Ha! No, I didn't. I spent all of my time playing the records.
Wonderful presentation and great information 😊
Thanks! I was excited to share this one with everyone.
I was only four years old but my mom plopped me in front of the TV for anything political or historical that was going on. Explains my current interests.
Your mom did you a great service :)
My mon did that too!
Wow, that was cool to see. I was 14 years old when Watergate took place. Just had graduated from 8 th grade. I remember watching Nixon resign with my Dad on TV. My Dad helped explain to me what had happened. We both felt disappointed that day. Some memories just stay with you. Thank you for the video. Joyce🇺🇸. ARROW *🎱.
My pleasure! Glad that you enjoyed it.
I totally appreciated this video. I live not far from Washington DC, in Towson Maryland. I am a huge follower of the history of the Watergate scandal. I have been so fortunate to meet some of the few people that were involved and I have signed books by G Gordon Liddy and Richard Nixon. In the situation with Richard Nixon, I have a signed copy of his book RN. It’s a limited edition leather bound copy limited to 1500. I had the fortune of meeting G Gordon Liddy in the federal courthouse in Baltimore Maryland about 20 years ago. I also had the Fortuna meeting John Dean at that point as well as a few other folks that were involved in the water gate scandal. I have a great letter that she Gordon Liddy wrote to me because I was providing his food service and his case came to an end very quickly. What a great guy. Your video really made my day. I know it’s not a documentary but it shows how much you love the history of the presidency.
EPIC Episode, Fascinating history revisited 👍🇺🇸 Thank you for sharing 🇺🇸
Glad you enjoyed it!!!
Dang! My bucket list just got longer. 😉
ha!
I Love your vids and can hardly wait for the next one!!
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You mean they don't have plainclothes cops with funny hats come in and arrest you as part of the package? What a rip off! LOL.
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Ebbitts is the best food in dc. They make a real good trout Parmesan. It also was one of Ronald Reagan’s favorite restaurants.
I'll have to hit them up the next time I'm in DC.
I would like to see the office that was broken into. Great video. Thanks much.
g gordon just passes this week. 'i put my hand in the flame to show how tough i was'
Boy you talk about a memory I was probably 7yo but remember hearing the breaking news on my parents car radio while living in Hawaii. Don't know why it has stuck with me for so long being a little kid at the time.
Glad that the video could rekindle that memory :)
VVC&PDC WOW GREAT.The way you felt being in that room was how I felt visiting George Washington’s Mt. Vernon home. I still find it hard to believe when they told me his body was in the cement vault inside a cript.Please keep your stories coming.
The key card got me laughing.
I had known about this scandal but I am grateful for you summarizing it before showing everything. By the way, I am 40 and I never used records...lol. By the time I was old enough to want to listen to music (late 80s) cassettes were a thing. Side note: My daughter will be in 8th grade next year and they do a "east coast trip" every year for the 8th graders. They hit Boston, DC, Gettysburg. I am SO excited to chaperone that trip. My daughter, not so much... HAHA
Neat facts an information thank u for all u do.
It is pretty riveting when you visit historic places. Great video. Keep up the great work. Always enjoy watching.
Thanks 👍
I was 14 when Nixon resigned. We were in AZ on a family retreat. A bunch of us kids were outside playing and we came in loud as kids are. We were shushed as we came in. Nixon was on TV resigning.....I’ll never forget it! Up to then I hadn’t cared about politics....it was my start to caring deeply!
We had one of those phones! Lol
As always thanks for a great video! We love going to DC as well! Didn’t know one could stay there in that room! Goals!👊👊😎😎😎
I love your genuine joy and excitement! Nice editing too!
What an amazing experience you certainly hit a home run on this one.
Hope you had a good evening and you didn't have any nightmares of Tricky Dicky. On my only visit to DC I stayed at the Hilton where Reagan was shot. Also have you seen the film Nixon with the amazing Anthony Hopkins it is a fascinating movie.
Thanks once again JD.
Haven't seen the movie but definitely want to. I'll have to visit that Hilton spot on my next trip.
What an awesome video JD! Thanks for sharing this. It's so fascinating and found myself smiling the whole way through. Captivating stuff.
Thanks!
Hello there, The History Underground!
I think I found your channel a few years ago, but just rediscovered it last night. And I have been binge-watching all the videos that interest me on your channel.
I am a college student at San Diego State University studying to become a high school social science teacher, and the way in which you approach history is SO admirable and interesting. Your format for videos is VERY aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable. There is a good mix of commentary and visuals, which I think is incredibly important.
I mainly wanted to comment on this video because this event in American history has been of interest to me since I went to the newly remodeled Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum (HIGHLY recommend if you have not been). My exploration has even lead me to read (off and on) a GREAT book by John W. Dean titled "The Nixon Defense".
With all this in mind, ever since I learned that someone could stay a night at the Watergate Scandal Room, it has been on my bucket list to do so! Maybe during a summer break as a teacher (when I have money to do so), I will spend a night in the room. I find it EXTREMELY COOL that you got to stay a night! And thank you again for the AMAZING content you put in your videos, maybe if I am ever teaching American history and need some videos to show some historical places or items in museums that are made all the more educational by your EXTREMELY useful and enjoyable commentary, I will DEFINITELY use some of your videos!
Thank you, The History Underground!
Thank you! I really do appreciate that!
Nice! I remember all this went on while I was in the Navy. Thank you
Glad that you enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing. Its also where we had the beginnings of Watergare Salad. Lol Happy Easter.
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Sure is Cool! Hope you slept well. Thanks.
If you are ever in that part of the country again I highly recommend visiting Fort Necessity and Flight 93 National Memorial and Johnstown PA to learn about the great flood. Three sites, three subjects and three eras all about less than 2 hours from each other.
Man am I ever old 🤦🏻♀️ lol ... I remember this but I was very young
I literally booked a short trip to DC to stay at the Watergate, based on this episode, and I am looking forward to it!
So much history in one hotel room! This was very interesting. Thank you!
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Man! The quality of your videos are just on point! The content as well! Great job! I believe G Gordon Liddy just passed away a couple days ago.
Thanks! That means a lot. And yes, Liddy just passed away a few days ago.
Great story and I’m glad they preserve the history. Nice work with the cinematography.
Thank you very much!
Enjoyed thanks this is a great video😊
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Very cool and I know you absolutely loved being there. Amazing history.
Very much so. Thanks!
I honestly do not remember any of this happening at all despite the fact that I was in my 20s at the time. I had been stupid and naïve enough to seek help for a lifelong depression while living in Miami, FL. I was put on so many old-school psych drugs and eventually locked up that my memory was fried. Some of it I never processed in the first place; the rest was wiped out by the fact that those drugs did their dirty work in the hippocampus, which is like the CPU of a computer. It took me years to relearn things that had once been common knowledge, and I credit videos like yours (as well as many, many reference books) for being able to do so.
Very cool. A big piece of history👏👏. Can't beat the old vinyl records👍👍
Oh man. Loved those old records. We sat there and listened to them all evening.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I've dug mine out but stylus has seen better days😂😂
When I think today of Americans lack of trust for our government, especially with my generation (boomers), certain events stand out such as the assignations of JFK, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iraqi War, and the failed leadership of several Presidents and the U. S. Congress as well; and now the world wide and national pandemic.
So therefore, I do understand better why we’ve become such a divided Nation with a great lack of trust in government . So much more can be said here that has contributed to this division but these historical events to me, are glaring if I choose to look back.
I have some of the tin campaign buttons from the Nixon campaign. They are small and say "Nixon now more than ever ". I always hung on to them even though I was young at the time. I remember this whole event right up to the resignation, Ford swearing in and the televised trial. Seared into my memory.
Interesting!
Our family took a road trip through the eastern United States in the summer of 1973. We spent a couple of days in Washington DC. My dad drove us by this place and said ,"There it is...Watergate". My sister and I were young, but knew that "Watergate" meant something pretty bad. And driving past the building seemed to my sister and me as if we were passing some prison or horrible place, because prison = bad, so that meant Watergate = bad. We were both actually scared! :) Silly now, of course, but we were young. I remember that we toured the White House and kept asking Dad if we were going to meet President Nixon! Now of course we didn't, but that would have been pretty mind blowing if it happened!
What a great video glad the Watergate has embraced its part of history
Thanks!
You should come to Virginia Beach, Virginia. Research The Cavalier Hotel. Thats where Nixon went. He was witnessed throwing documents into the fireplace in the Hunt room. Also we perfected our Radar in that hotel in WW2. Cape Henry and the Throughgood house is here also!! ❤🇺🇸
Great video!
Thanks!
The foyer screams the dosh was certainly here!
I can remember watching the hearings in school. I think the teacher was more interesting in watching than providing an actual lesson. Who can forget the infamous tapes and the 18-1/2 minute gap.
After this video, I hope they comp'd your room 😆.
Ha! Watching the hearings probably stuck with you more than the lesson would have :)
@ 02:40
Creepy B-roll 🤣
Love the Spy music....LOL
I was in DC working as a subcontractor worker from Cinci setting up the bleachers from the White House to the capital. Also outfitting the reviewing stand in front of the White House at Nixon's second Inauguration. The post was snooping around at this time I guess. Me and my buddy smoked a joint at the fountain at the front lawn of the White House at about 3am the morning before the Inauguration. True Story. I was just seventeen years.
That is wild. LOL.
I was in elementary school when watergate and the resignation occurred. When I was in high school I had no problem remembering which amendment of the constitution was the 25th and the details of it. Why because we learned all about it in regards to Agnew’s resignation , Ford’s appointment and Nixon’s resignation Became a lifelong US and presidential history buff as a result of my elementary teachers not being afraid to discuss Watergate and the events associated with it ,
Interesting video. That happened the year I was born and growing up I can remember my parents and grandparents saying it's a shame about Watergate Nixon was a good president. Good stuff
Yeah. Too bad that he couldn't get out of his own way.
I do enjoy your videos on history
JD fantastic video again and I can’t wait for the next video to come out and watching from England 🏴
Thanks!
For a sequel he needs to stay in the hotel room in the PALACE HOTEL in San Francisco that President Warren G. Harding died in, on 08/1923!
Oh wow! Gonna put that on the list.
@@TheHistoryUnderground Also, don't forget The Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, which has the ORIGINAL "smoke-filled room" that determined that Harding would be the 1920 Republican Presidential nominee (not sure if that hotel is still around anymore!). You could probably;y do a whole series on just "Historic events in American hotels"! ;) Your Welcome!
Great Vlog....Thanks....
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What a fantastic video. So much can be said about that room and our history.
I was ten at this time,wow what a scandal. Very interesting vid on this subject thx HT🖒... cA
♥️♥️♥️♥️ Wow! This was so cool. I had no idea that they kept a part of history so alive in this motel. Fascinating!! It’s funny I lived through that time of “The Watergate Scandal “ How shocked all of us were.
To me , I would of taken this as a honor to stay on that room as long there’s no ghosts there😆. Seriously I really enjoyed this video but then again I love everyone that you do. ♥️♥️😊👍👍👍
I kept thinking of the scene from Forest Gump😆
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You didn't spring for the drinks with arresting officers package? 😉
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You made a great video, it is important to be accurate when educating people about history. This hotel wasn't built in the late sixties as you state. That's sloppy for 28K views as of today. Thank you for sharing.
Without a doubt, one of the coolest hotel rooms ever.
Gee wizz after living through the sham of 2020, Watergate looks like a grade school play!
Another amazing video. I remember Watergate pretty well. Thanks for sharing
That was so cool!! Thank you so much for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I remember my dad giving me his old reel to reel tape recorder.
Awesome video. Wow! Thanks