Watergate BurglaryThesis: Governor Willie Starkie surrounded himself with people that were crooked, just like President Richard Nixon. The people who were in charge of getting Nixon elected did what was necessary to get Nixon elected.
I. Watergate first break in occurred on May 28, 1972.
A. The burglars made and attempt to unscrew a lock.
B. The burglars were after trash.
II. Watergate’s second break in occurred on June 7, 1972.
A. The burglars came back and broke into a safe, stealing cash and checks.
III. Watergate’s third break in occurred on June 18, 1972.
A. The burglars last visit to the Watergate was to place the bugging devices.
B. The burglars last visit results in exposure.
Watergate BurglaryGovernor Willie Starkie surrounded himself with people that were crooked, just like President Richard Nixon. The people who were in charge of getting Nixon elected did what was necessary to get Nixon elected.
The Watergate is home of the National Democratic Committee. This is where the scandal occurred that would eventually lead to Nixons resigning of the Presidency. During the first break in, we do not really know what the burglars full intentions were. What we do know is that between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. on May 28, 1972, the burglars had attempted to unscrew a lock on a door that would allow access to the National Democratic Committee office. The burglars never gained access because they got nervous regarding the presence of the security officers. There is some thought that the burglars were after negative information that could be used against Nixons opponent (5 held in Plot to Bug Democrats office par. 28).
On June 7, 1972, the Watergate was broken into for the second time. The break in occurred about 9 p.m. The burglars had reportedly broken into and stolen money and checks out of a safe. The money and checks were supposed to go to the election campaign for the Democratic presidency race (5 held in Plot to Bug Democrats office par. 31).
Sunday, June 18, 1972, five burglars broke into the Watergate for the third time. Their main mission this time was to bug the office complex. This mission would end in failure because of the tape. A twenty-four year old guard noticed that a door connecting a stairwell with the hotels basement garage had been taped so it would not lock. The guard removed the tape from the door. Ten minutes later, the guard came back and found a new piece had been put on the door, and he immediately called the police. Three officers from the tactical squad responded and entered the stairwell. They found that every door leading from the stairwell to a hallway of the building had been taped to prevent them from locking. At the sixth floor entrance, where the stairwell door leads directly into the Democratic National Committee offices, they found the door was jimmied. The officers began to search the suite, which included twenty-nine offices and where approximately seventy people work. According to the police report, when the officers entered an office occupied by a secretary to Stanley Griegg, deputy party chairman, one of the burglars jumped up from behind a desk, put his hands in the air and cried, Dont shoot! Of the five men, one of the burglars was an ex-Central Intelligence Agency agent. Three of the men were native-born Cubans and the other was said to have trained Cuban exiles for guerrilla activity after the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. The burglars had with them at least two sophisticated devices capable of picking up and transmitting all talk, including telephone conversations. In addition, police found lock-picks and door jimmies, and almost $2,300 in cash, most of it in $100 bills with the serial numbers in sequence. The men also had with them a walkie-talkie, a short wave receiver that could pick up police calls, forty rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras and three pen-sized tear gas guns. As a result of two file drawers being open near where the burglars were captured, its thought that the men were about to photograph the contents (5 held in Plot to Bug Democrats office par. 10).
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Work CitesWeb page5 held in Plot to Bug Democrats office. Washington Post. Online. http://www.washingtonpost.com/. (November 19, 2001).
