Summary: Today we will consider the cultural consequences of Watergate. Drawing on Michael Schudson's Watergate in American Memory (1992), we will consider how Watergate functioned as a "cultural flashpoint" -- an event around which a collective, national culture was reformed. We will discuss the basic narrative of Watergate as well as various cultural responses to it, including G.B. Trudeau's Doonesbury and two films: All the President's Men and The Conversation.

I. Introduction

A. How important is Watergate to American culture?

B. Watergate as a "cultural flashpoint" through which a sense of common, national identity is formed

1. an explosive and traumatic event

2. televised hearings on Watergate generated collective, widely shared experiences

II. Basic Narrative of Watergate

A. June 17, 1942 -- Break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters

B. November, 1972 -- Nixon re-elected by a landslide

C. January, 1973 -- Watergate burglars found guilty of wiretapping and conspiracy

D. February and March, 1973 -- more evidence of high-level complicity

E. April, 1973 -- Nixon's chief of staff HR Haldeman and domestic affairs adviser John Ehrlichman implicated in the cover-up along with president's counsel, James Dean -- all three resign

F. May, 1973 -- Special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox appointed; Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities begins televised hearings that continue throughout the summer

1. televised hearings provide compelling public drama

2. reveal Nixon's complicity in the cover-up and his practice of taping all Oval Office conversations

3. other abuses of power also revealed:

a. Nixon's use of the IRS to harrass political opponents

b. White House "enemies list" of journalists, intellectuals, politicians, labor and business leaders, and others

c. White House "Plumbers' Unit" to investigate leaks to the press

G. October, 1973 -- V.P. Spiro Agnew forced to resign; Gerald Ford becomes Vice President

H. Late October, 1973 -- "Saturday Night Massacre -- dispute over White House tapes leads to shake-up of the Attorney General and Special Prosecutor offices -- leads to first serious consideration of impeachment

I. November, 1973 -- Nixon states publicly, "People have a right to know whether their President is a crook. Well, I am not a crook."

J. February, 1974 -- House Judiciary Committee authorized to begin impeachment investigation

K. May, 1974 -- Nixon releases 1200 pages of edited transcripts -- quickly printed in paperback form &endash; public shocked at the language of the President and his advisers

L. July, 1974 -- House Judiciary Committee votes in support of three articles of impeachment -- Supreme Court votes that President Nixon is obligated to turn over tapes -- "smoking gun" tape from June 23, 1972 is revealed

M. August 9 -- Nixon resigns and Gerald Ford is sworn in, declaring that "Our long national nightmare is over"

III. Other Narratives of Watergate

A. Watergate as mystery novel

B. Watergate as a story about the heroism of the press

C. Watergate as a story about rage, disunity, and deceit

IV. Consequences

A. Distate and disrespect for government: G.B. Trudeau's Doonesbury

B. Paranoia: All the President's Men, The Marathon Man, Three Days of the Condor, The Conversation

C. Connection to other weeks: focus on political culture and questions of national identity; skepticism about technology and the mass media; culmination of certain events and political practices that began in the 1960s