HBO’s new satirical miniseries ‘White House Plumbers’ premiers on May 1, 2023. The real story-based series that shows the shocking Watergate Scandal during the Nixon administration stars Justin Theroux and Woody Harrelson as the lead roles.
It is based on Egil Bud Krogh and Matthew Krogh’s book Integrity, which was published in 2007, where they documented the actual events occurring in the Watergate scandal and completely tarnished whatever reputation Nixon had back in 1972 to 1974. However, it is not the only dramatization of the event, as notable film distribution like ‘All the President’s Men’ addressed the stories in 1976.
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What Was Watergate Scandal All About?
The Watergate controversy is probably the biggest political scandal in the history of America. In mid-1971, some Pentagon papers were leaked with reports showing that contrary to what the American people knew, Truman and Johnson administrations intentionally expanded the war efforts in Vietnam. The Nixon administration set up a covert group to investigate and prevent any further leak of documents.
Nixon’s legal advisor John Erlichman hired former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt and former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy to carry out the task. The two hired 5 amateur thieves to steal information from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, but surely things did not go their way.
The Nixon administration created a list of politicians, journalists, and even Hollywood actors Nixon feared competition from in the 1972 re-election and harassed them with tax audits, as well as other legal actions. Republicans created a committee called CRP for the re-election of Nixon before 1972, and the committee took questionable measures like keeping a slush fund to gather information on Democrats.
CRP approved a plan of bugging and stealing information from the DNC headquarters at the Watergate Complex. During their second break-in in the compound on June 17, 1972, the burglars were arrested, and the whole thing started to come to light. Although Nixon denied any involvement or knowledge of the burglary, more and more evidence showed up that tells Nixon knew everything.
Who Was Behind The Biggest Political Scandal of Modern-Day America?
On June 20, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reported on the Hunt connection, citing a deep throat anonymous source. This team implicated the involvement of the Justice Department, CIA, FBI, and the White House in the Watergate case. The deep-throat informer was revealed in 2005 as the FBI’s former deputy director Mark Felt.
Richard Nixon was decisively re-elected in 1972, but the scandal exploded when many of Nixon’s top men were implicated. Four top Nixon aides lost their job because of their connection with the burglary cover-up. Sam Irvin, a senator, and Archibald Cox, a special prosecutor, launched a formal investigation in the middle of 1973. They established a link between the burglary, the White House, and the CRP.
White House lawyer John Dean was an important instrument and witness in the investigation where he divulged that Nixon knew about the cover-up of the burglary since mid-1972. After many dramatic events, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974, and was replaced by Gerald Ford. Ford officially pardoned Nixon precisely after one month.
What Do You Get To See In The Series?
HBO’s ‘White House Plumbers’ series explores the actions of E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, the two secret operatives, were masterminds of the infamous Watergate scandal. They found themselves in the center of the most infamous political controversy of the modern time. Both were convicted after the break-ins were exposed and were sentenced to federal prison. Hunt served time in federal prison, whereas Liddy served four years at a federal correction facility.
The story in the series starts from the initial formation in 1971 and goes all the way to their eventual disbandment after the scandal broke in 1972. It looks to shed light on the team’s illegal and unprecedented actions with orders from the Nixon administration to bug and spy on democrats and Nixon’s political rivals.
Apart from Woody Harrelson as Hunt and Justin Theroux as Liddy, the miniseries cast Domhnall Gleeson as John Dean, Kim Coates as Frank Sturgis, Lena Headey as Dorothy Hunt, and many more.
How Watergate Scandal Shaped American Politics?
The Watergate controversy led to many new laws and legislations. It transformed the American political system as more transparency and balance of power were imposed after this incident. Most important of all, it completely changed the way American citizens view their government.
Anything with the word ‘gate’ at the end of it connotes a negative or scandalous element. We can take, for example, the ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ movie premier where Harry Style seemed to be spitting on his co-star Chris Pine and the whole thing got the name ‘Spitgate.’ Although Hunt and Liddy were just instruments of a notorious political scandal, the whole thing evolved around them. However, White House Plumbers will surely keep you hooked if you are a political enthusiast or a history buff.