Woodward on Watergate

When it comes to Watergate, Bob Woodward wants to make one thing perfectly clear: the reporting he and fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein undertook did not topple a president - it simply set in motion judicial and congressional actions that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Woodward appeared at The Newseum tonight to talk about Watergate on the 40th anniversary of  the June 17, 1972 break-in that led to Nixon's demise.

As expected, much of the focus was on Woodward's famed anonymous source, identified only as Deep Throat. In an extreme rarity in Washington, the identity of that source remained unknown for years until Mark Felt, in 1972 the 2nd highest ranking official in the FBI, came forward in 2005 to admit that he had provided key information for the Watergate story.

Woodward actually met Felt before he became a reporter. Prior to Watergate, Felt had helped Woodward with other stories. Woodward described his relationship with Felt as "a predatory friendship."

The pair would meet clandestinely in a deserted parking garage. "He was somebody I pressured. He would basically confirm things," Woodward said. "Sometimes he would help. Sometimes he would not help."

Woodward, who despite authoring 16 best-selling books still remains as an editor at the Post, says he believes Felt's motives for helping was a combination of "personal ambition and angst."

"He wanted to be director after J. Edgar Hoover died (he was passed over for that post) and he was outraged by what was going on in the White House," Woodward said. 

Woodward and Bernstein were both young reporters at the Post when they began reporting on Watergate, which began with 5 men with White House connections breaking into the National Democratic headquarters at the Watergate seeking information to help Nixon in his re-election bid against Democratic nominee George McGovern.

At first, the White House dismissed the story as an account of a 3rd-rate burglary. Later, as the series continued, Nixon contended that "somebody's trying to win a Pulitzer Prize" instead of printing the truth. However, after 2 years of stories and startling revelations of wrong-doings by nearly 40 of his associates, Nixon became the 1st, and still only, American president to resign that office.

The resignation decision was sealed when it was discovered that Nixon had secretly taped all of his Oval Office discussions and the profanity-laced contents would lead to his impeachment. The tapes are still being released and Woodward says Post editors and reporters jokingly refer to them "as the gift that keeps on giving."

"It's clear from the tapes that Nixon was using the power of the office for personal revenge," Woodward said. "He was angry and unhappy at being president."

Woodward says he believes the most shocking thing about the hours and hours of tapes is "the dog that never barks."

"You never hear (Nixon talking about) what would be good for the country or what you could do to uplift the country," Woodward told the sold-out crowd.  "He never connected to the high purpose of the presidency. He misunderstood what the office is all about. If Carl and I were to ever write another book about Nixon we would have to title it The Wrong Man."

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Nixon: Just how bad was he?

Just 3 days prior to his talk at the Museum, Woodward had joined with Bernstein for the first time since the 1970s to co-author a Washington Post story contending that 40 years later Richard Nixon was even worse than he was originally thought to be at the time of his resignation.  You can read that story in its entirety by clicking here. The story itself offers a piece of journalistic history. In all the previous stories the pair wrote together, the byline appeared as Woodward and Bernstein. This new piece marks the 1st time Bernstein's name ever appeared first.