things went through our mind at the same time. you know, is the old fox setting us up? was butterfield planted and sent over there? obviously not, because he didn t know he was going to be called as a witness or to be interviewed, i should say, to begin with. would they exonerate nixon? was he just waiting to spring this, you know. lots of different were they still present? were they still in existence? had they long since been destroyed? i think butterfield had not been there tofor four years, maybe. but anyway, they could have still gotten rid of him. so all those things came to mind. it was only when the heat got so hot and the president resisted for so long and took in so much heat while still refusing to give up the tapes that it became obvious to me that there were much more serious problems than i had ever thought there was. richard, how did the tapes change the game? they were essential to proving a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice. here, you know, as jim
their lives were changed forever by what they did. most paid an enormous price and a loss of liberty and a loss of reputation. some of them went on to various forms of public as well as private redemption. watergate the crime also spawned good deeds among people that required from then on a lifelong cloak of admiration and appreciation. they were people of the law and the judiciary, of politics and government, and of course of journalism. for whom watergate provided an opportunity to do the right thing, and they took that opportunity. many of those folks were also changed forever by what happened in this building 40 years ago and the events that followed. more generally, watergate, of course, has come to be so much more than a building, a washington crime wave and a series of stunning political events and personal experiences. its meenanings now are so broad and so different that just seeing or hearing the word watergate triggers a variety of rorschach tests for us all. water
bank account, found that he had very large transactions. it s interesting, historically we know that litty could have cashed those checks at the riggs bank. instead he sends them to miami, to barker, to have them cashed, and it immediately raises the antenna of the fbi that this might be the source of the money. when they get hugh sloan, when earl brings them in, and i m glad earl is here today, because he was certainly paramount in unraveling this. in september of 92, you meet with president nixon and he s happy. why is he happy? he s happy because there s only seven people that have been arrested. it stops at hunt and litty and the people who are actually in this building. richard, how many get arrested in the end? i ve lost count. a lot. okay, so 30, 40. so the cover-up is working. senator, john was about, what, 33 at this time, 34? which one, when the break-in occurred? when the break-in occurred. 30. you re 30 years old, working on howard baker s