Watergate Seven

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The Watergate Seven has come to refer to two different groups of people, both of them in the context of the Watergate scandal. Firstly, it can refer to the five men caught on June 17, 1972, burglarizing the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate complex, along with their two handlers, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who were Nixon campaign aides. All seven were tried before Judge John Sirica in January 1973. [1]

The second use of Watergate Seven refers to seven advisors and aides of United States President Richard M. Nixon who were indicted by a grand jury on March 1, 1974, for their roles in the Watergate scandal. The grand jury also named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator. The indictments marked the first time in U.S. history that a president was so named. [2]

The period leading up to the trial of the first Watergate Seven began on January 8, 1973. [3] The term "Watergate Seven" was coined a few months later, in April 1973, by American politician, lawyer, and political commentator Rep. Ed Koch (D-NY), who, in response to U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr.'s indicating that one of the men in the Watergate bugging case had been ordered in the spring of 1972 to keep certain senators and representatives under surveillance, posted a sign on the door of his United States Congress office saying, "These premises were surveilled by the Watergate Seven. Watch yourself". [4]

Members

The original Watergate Seven and their legal dispositions were: [5] [6]

The seven advisors and aides later indicted in 1974 were: [7]

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References

  1. Graham, Katharine (January 28, 1997). "The Watergate Watershed A Turning Point for a Nation and a Newspaper". The Washington Post .
  2. Merritt, Robert; Doug Caddy (2011). Watergate Exposed: How the President of the United States and the Watergate Burglars Were Set Up as Told to Douglas Caddy, Original Attorney for the Watergate Seven. Trine Day. p. 288. ISBN   978-1936296118.
  3. Graham, Katharine (January 28, 1997). "The Watergate watershed: a turning point for a nation and a newspaper". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  4. Madden, Richard L. (April 7, 1973). "Javits Picks a Campaign Team, Citing the Need to Think Ahead; Votes in Congress This Week's Tally for Metropolitan Area Senate House". The New York Times . p. 19. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  5. Apple, Charles. "The Watergate Scandal" . Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  6. "Hunt, Watergate Team Are Sentenced by Sirica" (PDF). November 10, 1973. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  7. "Sketches of the Seven Nixon Aides Indicted by the Watergate Grand Jury". The New York Times. March 2, 1974. p. 16. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  8. Schwartz, Maryln (June 7, 1974). "Prayer for Colson". The Dallas Morning News . p. 8A.
  9. Cornwell, Rupert (July 24, 2006). "Robert Mardian – One of the 'Watergate Seven'". The Independent . London. p. 32. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.