Watergate

 

5 Things You Didn't Know About Watergate

On April 29, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced the release of the Watergate tapes, which included the “smoking gun” that led to Nixon’s resignation.  Here are five things you didn't know about Watergate...

Most summaries of the Watergate scandal focus on the June 1972 break-in that saw burglars nabbed due to poor planning and a guard with good eyes. However, that wasn't the first time operatives from the Committee to Re-elect the President (a.k.a. "CREEP") made their way into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. That was in May 1972, when burglars managed to get into the Watergate complex and offices unnoticed. The burglars stole documents and wiretapped phones but were unable to get more information when it turned out that the wiretaps weren't working. That led to the second burglary attempt.

Failed One of the co-conspirators charged in the Watergate break-in was a lawyer named G. Gordon Liddy. He was providing legal counsel to the re-election committee, and when the second Watergate burglary was thwarted, he was in the process of trying to plan another break-in at George S. McGovern's headquarters. McGovern went on to become the Democratic nominee in the 1972 elections, only to lose to Nixon, whose reputation was not yet completely sullied by Watergate, as far as the public was concerned.

The Tapes Contained "the Smoking Gun" When you hear people talk about "smoking guns," especially when comparing Watergate with current political scandals, they're referring back to one piece of conversation on one tape that was released in August 1974. (Tthe tapes and corresponding transcripts were released in batches, often due to multiple court orders that they be released; Nixon was determined to keep as many under wraps as he could). The tape in question contained a recording of Nixon telling the FBI to stop investigating the Watergate break-in shortly after it occurred. This was considered proof that Nixon wanted to cover up the scandal and was the final piece of evidence that led to his resignation.

Nixon Wanted to Show He Had Nothing to Hide -- by Editing the Transcripts Nixon stalled the release of the tapes and transcripts as much as possible, and when he finally did start releasing them, he edited what he could as well. Initially, he released some tapes, 19 in March of 1974, but in April a subpoena for more tapes appeared. Nixon released only the transcripts to these tapes at first, and the transcripts were edited by Nixon for what he claimed were discussions that were not relevant to Watergate. While he asked if the House Judiciary Committee would want to listen to the tapes and compare them to the transcripts, the editing did nothing to help his case. Eventually, he was forced to turn over the actual tapes, one of which held that all-important order to the FBI.

A Note With a Phone Number Was All It Took to Cast Suspicion on Nixon When the Watergate burglars were originally caught, there was not a  real indication that they were connected to Nixon until detectives investigating the case found that the burglars had the re-election committee's phone number -- and more than one copy of it. While that alone didn't definitively link Nixon himself to the crime, it was enough to move the investigation in that direction.

A badminton birdie, also known as a shuttlecock is the fastest recorded object in all of sports. The shuttlecock, made with a cork base and sixteen carefully selected goose feathers, is aerodynamic and very light — weighing only about five grams. Its aerodynamic behavior has even influenced the design of the spacecraft SpaceShipOne. According to Guinness World Records, the fastest recorded hit during competition belongs to Denmark’s Mads Pieler Kolding, who managed to smash a 426 kph (264.70 mph) shot, during a Badminton Premier League match in 2017. Source: Guinness

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song composed by rock band Survivor. It was the theme song for the film Rocky III, which was released a day before the single. The song was written by Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik, and was recorded at the request of Rocky III star, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust", the song Stallone intended as the Rocky III theme. The song was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the only Oscar nomination for Rocky III. It lost to "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.