“Gavel-to-Gavel”: The Watergate Scandal and Public Television

Part of what made the Watergate coverage so captivating was its exciting cast of characters. On July 13, 1973, Jim Lehrer said of the Committee, “Before Watergate, Baker was just Senator Dirksen’s son in law, Ervin was just one of those charming, old Southern senators who voted against civil rights legislation, and on down the line. Now they have all become very important parts of our daily lives.” (click here to see MacNeil and Lehrer comment on each senator) In addition to the senators, a parade of cops, crooks, and campaign men each had their day before the Committee. The following page will help viewers identify these men (and one woman) while watching the broadcasts.

Jump to:

NPACT
The Senate Watergate Committee
The Nixon Administration
The Committee to Reelect the President
The Burglars
Other Witnesses
Expert Commentators

NPACT

Robert MacNeil	Jim Lehrer	Peter Kaye
NPACT Senior Correspondent	NPACT Senior Correspondent	NPACT Correspondent

The Senate Watergate Committee

Sam J. Ervin Jr.	Howard H. Baker Jr.	Edward J. Gurney
Committee chairman, D-N.C.	Committee vice chairman, R-Tenn.	R-Fla.
Daniel K. Inouye	Joseph M. Montoya	Herman E. Talmadge
D-Hawaii	D-N.M.	D-Ga.
Lowell P. Weicker	Samuel Dash	Fred D. Thompson
R-Conn.	Chief majority counsel	Chief minority counsel

The Nixon Administration

Richard M. Nixon	H. R. Haldeman	John Ehrlichman
President, resigned August 9, 1974	Chief of Staff, resigned April 30, 1973; Assistant to the President since 1969	Chief advisor for domestic affairs, resigned April 30, 1973; Assistant to the President from 1969
Does not Testify	7/30/73, 7/31/73, 8/1/73	7/24/73, 7/25/73, 7/26/73, 7/27/73, 7/30/73
John W. Dean III	Charles W. Colson	Richard G. Kleindienst
Counsel to the President, resigned April 30, 1973. Responsible for organizing the cover up	Former special counsel to the President, resigned March 10, 1973	Attorney General, resigned April 30, 1973
6/25/73, 6/26/73, 6/27/73, 6/28/73, 6/29/73	Does not Testify	8/7/73
Henry E. Petersen	John J. Caulfield	Gordon C. Strachan
Assistant Attorney General	Treasury Department official, former White House aide	Former White House aide, former assistant to Haldeman
8/7/73	5/22/73, 5/23/73	7/20/73, 7/23/73
Patrick Buchanan	Alexander P. Butterfield	Richard A. Moore
Speechwriter, Presidential aide	Administrator of the FAA, former White House aide	Special counsel to the President
9/26/73	7/16/73	7/12/73, 7/13/73, 7/16/73
William H. Marumoto	Spiro Agnew	Clay T. Whitehead
Former Presidential aide	Vice President, resigned October 10, 1973	Director of the Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP)
11/7/73	Does not Testify	Does not Testify

The Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP)

John N. Mitchell	Frederick C. LaRue	Robert C. Mardian
Director of CREEP; Former Attorney General, resigned March 10, 1972	Aide to Mitchell at CREEP	Aide to Mitchell; Counsel to CREEP
7/10/73, 7/11/73, 7/12/73	7/18/73, 7/19/73	7/19/73, 7/20/73
Hugh W. Sloan Jr.	Robert Reisner	Jeb Stuart Magruder
Treasurer of CREEP	Aide to Magruder, Deputy director of CREEP	Deputy campaign director; Director of policy development in the Commerce Department, resigned April 26, 1973
6/6/73, 6/7/73	6/5/73	6/14/73
Robert C. Odle Jr.	Maurice H. Stans	Herbert W. Kalmbach
Director of administration and personnel	Finance chairman; Chief fundraiser; Former Secretary of Commerce, resigned February 15, 1972	Deputy finance chairman; Personal attorney to the President
5/17/73	6/12/73, 6/13/73	7/16/73, 7/17/73
Herbert L. Porter	Alfred C. Baldwin	Donald H. Segretti
Campaign aide	CREEP aide, former FBI agent	“Dirty tricks” man
6/7/73, 6/12/73	5/24/73	10/3/73
Martin Douglas Kelly	Robert Benz	Sally Harmony
Assistant to Segretti	Assistant to Segretti	Secretary to Liddy
10/4/73	10/4/73	6/5/73
Benjamin Fernandez
Organizer of National Hispanic Finance Committee for CREEP; Economist
11/8/73

The Burglars

E. Howard Hunt Jr.	James W. McCord, Jr.	Bernard L. Barker
Former CIA operative, Consultant to Colson	Former security coordinator for CREEP, Burglar	Former CIA employee, Burglar
9/24/73, 9/25/73	5/18/73, 5/22/73	5/24/73
G. Gordon Liddy	Virgilio R. Gonzales	Eugenio R. Martinez
Counsel at CREEP. Former FBI agent, Convicted January 3, 1973	Burglar	Burglar
Did not Testify	Did not Testify	Did not Testify
Frank A. Sturgis
Burglar
Did not Testify

Other Witnesses (in order of appearance)

Bruce Kehrli	Paul W. Leeper	Carl M. Shoffler
Staff secretary, special assistant to the President	Sergeant, Metropolitan police	Police Officer
5/17/73	5/17/73	5/18/73
Anthony T. Ulasewicz	Gerald Alch	Richard M. Helms
Former NYPD officer	James McCord’s former attorney	CIA director, fired February 2, 1973
5/23/73, 7/18/73	5/23/73, 5/24/73	8/2/73
Robert E. Cushman	Vernon A. Walters	L. Patrick Gray III
Deputy director of the CIA, ending December 1971	Deputy director of the CIA; Acting director July 2, 1973 – September 4, 1973	Acting director of the FBI, resigned April 27, 1973
8/2/73	8/3/73	8/3/73, 8/6/73
John R. Buckley	Michael W. McMinoway	Frederick J. Taugher
Former OEO official, “Fat Jack”	Undercover agent in McGovern campaign, “Sedan Chair II”	McGovern campaign coordinator
10/9/73	10/10/73	10/10/73
Kenneth Hickman	Richard Stearns	Frank Mankiewicz
LAPD Lieutenant	McGovern coordinator	McGovern campaign director
10/10/73	10/11/73	10/11/73
Truman Campbell	Michael Heller	Tim Lee Carter
Chairman, Republican Central Committee in California	College student, Member of Democrats for Nixon	Congressman, R-Ky
11/6/73	11/6/73	11/6/73
Paul Brindze	Michael Heller	John J. Priestes
Law student, McGovern campaign worker	Boston police officer	Miami contractor
11/6/73	11/6/73	11/7/73
Matthew E. Clark, Jr.	Robert Bartlome	Orin E. Atkins
Director of purchasing, American Shipbuilding Co.	Company secretary, American Shipbuilding Co.	Board chairman, Ashland Oil Company
11/13/73	11/13/73	11/14/73
Claude C. Wild Jr.	Camilo Fabrega	Neal Robinson
Vice president for government affairs, Gulf Oil Company	Head of the Panamanian office, Braniff Airways	Assistant Treasurer, Braniff Airways
11/14/73	11/15/73	11/15/73
George A. Spater	Russel DeYoung
Former president and board chairman, American Airlines	Board chairman, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
11/15/73	11/15/73

Expert Commentators (in order of appearance)

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