Watergate, “All the President’s Men,” and a Student’s Plight

When I talk about Watergate, I always end up talking about All the President’s Men (1976). Normally, I am not a fan of historical movies. As a history major, I too often find flaws with them; the clothing is wrong, the events are scrambled, the accents are off. I’ve always been picky about movies that depict historical events because it’s hard to capture the spirit of what’s happening while still staying truthful to the facts. As such, there are few that I really enjoy. Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006), because it has the right attitude for the subject matter. The Baader-Meinhof Complex (2008), because it manages to cram a whole decade in and pace it well. And of course, All the President’s Men, for helping me understand the long shadow of Watergate and pushing me to learn more. 

I first watched All the President’s Men late in my junior year of high school, still deciding what my college major would be. I was stuck between English and History, and one of the factors of my choice was the sheer delight I got out of that movie. I had difficulty understanding the impact of Watergate prior to watching it. It is truly difficult to understand how important certain events are if you haven’t lived through them. I knew that Nixon had broken the law and lied about it, but I hadn’t understood the full, horrifying extent of the cover-up until I watched the movie. I’d opened a door, and I couldn’t shut it. I wanted to know more. There was only so much I could understand as a high school junior. I wanted to go further. But I got swept up in college applications, senior year preparations, and simply had no time. 

Last year, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago ran a Robert Redford retrospective. I went there often because of their student ticket discounts, and I noticed that they would soon be showing All the President’s Men again. When I saw the movie one December night after work, I felt like an idiot. Why, really, hadn’t I rewatched this sooner? Why had I deprived myself of this? I was opening the door yet again, running through at full speed. My history department required you to write a research paper with a section where you had to tell people why your research mattered. To myself and my fellow students, this was always the toughest part. Why did your research matter, why did any of it matter? Why did Watergate matter? I was understanding it, all over again, seeing it play out on screen.

I went on a used books website almost immediately after the screening and found a copy of All the President’s Men, and bought it a week later when my paycheck came in. When I got the book, I was ecstatic. I read it on the train, between classes, on break at work. To be honest, I was shocked reading it. It gave me a much greater appreciation of the work that Bernstein and Woodward did that I hadn’t expected. It showed me another side of the pain of researching that I understood as a history student. I felt seen, as crazy as it sounds. On top of being informational, it was inspiring. If these guys could undertake such an effort to uncover a conspiracy like Watergate, I could get up everyday and go to class; I could write my papers and get A’s. I could learn more and more, get a better understanding of the world around me and the history that shaped it, including Watergate. I even made myself a little poster of Woodward and Bernstein. I put it by my door so that I would see it everyday and remind myself to work hard. Remind myself that research does matter, even on the small scale I was doing for college papers. 

Watergate is something my friends often know shockingly little about. In a day and age where our president’s relationship with a convicted pedophile seems to have no ramifications, the idea of a president breaking into to Democratic National Committee headquarters pales in comparison. However, we cannot forget Watergate, and it’s something more prevalent now than ever. Every chance I get, I tell my friends to read All the President’s Men or watch the movie with me: don’t look away, don’t forget. Watergate to me is a warning. However, like I said, I can’t talk about Watergate without talking about All the President’s Men. The book and the movie will always mean so much to me, as inspiration, motivation, and a guiding path, a reminder to always dig deeper.