This past Sunday marked the 35th anniversary of the Watergate burglaries that subsequently led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon. I wasn’t alive in 1972 (and thank god for that, because life without cell phones, e-mail, google, and wikipedia must have been downright boring!) but the Watergate burglaries hold a special place in this former GW polisci major’s heart.
The view from room 419
If you read through this incredibly detailed Wikipedia article on the burglaries, you will see many references to room 419 of the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, which stood directly across the street from the Watergate building. This was the room that members of the “Plumber’s Unit” used as a monitoring post during the May 1972 break-ins and phone-tapping of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters on the sixth floor of the Watergate:
Alfred Baldwin had been hired by James McCord, and on 26 May 1972 was the “monitor,” or lookout, in room 419 of the Howard Johnson’s. According to both [G. Gordon] Liddy and [Howard] Hunt, one of only four walkie-talkies available that night had been allocated to Baldwin for use in room 419. Another walkie-talkie had been allocated to McCord, who, according to some of the conflicting accounts, also was in room 419 with Baldwin throughout the entire dinner.
[...]
Hunt has said that there was a “guard change at eight o’clock,” after which McCord had taped the locks. He then states that “a little after ten o’clock” word came from McCord—who was in room 419 of the Howard Johnson’s—that the DNC headquarters were empty, so the Cubans “made ready to go.”
[...]
According to Hunt, McCord came from “the Listening Post”—room 419 of the Howard Johnson’s across the street—to report that there had been “little activity” in the Democratic headquarters that day. Hunt says, “the blinds had been conveniently raised, permitting observation from the Listening Post, and as matters stood, only one employee was in the sixth-floor offices” of the DNC. Liddy, though, has said that “to see into the DNC offices”, a room was needed on a higher floor of the Howard Johnson’s than room 419, and such a room was not rented by McCord until the following day, 29 May 1972, when records show that McCord rented room 723.
Fast forward 28 years later, to the Fall of 2000, when a young Californian arrived at the George Washington University with her freshman year housing assignment in hand: Room 419, The Hall on Virginia Avenue dormitory (or HOVA, as we affectionately called it), formerly the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge until it was purchased by GWU in 1999 and converted to student housing.
Old HoJo’s
It was bizarre living in a hotel room for an entire year, but I loved it. Compared to other college freshman, we were incredibly spoiled: private bathrooms, spacious rooms, HBO and Showtime, A/C, and weekly maid service. And yet, while living there my roommate and I had no idea that our room played a minor role in the scandal that brought down an American President. I didn’t find out about this until a few years later, when my friend (and fellow HOVA resident) Will came across the room 419 link while researching the Watergate break-ins for a college paper.
As history goes, though, room 723, the monitoring post on the night of the June 17th arrests, stole all the glory, leaving room 419 to languish in obscurity.
Laura and I visiting the old room during Grad Week 2004
I can guarantee you, though, that the room 419 of May 1972 was not decorated as awesomely as it was when I lived there:
I’m guessing the walls weren’t plastered with Democratic memorabilia in ’72 (Yeah, this is back from my activist days when I actually cared about all that political BS). Please disregard any signs you believe to be illegally acquired.
