After two months of avoiding the news, I am now transfixed for hours each day. It reminds me of a time more than 40 years ago, a time before 24-hour television news. And, as with that era, I expect a slow but unstoppable process lasting many months.
I urge anyone who is not familiar with the details of Watergate to educate themselves on the topic – it’ll be useful in the months ahead. But now, for those for whom current events are triggering waves of nostalgia (remember those exciting three-newspaper and four-newscast days of our youth?), I present a 30-question trivia quiz on the characters and events of the Watergate Scandal. The questions are worth a total of 50 points. In my opinion, any score above 25 is very good, and anything above 40 qualifies you either as a professional historian or as on Social Security.
Answers listed at the end.
- Who was the electronics expert arrested in the Watergate Hotel? (1 point)
- Who was the Democratic Party Chair whose offices were being bugged? (1)
- Who first coined the term “Watergate Seven”? (1)
- At whose wedding had Jack Dempsey been the Best Man? (1) What role did that person have in the Watergate Affair? (1)
- What were the names of the seven Senators on the Senate Select Watergate Committee? (7)
- Which Watergater would later lead, along with Pat Boone, to the resignation of Earl Butz as Secretary of the Interior for telling a racist joke? (1)
- Which Watergater’s wife had $10,000 in cash in her pocketbook when killed in a 1972 plane crash? (1)
- Who were the Democratic and Republican counsels on the Senate Select Watergate Committee? (2)
- What was the name of the Watergater’s wife who became known as “The Mouth of the South” for contacting reporters? (1)
- Which Watergater was named after a famous Confederate General? (1)
- Who was left to “twist slowly, slowly in the wind”? (1) Who was his direct subordinate whose name became much more famous thirty years later? (1) What was that person’s famous pseudonym? (1)
- What were the burglars looking for in Lewis Fielding’s office? (1)
- Who had written the WW 2 song with the unforgettable lyrics: “We’ll take the hit out of Hitler/The hero out of ‘Hito/ And the muscle out of ‘Ini”? (1) How was he involved in Watergate? (1)
- What was the name (1), and mocking moniker (1), of the 1972 committee chaired by a former U.S. Attorney General?
- Who was the Finance Chair of that organization? (1) What was his previous role with the Nixon Administration? (1)
- What two Nixon aides were known within the White House as “The Berlin Wall”? (1)
- What was the informal moniker of the White House Special Investigation Unit? (1)
- What was the name that G. Gordon Liddy coined for that unit? (1)
- Who created that unit? (1) Who did he put in charge of its operations? (1) What was the name of his young assistant who would later become Treasury Secretary? (1)
- Who was the operative in charge of dirty tricks? (1) On Senator Muskie’s stationery, he forged a letter accusing another Senator of having an illegitimate child. Who was that other Senator? (1)
- Who were the three who were either fired or resigned during the Saturday Night Massacre? (3)
- Who actually did the firing in the Saturday Night Massacre? (1)
- Who revealed the existence of the White House taping system? (1) During the Senate hearings, who asked the question that revealed them? (1)
- Who claimed responsibility for causing the 18 ½ minute gap? (1) Who blamed an unidentified “sinister force”? (1)
- What was the name by which the August 23d, 1972, tape became known? (1)
- Who was Nixon’s press secretary during Watergate? (1)
- What Mississippi Senator was suggested by Nixon to listen to the White House tapes? (1) What about the man led to this suggestion being ridiculed? (1)
- Who was the Special Prosecutor who was assigned after the Saturday Night Massacre? (1)
- What GOP Senator led a delegation to plead with Nixon to resign in August 1974, saying that otherwise the Senate would vote to remove him? (1)
- What series of events had led to Gerald Ford being Nixon’s Vice President? (1)
Good times!
ANSWERS
- Who was the electronics expert arrested in the Watergate Hotel? (1 point) James McCord
- Who was the Democratic Party Chair whose offices were being bugged? (1) Larry O’Brien
- Who first coined the term “Watergate Seven”? (1) Ed Koch
- At whose wedding had Jack Dempsey been the Best Man? John Sirica (1) What role did that person have in the Watergate Affair? (1) Judge in the Watergate Burglars Trial
- What were the names of the seven Senators on the Senate Select Watergate Committee? (7) Sam Ervin (D-NC), Daniel Inouye (D-HA), Edward Montoya (D-NM), Herman Talmadge (D-GA), Howard Baker (R-TN) Dan Gurney (R-FL), (R-NM), Lowell Weicker (R-CT)
- Which Watergater would later lead, along with Pat Boone, to the resignation of Earl Butz as Secretary of the Interior for telling a racist joke? (1) John Dean
- Which Watergater’s wife had $10,000 in cash in her pocketbook when killed in a 1972 plane crash? (1) E. Howard Hunt
- Who were the Democratic and Republican counsels on the Senate Select Watergate Committee? (2) Sam Dash (D) and Fred Thompson (R)
- What was the name of the Watergater’s wife who became known as “The Mouth of the South” for contacting reporters? (1) Martha Mitchell, wife of former Attorney General John Mitchell
- Which Watergater was named after a famous Confederate General? (1) Jeb Stuart Magruder
- Who was left to “twist slowly, slowly in the wind”? (1) L. Patrick Gray Who was his direct subordinate whose name became much more famous thirty years later? Mark Felt (1) What was that person’s famous pseudonym? (1) Deep Throat
- What were the burglars looking for in Lewis Fielding’s office? (1) Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatric records
- Who had written the WW 2 song with the unforgettable lyrics: “We’ll take the hit out of Hitler/The hero out of ‘Hito/ And the muscle out of ‘Ini”? Peter Rodino (1) How was he involved in Watergate? (1) Chair of the House Judicial Committee investigating Nixon’s impeachment
- What was the name (1) Committee to Re-Elect the President , and mocking moniker (1) CREEP , of the 1972 committee chaired by a former U.S. Attorney General?
- Who was the Finance Chair of that organization? (1) Maurice Stans What was his previous role with the Nixon Administration? (1) Secretary of Commerce
- What two Nixon aides were known within the White House as “The Berlin Wall”? (1) H.R. “Bob” Haldeman and John Erlichman
- What was the informal moniker of the White House Special Investigation Unit? (1) The Plumbers
- What was the name that G. Gordon Liddy coined for that unit? (1) ODESSA
- Who created that unit? (1) Erlichman Who did he put in charge of its operations? (1) Egil Krogh What was the name of his young assistant who would later become Treasury Secretary? (1) Hank Paulson, later of Global Meltdown Fame
- Who was the operative in charge of dirty tricks? (1) Donald Segretti On Senator Muskie’s stationery, he forged a letter accusing another Senator of having an illegitimate child. Who was that other Senator? (1) Henry “Scoop” Jackson
- Who were the three who were either fired or resigned during the Saturday Night Massacre? (3) Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Attorney General Eliot Richardson and Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus
- Who actually did the firing in the Saturday Night Massacre? (1) Solicitor General Robert Bork
- Who revealed the existence of the White House taping system? (1) Alexander Butterfield During the Senate hearings, who asked the question that revealed them? (1) Fred Thompson
- Who claimed responsibility for causing the 18 ½ minute gap? Rose Mary Woods, Nixon’s secretary (1) Who blamed an unidentified “sinister force”? (1) Alexander Haig
- What was the name by which the August 23d, 1972, tape became known? (1) The Smoking Gun Tape
- Who was Nixon’s press secretary during Watergate? (1) Ron Zeigler
- What Mississippi Senator was suggested by Nixon to listen to the White House tapes? (1) John C. Stennis What about the man led to this suggestion being ridiculed? (1) He was well known to be quite deaf
- Who was the Special Prosecutor who was assigned after the Saturday Night Massacre? (1) Leon Jaworski
- What GOP Senator led a delegation to plead with Nixon to resign in August 1974, saying that otherwise the Senate would vote to remove him? (1) Barry Goldwater
- What series of events had led to Gerald Ford being Nixon’s Vice President? (1) The earlier resignation of Nixon’s Veep, Spiro Agnew, in a plea deal with Eliot Richardson for having accepted a bribe, leading to Ford’s being nominated and approved as V.P.