Beginning of a Downhill Slide



Upon this date in nineteen seventy-two

An act of intrigue first came into view

With the arrest of five men in a hotel

Who'd broken into a suite, causing tell ...



Of a much higher plan to corrupt a campaign

In order that a sitting President could maintain

His hold in his office without party opposition

A despicable act ... and one which did him in



For no single man or party should hold power

Through corruption and dishonesty, at any hour

As it has no place in a country founded on freedom

Regardless of the rationale for this greatest of sins



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

11:20am June 17th, 1999



The five Watergate "burglars" arrested were:



Bernard L. Barker

James W. McCord, Jr.

Frank A. Sturgis

Virgilio R. Gonzalez

Eugenio R. Martinez



the man who hired them:



G. Gordon Liddy, Finance Counsel, CRP

[CRP - Committee to Re-elect the President]



the man who hired Liddy:



John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President



the man who hired Ehrlichman:



H. R. Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff



the man who hired Haldeman:



Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of the USA



(resigned in disgrace, facing certain impeachment,

on August 9th, 1974, two years after re-election.)



Gerald R. Ford - named his Vice-President [after

his elected running mate - Spiro T. Agnew (former

governor of Maryland) was convicted of tax fraud]

pardoned Nixon, preventing subsequent charges.



Gerald R. Ford - lost his own election bid to 

James Earl Carter, Jr. in 1976. President Carter

failed his re-election bid in 1980 to Ronald Reagan.



Ronald Reagan became the first President since 

Nixon's position as Vice President to two-termer

Dwight D. Eisenhower, to serve two full terms.