A Parking Spot That Saved Our Democracy

Memories of the Watergate Scandal have grown dim. I came of age in the 70’s and Watergate was a central event in my understanding of what it meant to be an American. My association with it grew even stronger when in 1976 my Mother moved into an apartment in the Watergate complex on Virginia Avenue.

She lived in a first floor duplex right at the entrance. There was a service road that ran parallel to Virginia Avenue. On that service road were just a few parking spaces. Highly prized and rarely available I counted it a lucky day when I could park my van and take a few steps to her apartment. Otherwise, I searched the backstreets of Foggy Bottom and there would be a long walk.

In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, Frank Wills a night guard at the complex noticed tape covering the latches on doors leading from the underground parking garage to the Watergate Office Complex. This allowed the doors to close but stay unlocked. He removed the tape. A short time later he discovered that someone had re-taped the lock. He called the police.

The Watergate Burglars had stationed a lookout across the street at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel. His role was to report any unusual activity and warn the burglars to leave the Offices of the Democratic Headquarters.

In the first unlucky event for the burglars, an unmarked car was sent to respond to the dispatchers request instead of a marked car. Second, the unmarked car found a legal parking space on the service road adjacent to the Watergate Complex. Almost unheard of in the morning. Had they been forced to double park or park illegally the lookout in the Howard Johnson’s would have seen this as unusual activity and alerted the burglars. What might have happened next we will never know.

Instead the five burglars were caught. The link to the Committee to Re-elect the President was discovered. The recordings that confirmed Nixon’s involvement in these illegal activities became public. July 2024, The House Judiciary Committee in a bipartisan vote of 27 to 11 approved three letters of impeachment. A week later President Nixon who had been elected by an overwhelming majority resigned.

Countless times as I drove the streets of Foggy Bottom, I marveled at the rare occurrence that may have saved our Democracy. A legal parking spot in front of the Watergate.