WATERGATE: The End Begins With Bitter Fratricide at Trial

It was an appropriately bizarre way to begin the final phase of Watergate. After the opening statements, Federal Judge John J. Sirica's Washington courtroom was eerily silent for up to 100 minutes at a time. Muff-sized earphones clamped on their heads, judge, jury, defendants and spectators alike were transported by tape recording into former President Richard Nixon's Oval Office. They heard Nixon curse and connive with his top aides to conceal the truth of Watergate from all others, including his own Justice Department. Reproduced publicly for the first tune, the ghostly voices,...

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