Instructions… Bottom of FormFrank Wills: The Real Hero of WatergateBy. George E. CurryNNPA Columnist
The revelation that W. Mark Felt, the former No. 2 person at the FBI, was the “Deep Throat” figure that helped Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward unravel the Watergate scandal, has reopened old political wounds. Supporters of Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace rather than face certain impeachment, accuse Felt of being a traitor. Others have hailed him as a hero. However, the real hero of Watergate was Frank Wills, an alert, Black, $80-a-week security guard who discovered the burglary at the hotel-office complex overlooking the Potomac River.After reporting to work on June 17, 1972 for his midnight to 8 A.M. shift, Wills was making his rounds around 12:30 A.M. when something caught his eye. In an interview years later with the Augusta Chronicle, he recalled: “A piece of tape was on the door; the catch on the door was taped back. I removed the tape, because at that time it really wasn’t unusual…”After making his rounds, Wills went across the street to the Howard Johnson hotel, where he had a serving of orange juice. When he returned to his 6th-floor rounds at 1:55 A.M., he paused.”There, the same door had been retaped the same way,” he told the newspaper. “Something sort of alerted me about that. Just a feeling, you know.”Wills telephoned D.C. police. And when they arrived, officers shut down the elevator, blocked access doors and climbed six flights of stairs until they came to the door that had been re-taped.”We discovered a door had been forced open with a crowbar or something,” Wills said. “That door led directly into the Democratic office, the DNC office.” He noticed a silhouette of a man. “The (police) asked the person in the shadow, ‘Who is that? Come out.’ I was searching for a light switch. When we turned the lights on, one person, then two persons, then three persons came out and on down the line,” Wills told the Augusta Chronicle.In all, five men were apprehended: James W. McCord Jr., Frank Sturgis, Bernard Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez and Eugenio Martinez. They had broken into the offices of the Democratic National Committee three weeks earlier to plant electronic eavesdropping equipment and had returned to repair it.Nixon’s press secretary, Ron Ziegler, tried to dismiss the break-in as a “third-rate burglary.” But it quickly became clear that it was much more than that. One of the burglars, James McCord, identified himself as a CIA agent. Another burglar, Bernard Barker, carried on him the phone number of E. Howard Hunt, the chief of security at the Committee to Re-Elect the President.Through the aggressive reporting of Woodward and Bernstein, the Senate Watergate hearings chaired by Sam Irving, and the testimony and remarkable recall of fired White House counsel John Dean, the scope of the Watergate scandal was revealed and many of Nixon’s closest aides went to prison.Nixon operatives had engaged in a series of dirty tricks in 1973 and 1974 that included breaking into the office of the psychologist of Daniel Ellsberg, the anti-war activist that leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times; spreading false rumors about the wife of Sen. Ed Muskie, a potential Democratic rival, and bugging the office of DNC chairman Larry O’Brien. In addition, Nixon ordered his aides to compile an Enemies List so that they could be harassed by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies.At the Watergate Senate hearing, it was revealed that a secret tape-recording system had been installed in the Oval Office. When investigators sought the tapes, Nixon refused to release them. A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ordered him to turn them over . The combination of that order and the House having approved three articles of impeachment forced Nixon from office. On one of the tapes, Nixon and Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Halderman discussed trying to get the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-ins.While the Watergate stars went on to earn millions, Wills had difficulty getting and holding jobs. He moved back to North Augusta, S.C. in 1990 after his mother suffered a stroke. He did odd jobs and complained: “I was treated like a criminal myself.” In 1983, a Georgia court convicted him of stealing a $12 pair of sneakers.Wills, who died penniless five years ago in Augusta, Ga. at the age of 52, remains a forgotten hero.George E. Curry is editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSA.com. He appears on National Public Radio (NPR) three times a week as part of “News and Notes with Ed Gordon.” In addition, his radio commentary is syndicated each week by Capitol Radio News Service (301/588-1993). To contact Curry or to book him for a speaking engagement, go to his Web site, www.georgecurry.com.###
