Watergate scandal

== Purpose of the break-in ==
Despite the enormous impact of the Watergate scandal, the purpose of the break-in of the DNC offices has never been conclusively established. Records from the ''United States v. Liddy'' trial, made public in 2013, showed that four of the five burglars testified that they were told the campaign operation hoped to find evidence that linked Cuban funding to Democratic campaigns.<ref name="baldwinlist">{{Cite news |last=Jessica Gresko, Associated Press |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/watergate-records_n_3606339.html |title=Watergate Records Released 40 Years After Being Filed Under Seal |date=July 16, 2013 |work=HuffPost |access-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-date=December 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226121758/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/watergate-records_n_3606339.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The longtime hypothesis suggests that the target of the break-in was the offices of [[Larry O'Brien]], the DNC chairman.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenberg |first=David |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/weekinreview/05green.html |title=The Unsolved Mysteries of Watergate |date=June 5, 2005 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 20, 2017 |archive-date=June 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623020047/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/weekinreview/05green.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, O'Brien's name was not on Alfred C. Baldwin III's list of targets that was released in 2013.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} Among those listed were senior DNC official [[R. Spencer Oliver]], Oliver's secretary Ida "Maxine" Wells, co-worker Robert Allen and secretary Barbara Kennedy.<ref name=baldwinlist />

Based on these revelations, [[Texas A&M]] history professor Luke Nichter, who had successfully petitioned for the release of the information,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/dcd/sites/dcd/files/12-mc-74_memorandum_opinion.pdf |title=In Re: Petition of Luke Nitcher |last=Senior Judge Royce Lamberth |date=June 11, 2013 |website=United States District Court for the District of Columbia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910195819/http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/dcd/sites/dcd/files/12-mc-74_memorandum_opinion.pdf |archive-date=September 10, 2014 |access-date=September 9, 2014}}</ref> argued that Woodward and Bernstein were incorrect in concluding, based largely on Watergate burglar James McCord's word, that the purpose of the break-in was to bug O'Brien's phone to gather political and financial intelligence on the Democrats.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} Instead, Nichter sided with late journalist [[J. Anthony Lukas]] of ''The New York Times'', who had concluded that the committee was seeking to find evidence linking the Democrats to prostitution, as it was alleged that Oliver's office had been used to arrange such meetings. However, Nichter acknowledged that Woodward and Bernstein's theory of O'Brien as the target could not be debunked unless the information was released about what Baldwin heard in his bugging of conversations.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

In 1968, O'Brien was appointed by Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]] to serve as the national director of Humphrey's presidential campaign and, separately, by [[Howard Hughes]] to serve as Hughes' public-policy lobbyist in Washington. O'Brien was elected national chairman of the DNC in 1968 and 1970. In late 1971, the president's brother, [[Donald Nixon]], was collecting intelligence for his brother at the time and asked [[John H. Meier]], an adviser to Howard Hughes, about O'Brien. In 1956, Donald Nixon had borrowed $205,000 from Howard Hughes and had never repaid the loan. The loan's existence surfaced during the [[1960 United States presidential election|1960 presidential election]] campaign, embarrassing Richard Nixon and becoming a political liability. According to author Donald M. Bartlett, Richard Nixon would do whatever was necessary to prevent another family embarrassment.<ref>Donald L. Bartlett, ''Howard Hughes'', p. 410, W. W. Norton & Co., 2004 {{ISBN|978-0-393-32602-4}}</ref> From 1968 to 1970, Hughes withdrew nearly half a million dollars from the Texas National Bank of Commerce for contributions to both Democrats and Republicans, including presidential candidates Humphrey and Nixon. Hughes wanted Donald Nixon and Meier involved but Nixon opposed this.<ref>Charles Higham ''Howard Hughes'', p. 244, Macmillan, 2004 {{ISBN|978-0-312-32997-6}}</ref>

Meier told Donald Nixon that he was sure the Democrats would win the election because they had considerable information on Richard Nixon's illicit dealings with Hughes that had never been released, and that it resided with Larry O'Brien.<ref>DuBois, Larry, and Laurence Gonzales (September 1976). "Hughes, Nixon and the C.I.A.: The Watergate Conspiracy Woodward and Bernstein Missed", ''Playboy''</ref> According to Fred Emery, O'Brien had been a lobbyist for Hughes in a Democrat-controlled Congress, and the possibility of his finding out about Hughes' illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign was too much of a danger for Nixon to ignore.<ref>Fred Emery ''Watergate'', p. 30, Simon & Schuster, 1995 {{ISBN|978-0-684-81323-3}}</ref>

[[James F. Neal]], who prosecuted the Watergate 7, did not believe Nixon had ordered the break-in because of Nixon's surprised reaction when he was told about it.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917056,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122071021/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917056,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 22, 2011 |title=The Nation: It Goes Back to the Big Man Time Magazine January 13, 1975 issue |date=January 13, 1975 |magazine=Time |access-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref>