On June 18, 1972, five burglars were arrested at Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. “No one knows yet why they were there,” Garrick Utley announced on the evening news, “but I have a feeling we haven’t heard the end of this story.”
Indeed. The Watergate scandal would consume us all for the next two years. Local folks can be excused if they lost the thread for a few months, since Hurricane Agnes devastated the whole region just five days later. It would be quite a while before they could focus on Richard Nixon’s “dirty tricks.”
But of course, there was a great deal more going on in the world. On January 30 British paratroopers in Northern Ireland went wild and massacred 14 Catholics staging a protest march. It ratcheted up “the Troubles,” a 30-year guerilla war.
Like Garrick Utley, Jim McKay made an announcement that still resounds for those who heard it. After broadcasting 14 hours straight for the Munich Olympics hostage crisis, it fell to him to tell the English-speaking world, “Our worst fears have been realized… they’re all gone.” Thirteen Israeli hostages had been killed.
Another tragedy unfolded in the snowbound Andes, when 45 passengers and crew of an airliner were given up for dead. Two months later two survivors walked out, and 11 more back at the mountaintop crash site were quickly rescued. Some had resorted to cannibalism, from the frozen bodies of the dead.
Here at home the big story was Vietnam. Jane Fonda visited Hanoi. The last draft lottery was drawn, though those numbers were never called. Secretary of State Kissinger announced that “Peace is at hand in Vietnam” just in time to help Nixon coast to victory in his re-election campaign. After the election Nixon ordered massive bombings over Christmas, and fighting dragged on until 1975, mostly without us after 1973.
On a cheerier note (and not a moment too late – we need a little cheer), Volkswagen sold its 15 millionth “beetle.” Atari sold the very first computer game – Pong! – in an arcade version. (Still no home computers yet.)
But we DID have the first hand-held scientific calculator from Hewlett-Packard, the size of half a brick, weighing over half a pound, and retailing at $395. Well I remember the day when math majors at my college trooped off to buy their own, because they’d gotten a deal for only $200! And for the first time ever, the Down-Jones Industrial Average broke a thousand. Seems quaint today.
The last men on the moon got to drive the Lunar Rover, and Mariner photographed Mars.
Believe it or not, France conducted its last guillotining (the last TWO, actually) in 1972. That’s a little unsettling.
Of course, the presidential election was big news that year, with Nixon and Agnew running for second terms. Democratic candidate George McGovern named Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate, but Eagleton dropped out once public hysteria exploded over news that he had been treated for depression. (So, of course, have millions of other people, including me.) Sargent Shriver then took the second spot.
Besides the dirty tricks, Nixon blasted McGovern, and Democrats in general, as pathetic and gullible peaceniks. McGovern chose NOT to counter by bringing up his Distinguished Flying Cross, and the 35 combat missions he piloted in Europe. Shriver had a Purple Heart, “won” during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Agnew, by the way, was a combat foot soldier in Europe. Nixon’s service was all in rear areas.
Nixon carried 49 states to McGovern’s two (96% for Nixon!). He got 97% of the electoral vote. An unprecedented landslide! But that’s misleading. Nixon did NOT have near-100% support. When you look at the actual VOTES (not states, not electoral votes), he got 60% – still a very big win, but noplace near unanimous.
At the victory rally, supporters chanted “Twelve more years!” – four for Nixon, and eight for Agnew. But despite their huge victory, in less than two years their crimes had found them out. Nixon and Agnew had both resigned in disgrace, to be replaced by Ford and Rockefeller. So all in all, 1972 was a very busy year. I suppose they all are.