June 3, 2016

How Watergate almost didn't happen

Sam Smith - This being National Doughnut Day, I get to tell how doughnuts played a key role in uncovering the Watergate break in. On that morning, I was later told by a top DC police officer, detectives from the Watergate precinct had been heavily chastised and warned by their commander that they would be put back in uniform if they didn't do a better job. When the Watergate call came in, the cops who should have responded were in an alley "cooping" with coffee (and presumably doughnuts) and didn't answer right away. The detectives anxious to improve their status responded immediately and handled the case. As a result it was an unmarked car that drove up to the Watergate unnoticed by the thieves' observer in the hotel across the street. If it had been a marked car, they would have been tipped off and the whole Watergate scandal might never have been discovered.

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