After setting the stage in the first two episodes, White House Plumbers episode 3, "Don't Drink the Whiskey at the Watergate," reenacts the Watergate break-in of 1972 that would eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. Or should we say break-ins?
Most of us know the story of Watergate, particularly the cover-up that followed the break-in on June 17, 1972. But White House Plumbers gives us a look at the mistakes that led to the burglars being caught and was the beginning of the end of Nixon's presidency.
But how much of what was shown in the episode was fact and how much was fiction? We're breaking that down right here, including the number of times the burglars got into the Watergate and the role that Frank Wills played in their arrest.
How many times did they break into Watergate?
The fiction
In the opening moments of White House Plumbers, we are told that there were four break-in attempts of the DNC at the Watergate. We see all four of those attempts in this episode.
It started with the full team, including Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson), Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux), James McCord (Toby Huss), Frank Sturgis (Kim Coates), Bernard Barker (Yul Vazquez), Virgilio Gonzales (Nelson Ascencio) and Eugenion Martinez (Tony Plana), renting out a banquet hall as their cover for being there. There were two operations that night, with one team staying to break into the DNC and another attempting to break into Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern's campaign offices. Both failed because the McGovern team's contact abandoned them and the DNC team got locked in the banquet hall.
Attempt number two saw them get into the Watergate, but unable to get into the DNC because their locksmith did not have the right tools. The third attempt, however, saw a successful break-in, but there was just one problem — the bugs they planted did not work. So, despite initial protests from Hunt, they decide to break in for a fourth time.
However, this was the fateful time they would be caught. The five burglars arrested were McCord, Sturgis, Barker, Gonzales and Martinez, while Hunt and Liddy were at the "command center" and able to escape without being caught.
But did the plumbers really break into the Watergate four times?
The fact
In our research, we were only able to confirm three Watergate break-in attempts by the plumbers. Most documents acknowledge two, while a CNN story said that there were at least three.
Tim Naftali, CNN presidential historian and director of New York University's undergraduate public policy major, said the first attempt failed because they did not have the right locksmith with them to get into the locked DNC, similar to the show's second break-in attempt. Naftali said the second attempt had them bug an empty conference room; the show had them bug a secretary while the bugs on more prominent figures were not working properly. The third attempt was to correct the bugs and was when they were ultimately caught.
Other reports, including from the Nixon Library and History.com, mention that there were at least two break-ins — the planting of the failed bugs and the attempt to fix them was when they all were caught.
Britannica, meanwhile, notes there was a failed attempt to break into McGovern's campaign headquarters, but there is no reference that this was paired with a fourth attempt to get into the DNC offices at the Watergate.
Who is Frank Wills?
The fiction
A key figure in the arrest of the Watergate burglars was Frank Wills, a security guard at the hotel/office building complex. In the show, we see Wills (Eddie K. Robinson) have his first interaction with Hunt and the others during their first break-in attempt, but he thinks nothing of it. However, as they continue to try their subsequent break-ins, Wills is often noticing odd things that raise his alarm. It all culminates when he notices a door to the building has had tape put over the latch in order to prevent it from locking. He calls it in and eventually the police arrive, catching McCord and the others in the act of breaking in.
So who is Frank Wills and did he really help capture the Watergate burglars?
The fact
Frank Wills' role in the Watergate break-in is pretty accurately portrayed in the show (aside from him meeting Hunt during that first, unconfirmed break-in). On the blog Rediscovering Black History from the National Archives, it says that while on his rounds on June 17, 1972, Wills spotted the tape on a door and removed it. However, when he returned later he saw that tape had been reapplied. This caused him to call the authorities, who then caught and arrested everyone.
After the scandal became public, Wills left his job at the Watergate; the blog says that he did not feel he was given proper compensation (raise and a promotion) for helping to discover the burglary. He would parlay his role in the scandal for a brief bit of fame, including starring as himself in the Oscar-winning movie All the President's Men about the Watergate scandal. Unfortunately, his brief time in the sun would not last, and he would struggle for the rest of his life before dying at the age of 52 in 2000.
New episodes of White House Plumbers air on HBO (and stream simultaneously on HBO Max) on Mondays.
