Watergate Testimony

​Watergate Testimony

Directions: Read the excerpt that follows and answer the questions.

​Source information: H.R. Haldeman served as President Nixon’s chief of staff from 1969 to 1973 and was one of Nixon’s closest and most trusted advisors. In May 1973, a Senate committee began investigating whether Nixon and his team, including Haldeman, had been involved in a break-in at the Democratic Party’s headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in June 1972. Haldeman said the following testimony under oath when he appeared before the committee in July 1973.

Testimony: H.R. Haldeman

Date: July 1973

Location: United States Senate, Washington, DC

​“President Nixon had no knowledge of or involvement in either the Watergate affair itself or the subsequent efforts of a cover up of the Watergate. It will be equally clear, despite all the unfounded allegations to the contrary, that I had no such knowledge or involvement.”

​Vocabulary

subsequent: later allegation: accusation

unfounded: not based on facts

Open Ended

Question 1: What in the source information might lead you to trust this document’s reliability as evidence of Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate break-in?

Open Ended

Question 2: What in the source information might lead you to question this document’s reliability as evidence of Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate break-in?