The Infamous but Gorgeous Watergate Hotel

On June 17th, 1972, a group of operatives working on the re-election campaign for President Richard M. Nixon got caught on the sixth floor of a large complex while setting up surveillance equipment. They had chosen to ‘bug’ the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the nation’s capital at the Watergate Hotel.

A bug in the surveillance world simply means one party wants to listen to another party without the second party knowing, while the first party does, and has everything recorded.

No one really knows where the term "to bug something" came from. There are many theories, and one is that when alarm systems became standard fare for businesses, burglars would refer to the place as being 'bugged,' as though the police were already there.

It doesn’t really matter where the term originated, since Room 214 at the Watergate had been bugged, and the operatives on June 17th were just going back to ensure their bugs would not be detected by the bigwigs running the Washington D.C. branch of the DNC.

Unfortunately for President Nixon, this issue at the Watergate Hotel would cost him the presidency, even though he won in a landslide victory in November of 1972, securing his second term in office. Due to the fallout from this break-in, which turned out to be an international tale of intrigue and conspiracy, he would have to resign from office in August of 1974.

This is where, throughout the years, fortunes have been made from coffee cups, t-shirts, flags, bumper stickers, which show President Nixon standing proudly with both hands raised and fingers flashing V’s, with the tag - I am Not a Crook.

I have to be honest, I don’t really recall any of this except for history lessons in school. Of course, I was around at the time, but being in high school, I was more interested in sports, girls, friends, and the like instead of following the goings-on in Washington, D.C. Heck, I wasn’t even close to voting age, so why should I care?

But as the decades slipped by and I became more of a history buff, I found the circumstances around the demise of a president’s reign mid-term - fascinating.

It was even more fascinating when Laureen, my lovely wife, and I were doing our typical ten-mile sauntering around Washington, D.C., a couple of years ago, and found ourselves standing in front of the infamous Watergate Hotel on Virginia Avenue.

“That’s the Watergate Hotel,” I said.

“I see that,” Laureen responded. “We weren’t even looking for it, and here it is.”

“I would call that a serendipitous bit of luck,” I said.

It was awesome to be standing in front of such a gorgeous hotel as the Watergate and realize the intrigue that had occurred here a short five decades ago.

Now, fast forward to the summer of 2025, and Laureen and I found ourselves staying at the very same Watergate Hotel.

The hotel sits just a couple of streets away from the beautiful, tree-lined Potomac River with majestic views from pretty much every room. It is referred to as a luxurious place to stay while visiting Washington D.C., and we found that to be true in every fashion.

The entire Watergate Complex, which housed business offices, shops, and the hotel itself, was built during the 1960s and designed by the famous Italian architect, Luigi Walter Moretti.

He had wanted this complex to mirror the gentle flowing of the Potomac River as it swept by below the bluffs where the Watergate was built. Moretti did a fantastic job as the building does seem to bend in a way like the river sweeping by the Wharf DC, which has tasty restaurants, night spots, and other venues to keep locals and tourists engaged.

The Top of the Gate is an open bar and restaurant allowing incredible views of Washington D.C. itself as well as the surrounding areas of Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and Foggy Bottom (I still chuckle typing that).

View from our room at the Watergate Hotel

I am not going to say we had a few drinks at the Top of the Gate while visiting Washington D.C. - but we did. The sunsets, the city lights in the distance, and a cold drink were what Congress would order if it had that sort of power.

Time to enjoy a cold beverage overlooking Washington D.C.

But, I was there not only to enjoy the ambiance but to find out what I could about this Watergate Scandal, as though there had not been enough written about it.

It was something to do with the tape that led investigators to locate and ultimately convict those involved in the break-in at the DNC, those being most famously E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy.

According to Aziz, the unofficial historian of the Watergate Hotel, it was a simple piece of sticky tape that did the burglars in. And, here I always thought it had to do with more subterfuge involving tape in a recorder.

“No,”  Aziz said. “It was a security guard at the time, Frank Wills, who first spotted a piece of tape across a door latch leading to the area where the burglary was taking place.”

That was news to me.

“In that manner, the doors leading to the DNC headquarters would not lock, thus giving anyone, the burglars, time to go in and out of the room. After removing the tape, Wills did another check an hour later and saw the tape had been replaced and then called the police.”

Aziz pointing to where the DNC Headquarters once were at the Watergate Complex

It turns out that most likely the bugging of the office would not have been discovered if the group doing the burglary had simply removed the tape from the latch when they finally left the office. They did not, and down came a presidency.

Now known as the Scandal Room, the room is set up as it would have looked on that fateful day in 1972. The furniture is retro 70’s, there are numerous photos and news clippings from the time, recording devices and typewriters that spell another time, and finally the balcony that overlooks the once DNC headquarters across from Room 214 in the complex.

Some of the equipment used during the scandal

Aziz showing off the Scandal Room from 1972

The history lesson of the Watergate Scandal was enlightening and frightening to think of what political parties, on both sides, are capable of doing - especially right in the nation's capital, practically under George Washington's nose.

But Watergate is not only known for that one infamous incident, but is also known for all the celebrities, past and present, who have made the Five Star Hotel home. Including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Andy Warhol, Sammy Davis Jr., and a host of Hollywood types. And of course, those of us who just want to experience a 5 Star hotel while visiting the nation’s capital

For more information:

https://www.thewatergatehotel.com/

https://washington.org/

John can be contacted at - beyersbyways@gmail.com

Laureen, my lovely wife, and I have a deal. Being avid travelers, we decided years ago that every other year we would travel out of the country, and the following year, within in the country. 

That worked for decades: England and then South Dakota. Fuji and then Texas. Ireland and then Oklahoma. Peru and then Oregon. Seemed pretty simple and straightforward. The year 2023 meant out of the country. Though we did travel to Austria in 2022, but that was an anomaly since we hadn’t been able to travel much during those restrictive COVID times, in or out of the country. Besides, we just wanted to travel, and got a killer deal.

Vienna, seen from the River Danube

Though I did travel secretly, not letting anyone know of those travels during the restrictions certain entities put on their citizens. I had a travel column to write. It was my duty to throw caution to the wind. California was so restrictive that I read about a dolphin that was arrested near the Santa Monica pier for swimming without a mask. 

Visiting Hardyville cemetery during COVID

“Scotland it is,” I stated one early morning.

Laureen Beyer ready for our trip

“How about Washington D.C. instead,” Laureen countered. 

Nope, it was the ‘out of the country year’ - I knew who would win this discussion. 

A few weeks later, we were headed to the Los Angeles International Airport for our booked flights. And soon, we were landing at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Most would think that this would be a quick layover to the next flight which would deliver this traveling duo to the Edinburgh Airport in the area once known as Caledonia. Nope, we were staying in the swamp of Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. - the Swamp

“You know it really wasn’t built on a swamp,” Laureen stated as we waited for our car to take us to the hotel.

I had heard, from unreliable sources, that the capital of the United States had been built on a mosquito infested, alligator overrun swamp that oftentimes the likes of Sasquatch would snatch lawmakers out of their Congressional seats. 

Just a myth - but a good one. George Washington, the first president of the United States, envisioned this city on the banks of the Potomac River since it was so close to Georgetown, a strategically important locale at the time. The town was probably named after King George III (whom we pummeled), or either George Gordon and George Bell who first owned the land. 

Does it matter? George Washington just wanted the land to be away from the swampland that surrounded Chesapeake Bay. 

It is rumored that the future president said, “I hath thought of a most opportune locality for the splendid capital of this country we are striving to complete.” 

His assistant may have replied, “Hath you?” 

“Yeth, I hathhh,” Washington started but stopped, as his wooden choppers fell into some swampy ground at his feet. 

Being from a drier climate than Washington D.C. is during July, I felt the sweat start rolling down my back like a leech that has attached itself to your body while swimming in a not-so-clean lake. 

Actually, leeches don’t move much, they just burrow into your body searching for blood. I’ve had a few in my time adventuring here and there in remote locales. But my sweat rolled down from my back like the Potomac River making sure everyone knew I was a sweat attractor. 

And we were barely out of Terminal 2 at that point. “It’s humid,” I said. 

“The car is air conditioned,” Laureen replied, as our driver showed up. “Aren’t you sweating?”

“Women glisten,” she said. “Men sweat.” 

Thus began my adventure where three separate branches of government rule this great land of ours. The Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judiciary Branch. All separate but equal. I would be the judge of that, by the time this trip to the swamp was complete. 

U.S. Congress - one seat of power

First, to the hotel and a cold adult libation. It was awfully muggy. How muggy? A person could wear this weather. 

I had never been to Washington D.C., and I was looking forward to all the sites to be sought. 

George Washington, besides being the first president of the newly formed United States and the Hero of the Revolutionary War, actually chose the location of the nation’s capital. The future home to the Republic was to be between the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, above the shores and away from any of the swamp lands that are often present in slow brackish water located in eddies or estuaries. 

Potomac River looking toward Washington D.C.

The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded the land to build the capital, and according to the newly written Constitution, the area would be referred to as a ‘district’ distinguishing itself from belonging to any particular state. Thomas Jefferson and his fellow signers knew that the nation's capital had to be independent and never given state status, since that would imbue the small state an immense amount of clout that the other states would not have. 

Pierre L’Enfant, clearly a Frenchman, drew up some really cool plans for the new city.

“I, Pierre L’Enfant,” announced L’Enfant in a perfect French accent, “will make something you Americans could never think of. Because I am French.” 

Rumor is that a howling wind was sweeping along the Potomac and an aide to President Washington cupped his ears and said, “What did he say about an elephant?” 

The center of this new city would be the Capitol building where all the important issues would be decided by those elected by their constituents. Washington D.C. was off to a roaring start, but then the British invaded during the War of 1812 and burned down the White House, the Capitol, and the Library of Congress in 1814. 

That was very rude of them, and to this day no true American will ever learn the rules to some silly game called cricket. 

The new white house was designed by an Irish-American by the name of James Hoban and was rebuilt in 1817. He passed away on December 8th, 1831. I only mention this since I was born on December 8th and wonder if I may have gotten some of my building talents from my fellow Irishman. Aye, we Irish are a bit superstitious and believe in tall tales and conjuring of the spirits. 

One view of current White House

The town did not have much of a population and in 1847 grew smaller both in folks living there and actual acreage. The area, now known as Alexandria, left the district since they felt as though they were not being treated well by those across the wide Potomac River. 

Cobblestone road in Alexandria

It wasn’t until the Civil War that Washington D.C. increased in size, partly because all enslaved persons in the district were emancipated on April 16, 1862 - nine months before President Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. 

It became the hub for free slaves and the city flourished. Frederick Douglass, who met with President Lincoln on three occasions, made Washington D.C. his home. 

The Lincoln Memorial

The federal government grew during the war and a large army was barracked there to protect, not only the president but the rest of the United States Government. 

A good decision, since Virginia joined with the Confederate States of America and the state can easily be seen by the naked eye from the White House. 

The history of the United States is jam packed in Washington D.C. from the Revolutionary War, to the Civil War, and beyond. This is the centerpiece for all the action this wonderful country has seen. 

It was about time I visited and learned first-hand what this mecca for democracy had to offer. After changing out of my thoroughly wet clothing in the hotel and feeling a few pounds lighter from water loss, Laureen asked what I wanted to do first. 

“There is so much to see and learn,” I replied. “I’m not sure where to start.”

“There’s the National Mall, the reflecting pool, the Washington Monument,” she said. “Or perhaps we could just saunter through some of the Smithsonian Museums until we get our bearings.”

So much to see, and so little time. We had nine days to take in 247 years of the unbelievable history of triumph, defeat, wonder, hope, imagination, despair, struggle, argument, world aggression, and the rest that makes the United States what it is today. Where to start was a question I pondered for a moment.

But as I stood in the comfort of the air-conditioned lobby of our hotel and looked across the street. I knew where I wanted to start this new adventure to learn about those who not only built the history of our beautiful country but the city itself.

“There.” I said. 

“Where?” Laureen asked. 

 “Across the street, at the Capitol City Brewing Company.” 

And our adventure began.