History behind Watergate

PBA professors share their memories and impressions from the Watergate era. (From left: Dr. Gary Poe, Dr. Jack Calhoun, and Dr. Peggy VanArman) (Photo taken by: Victoria Vartan)

Nixon was not the only one who was affected by the Watergate scandal. So, what was Watergate and what were the events that led Nixon to resigning as president?

The History Department held an “I Remember” event where about twenty Palm Beach Atlantic University students heard Drs. Poe, VanArman, and Calhoun share their memories and impressions from Watergate.

“He was worried about winning,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun believes that Nixon did not have to do anything and that he was just paranoid.

“People were shocked when he made his, ‘I am not a crook’ speech,” Poe said. “But I think the people were glad to move on and start with a clean slate.”

Poe said Watergate sticks out in people’s minds. Calhoun said Watergate made us a lot more cynical towards politicians.

“Nixon was seen as the conservative Christian at the time,” Poe said. “He was kind of the standard evangelical person.”

Calhoun said that before Watergate, Nixon was known as “Tricky Dicky.”

“In later years, Nixon tried to purchase an apartment on Park Avenue in New York City,” Calhoun said. “The residents all voted no. While in California, he had a famous quip to the press saying not to bash around anymore.”

Nixon never admitted he did anything wrong till the bitter end, Poe said.

What was it like to escape from behind the Berlin Wall?

Dora Lange speaks with students at Palm Beach Atlantic University about escaping from behind the Iron Curtain.

Do you know what it was like to escape from behind the Berlin Wall?

Today, the History Department held an “I Remember” event where about thirty Palm Beach Atlantic University students heard from Dora Lange, who was “raised in Nazi Germany and then lived in East Germany.”

Lange spoke to the students in English, while mixing some German words in as well, about what the experience was like to escape.

“My mother told me to stay until my brother returned from the war prison,” Lange said. “In October 1950, I decided to go to West Germany.”

Lange escaped across the Iron Curtain under gunfire at night to West Germany, while leaving her relatives behind in East Germany.

“As a young person, you always dream of the future,” Lange said. “I didn’t give up on that dream.”