On this date in history: A Washington scandal takes over the TV

[brooklynite]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/top-list/dp-on-this-date-in-history-the-watergate-hearings-on-tv-20130517,0,6311539.story

On May 17, 1973, the Senate hearings into the ever-expanding Watergate scandal took over national television.

Understand, this was before cable, before CNN, before the 24-hour news cycle. There were three networks - NBC, ABC and CBS - and they went off the air when people were asleep. But when representatives of President Nixon's re-election campaign were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters, and when Nixon himself was implicated in the cover-up, the nation became transfixed by the unfolding drama.

The three networks agreed to share live coverage of hearings on a rotating basis. One day, NBC would carry the live broadcast. The next day, ABC. The day after that, CBS. That rotation continued for almost three months, and with each new revelation - particularly after a White House aide reluctantly acknowledged that Nixon had been secretly recording every conversation in the Oval Office - viewers understood that this was a lot more than just guys in suits sitting at long tables asking questions. More than 85 percent of Americans were watching at least some of the hearings

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/may-17-1973-televised-watergate-hearings-begin-19171632

[monmouth3]

1. I had a large house at the time....Nothing.got.done.....n/t

[murielm99]

2. I got no sleep.

I came home from work and watched the hearings on PBS until the wee hours of the morning. I did that until they were over. It is a miracle that I did not get sick, with less than four hours of sleep a night.

[monmouth3]

3. That's what I called good television...LOL...n/t

[hobbit709]

4. I remember Barbara Jordan asking questions they did not want to answer.

[hfojvt]

5. that's hard to believe

and sort of a meaningless statistic. "More than 85% of Americans were watching at least some of the hearings".

I was 11, it was summer vacation in about three weeks. I don't believe I watched ANY of the hearings, except perhaps the clips featured on the nightly news or 60 minutes. I may have been watching the nightly news or 60 minutes.

Also feel that this line is erroneous. "But when representatives of President Nixon's re-election campaign were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters,..."

Because those five men were caught almost a year earlier.

"June 17, 1972: Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex."

http://watergate.info/chronology/brief-timeline-of-events

That timeline does not mention the resignation of Spiro Agnew. Because I do remember watching on TV the nomination of Gerald Ford.

Agnew resigned 10 Oct 1973, and Ford was appointed on 12 October.