Watergate

To a first-year law student in 1975, the 1-inch scrap of paper pinned to a bulletin board belied its legal weight: "Clerk wanted for Watergate appeal."It was Arnold Rochvarg's ticket to help write a chapter in history that included the only resignation of a U.S. president. With it, he would help defend one of the president's men who was convicted in a White House cover-up conspiracy.Twenty years after taking the $6.50-an-hour job, the 43-year-old West Friendship law professor has written a book about the case, "Watergate Victory: Mardian's Appeal."

On the 20th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation as president, cable offers two documentaries keyed to Watergate tonight. Unfortunately, they overlap -- but you can enjoy both, providing your TV room is equipped with a secret taping system. On broadcast TV, the most intriguing offering is a new episode of "TV Nation."* "TV Nation" (8-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- I don't want to give too much detail about which reports are scheduled in tonight's "TV Nation," because part of the fun is in the surprise, and in the variety.

Unstated though it may be, one aim of the Senate Banking Committee's Whitewater inquiries this week has been to discover if there was a Watergate-style coverup of evidence in Vince Foster's office pointing to some sort of wrongdoing on the part of President and Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Foster was an old Arkansas friend who became deputy White House counsel and, in July, 1993, killed himself.For reasons not completely clear to us, he was working on personal legal matters of the Clintons at the time.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's decision to drop White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum and issue strict orders against further back-channel contacts with the Whitewater investigation came only after a belated realization that the growing appearance of a cover-up might prove more damaging than the ill-starred real estate deal itself.Late last week, as criticism mounted in the wake of disclosures that Mr. Nussbaum had participated in a series of improper meetings on Whitewater with officials of the Treasury Department, an angry Mr. Clinton exploded at his staff, demanding an end to self-inflicted wounds.

Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History, a two-hour PBS special that revisits the landmark events set in motion by the burglary of Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, reminds you what a marvelous instrument of shared memory television can be. This is television for the civic life and soul of the nation. The Watergate break-in that resulted in the arrest of five men who were working for Republican President Richard M. Nixon's White House, took place June 17, 1972 - more than 31 years ago. (The "30" in the title of tonight's program refers to PBS making the wise and civic-minded decision to carry hearings of the Senate Watergate Committee live during the summer of 1973.

Joe Lowther won oratory contests at Holy Cross University, parachuted into France on D-Day and became a tough Justice Department prosecutor.He was devoted to his wife, took memorable fishing trips, owned a red Cadillac convertible and a house on the water in Royal Oak on the Eastern Shore.Despite a gruff demeanor, he had close friends who respected his intellect.But he wanted more.As he saw death approaching, he wanted to be remembered as a source for the Watergate news stories that brought down an American president.

WASHINGTON -- Those who didn't live through Watergate may have trouble understanding how profoundly shocking it was to those who did live through it.By 1972, Americans had accepted the sad fact that their leaders might become the targets of assassinations, something that never was even considered before November 22, 1963. They had become at least somewhat accustomed to bitterly negative politics; candidates were using attack commercials on television accuse their opponents of all kinds of nefarious behavior.

Just when you thought conspiracy theories about the 1963 assassination of John Kennedy could not possibly take any more new twists or turns, along comes TV producer George Paige and his show, "The JFK Conspiracy," scheduled to air at 8 tonight on WNUV-TV (Channel 54).Paige says he will prove on-air tonight that the Kennedy assassination was connected to Watergate and that Richard Nixon was involved. Furthermore, Paige says, he will reveal the identity of "Deep Throat" during his syndicated show, with James Earl Jones as host and broadcast live from studios across the street from the White House.

Events in the Oval Office on Monday, March 20, 1973, reveal much of the Nixon presidency in shorthand. The president began the day schmoozing with Republican leaders, a chore he disliked. Party loyalty was necessary but inhibiting. The meeting did give him ideas, however, about deflecting criticism of official secrecy by proving that Lyndon Johnson was worse.The twilight of Watergate was settling in. But Nixon and his closest aides still underestimated its implications, nine months after the event.

When Frank Wills came to Annapolis recently for a fund-raiser in his honor, he was portrayed as a forgotten man, an unsung hero and a victim.It is a role that Wills, the guard who discovered the Watergate burglary 21 years ago, has cultivated.But for a man who is supposed to be "unsung," his saga has been told and retold so many times it could make a small opera.Wills, 46, got a check for $750 at the fund-raiser and more national publicity. But people who have known Wills for years say that while he once was in financial straits, fund-raisers are not what he now needs.