The scene of the crime

I've always been fascinated by visiting historic places, especially places of prominence in American history.
One of my more interesting treks was to the sixth floor of the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Yes, that was the location of the Democratic National Committee in 1972, the target of a burglary which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon two years later. You know that story, now let me tell you mine:
I was visiting D.C in the summer of 1981 with a friend, Kevin. We had a tentative agenda, planning to hit the usual landmarks, including a pre-arranged tour of the Capitol.
One afternoon we decided to head towards the Watergate Complex, a massive campus of hotels, offices and condos. Inside the hotel we struck up a brief conversation with a guard. I asked if we could go see the break-in room which, in 1972, was the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. I told the guard we were students working on a research paper about the Watergate scandal, and that visiting the office would give us some insight into the scandal. I have to admit there was no part of that story which was true.
He told us to come back in a few hours -- and he warned us that we couldn't take any pictures inside.

We left and went across the street to Howard Johnson's, which is where some of the Watergate burglars stayed during their operation and where look-outs had kept a watch while the burglars were doing the break-in. I had clam chowder for dinner. Funny how one remembers those details.

We returned to the Watergate and checked in with the guard, who was true to his word.
It was a very ordinary office building, with a very ordinary office that happened to be the scene of such an extraordinary event.
I recall that, to the right side of the door on the inside, there was a plaque that mentioned the significance of the room. We stood inside the office, which was vacant at the time, and just sort of looked around. I am not sure what we expected to see but it has to have been the most non-descript historical site in America.

I don't remember what we did after leaving. I was disappointed I couldn't take any pictures, which would have been a great souvenir. It's ironic that the Watergate burglars went into that room specifically to take pictures of political documents.

Although I don't recall spending much time watching the Watergate hearings on television, that visit 9 years after the fact fueled my interest in the Watergate scandal and investigative journalism.

We all know how the Watergate story came to an end: Nixon announced his resignation on August 8th -- a date that will always be in my memory.