Despite the passage of nearly 50 years, the Watergate saga remains endlessly fascinating. Readers of the oral histories in the Historical Society’s vast collection will find numerous perspectives on the scandal, from participants both integral and tangential, both compromised and innocent. Daniel Armstrong served for 35 years as Chief of the Litigation Division of the Federal Communications Commission, as his oral history recounts. But it is Armstrong’s detailed – and, even to this day, “newsworthy” – observations about Watergate that veteran journalist Carl Stern has chosen to highlight in his summary of Armstrong’s oral history.
Armstrong worked as personal assistant to Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray during the crucial early months of the Watergate investigation – and thus was perfectly situated to offer keen recollections and opinions about John Dean, Mark Felt (“Deep Throat”), and the circumstances that – unfairly, in Armstrong’s estimation – ultimately ensnared Gray and led to his resignation.