Museum opening Watergate exhibit
The N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh will open “ Watergate: Political Scandal & the Presidency” tomorrow (May 17).
The opening coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first televised hearing of the Senate Select Committee that investigated President Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 campaign for re-election. The exhibit will run through Aug. 10, 2014, one day after the 40th anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation. Admission is free.
“Since many museum visitors will be too young to remember Watergate, the exhibit tells the story of this rather complicated scandal in a very straightforward, engaging way,” says RaeLana Poteat, curator of Political and Social History. “Artifacts, photographs, video clips and a 1970 living room setting will intrigue both younger visitors and those who recall this transformative time in our nation’s history. Watergate also highlights North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin Jr. and many other Tar Heels who played important roles in investigating the scandal.”
Ervin served as chair of the Senate Select Committee that spent almost three months grilling Nixon administration officials during the first phase of its hearings. Eventually, evidence presented during the Senate Select Committee hearings, House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings, and an ongoing criminal investigation led to the president’s resignation and the indictment of 40 Nixon campaign and administration officials.
For information about the N.C. Museum of History, call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org or Facebook.
