The Watergate

January 1, 2018

Watergate is ingrained in our cultural memory as the 1974 scandal that brought down U.S. President Richard Nixon. Rodota, an advisor to President Ronald Reagan and California governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, offers an engaging history of the Watergate complex in Washington, DC--celebrity residents, the hotel, and upscale restaurant--which the Washington Post called, "the Potomac Titanic with no icebergs or steerage class." Included is a lively account of the disagreements between developers of Watergate, which opened in 1965, and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the District's Zoning Commission, as they tried to agree on a design that would enhance the surroundings' natural beauty without overwhelming the neighboring John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Stories of many residents, including controversial would-be diplomat Anna Chennault, architect Luigi Moretti, chef Jean-Louis Palladin, and White House intern Monica Lewinsky make for a brisk narrative, as Rodota vividly recounts this place to be for political royalty during the Nixon and Reagan years, despite repeated incidents of inside burglaries, water damage, and faulty appliances. VERDICT A fascinating account, part history, part society page, which will appeal to a wide audience of general readers and those intrigued by architectural history.--Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2017
The story of the six-building complex of residences, offices, and hotel that has served as a Washington, D.C., power center from the time it opened in 1965.In June 1972, five men broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office building, beginning a chain of events that led to Richard Nixon's resignation two years later--and made "Watergate" synonymous with scandal. Journalist and political aide Rodota makes his literary debut with an entertaining, gossip-filled history of the architecturally innovative structures along the Potomac River. Advertised to prospective residents as "the Garden City Within a City," the complex boasted a reflecting pool, luxurious baths (each with a bidet), views of the Potomac from private balconies, and state-of-the-art security--which, it turns out, did not prevent a spate of burglaries. It became a coveted address during the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, "second only to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," Rodota writes, offering a fabulous French restaurant, opulent pastry shop, beauty salon, and four psychiatrists. The author profiles the personalities and interior design choices of many famous, and sometimes notorious, Watergate residents: politicians, lawyers, doctors, diplomats, and businessmen. Two women stand out: Martha Mitchell, the volatile, outspoken, hard-drinking wife of Nixon's attorney general and campaign manager, John Mitchell; and socialite Anna Chennault, a wealthy widow described by her biographer as "extremely aggressive socially, and ambitious, and she wanted to be the queen, she wanted to be on the top of the social heap, and she worked it." Other notables include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, newspaper editor Ben Bradlee and his wife, Sally Quinn; Condoleezza Rice; and Monica Lewinsky, who apologized to her neighbors for "intrusions" during the Starr investigation. Like the residences, the hotel attracted stars: Pearl Bailey, who cooked a roast for Henry Fonda in her suite's kitchen; Shelley Winters, who breakfasted in the hotel dining room wearing a bathrobe and slippers; and Katharine Hepburn, who demanded that her room's heaters be disconnected so her room would be cool enough.A richly detailed history of a site awarded landmark status.

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February 19, 2018
Political consultant Rodota chronicles the history of the D.C. address known as the Watergate from its conception in 1960 in the offices of the Italian construction company SGI to its present place in the registry of historic landmarks. An integral part of the Watergate story is the 1972 break-in at the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee, but Rodota doesn’t overemphasize that incident; he happily careens from the break-in to lesser-known but significant Watergate-connected scandals, including a gay prostitution ring that did business at the Watergate Hotel, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair (relevant because of Monica Lewinsky’s Watergate residence), and a host of other misdeeds and transgressions that either occurred at the Watergate or were perpetuated by Watergate residents. Rodota includes innumerable anecdotes about both ordinary and rich and powerful Watergate dwellers, among them cabinet members, senators, and political operatives. He also devotes energy to the Watergate’s controversial architecture and the zoning battles that surrounded its planning and construction, as well as the high-wire financial challenges faced by the development’s Watergate Hotel. This account mixes history, finance, and high-level political gossip to evoke the Watergate complex’s mystique. Agency: Sterling Lord Literistic.