Even as some critics of Donald Trump have been using the I word (impeach), the Library of Congress and WGBH Boston have announced Friday (Nov. 3) that the 51 days of "one of the most popular series in public broadcasting is now available for online viewing--the 1973 Watergate hearings that resulted in the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
It will be the first time in 44 years the broadcasts will be available for viewing, this time online.
Public TV covered the Watergate hearings gavel-to-gavel--they were must-watch after school TV for many Boomers. Noncommercial WETA Washington donated the tapes, which have been digitized and are available as part of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (americanarchive.org/exhibits/watergate.
WGBH and the Library jointly oversee the archive.
The Senate Watergate Committee hearings ran from May 17 to Nov. 15, presided over by the ironically Southern and avuncular chairman, Sam Ervin (D-N.C.), who became a national celebrity.
The library points out that the hearings marked the first uniting of Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer as anchors of the coverage, which it says "became a model for public television and, later, C-SPAN."
