On 21 April 2025, Frank Wills discovered burglars in the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel, setting off a sequence of events that led to President Nixon’s resignation.
TwitterFrank Wills play a small — but of the essence — role in the Watergate malicious gossip .
Frank Wills ’ chore at the Watergate Hotel in Washington , D.C. was middling thudding and did n’t yield that well . But in June 1972 , that job suddenly thrust him into the spotlight of story and transform him from a 24 - year - honest-to-god surety guard to a main player in the Watergate dirt .
On the night of June 17 , Wills noticed that someone had taped over the lock on one of the hotel ’s stairwell doors . He alarm the police , who discovered five human race in the Democratic National Committee HQ . They had bugging equipment with them — and White House phone issue .
TwitterFrank Wills played a small — but crucial — role in the Watergate scandal.
Wills ’ chance uncovering knocked down the first Fats Domino of the Watergate scandal and finally led to the surrender of President Richard Nixon in August 1974 . But for Frank Wills , ill fame come at a heavy price .
From South Carolina To Washington, D.C.
Bettmann / Getty ImagesFrank Wills in 1973 .
Born on Feb. 4 , 1948 , in Savannah , Georgia , Frank Wills spent most of his puerility in South Carolina , raised by a undivided female parent . Black Pastreports that he dropped out of gamey school at 17 and joined Job Corps , which get off him to a federal utilisation - training program in Michigan .
There , Wills found work at the Ford Motor Company and at Chrysler Motors but lost his job in the 1968 recession . At the prompting of friends , he decided to try his luck in Washington , D.C. And in April 1971 , he secured a problem at the Watergate Hotel as a certificate guard duty .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesFrank Wills in 1973.
There was nothing glamorous about the occupation . It pay $ 80 a calendar week , and testament do work the midnight - to - seven a.m. switch which involved methodically gibe each of the hotel ’s floors . But Frank Wills ’ job at the Watergate would change his life — and American history .
Frank Wills’ Critical Part In The Watergate Scandal
On June 17 , 1972 , Frank Wills was about 30 minutes into his shift at the Watergate Hotel when he notice something odd . While on patrol in the parking garage , he happen gaffer tape holding down the lock on a stairwell threshold . Wills move out it . At first , he thought nothing of it .
“ A great deal of time we ’d have railroad engineer doing piece of work lately at night . They ’d place something in the door because they ’d be coming right back so I really did n’t pay much aid to it , ” he after said , according toThe Guardian .
Bettmann / Getty ImagesThe Watergate Hotel in 1973 .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe Watergate Hotel in 1973.
But after he briefly leave alone the hotel to get an orange succus across the street , Wills came back and found the tape back in place . mistrustful , he called the police and made an official note in his security log : “ 1:47 AM Found mag tape on room access ; call police to make [ an ] review another review . ”
A team of plainclothed police detective arrive , and Wills stick with as they made their way through the hotel . On the 6th floor , where the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters , they found men hiding in the dark . “ One person , then two persons , then three persons came out , and on down the seam , ” Wills recalled , according to theLos Angeles Times .
The five men were James McCord , Bernard Barker , Eugenio Martinez , Frank Sturgis , and Virgilio Gonzales . They were dressed in suits and ties and impart bugging equipment , $ 2,300 in crisp dollar bills , and telephone numeral that link to the White House .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesWatergate burglar James McCord had formerly worked for the FBI and CIA and was part of the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP).
Bettmann / Getty ImagesWatergate burglar James McCord had formerly work for the FBI and CIA and was part of the Committee to Reelect the President ( CREEP ) .
As it soon became clear , McCord was the security measure director of the Committee to Reelect the President ( CREEP ) and he and the others had ties to an loose mathematical group of White House aides recognise as the “ Plumbers . ” Loyal to the President of the United States , Richard Nixon , their job was to staunch leaks .
But in the moment , neither Wills nor the investigator knew what they ’d found . Wills certainly did n’t lie with that that consequence would change his life .
Owen Franken/Corbis via Getty ImagesReporters interviewing Frank Wills after he discovered the Watergate break-in.
“ We did n’t have any idea about who these masses were and what they were up to … [and ] what this was connected to , ” Frank Wills afterward said consort to theLos Angeles Times . “ I had no idea . ”
Before long , the whole world would find out .
The Aftermath Of Watergate
As the nation untangle what had happen at the Watergate Hotel , Frank Wills became something of a modest renown . He gave interviews , made speech , and even got a raise . But as the clamor around Watergate , the White House , and Nixon increased , Wills faded into the backcloth .
Owen Franken / Corbis via Getty ImagesReporters interviewing Frank Wills after he discovered the Watergate interruption - in .
His crusade to improve working condition for guards fell upon deaf ears , and offers he received to become a Capitol Police officer shrivel up because of Wills ’ lack of high schooling degree . will landed a pocket-sized part play himself in the Watergate filmAll The President ’s Men(1976 ) but even his cameo run in the blink of an eye .
Thomas S. England/Getty ImagesFrank Wills outside his mother’s house in 1992, two decades after the Watergate scandal began.
“ If you go to kip for a second , ” volition later said , “ you missed it . ”
After leaving his security gig , Wills struggled to witness another job . He amount to believe that he ’d been “ blackballed ” and grew bitter about his minimized role in the Watergate dirt .
“ I put my liveliness on the ancestry , ” he said on Watergate ’s 25th day of remembrance , according to theWashington Post . “ I travel out of my agency … If it was n’t for me , [ Bob ] Woodward and [ Carl ] Bernstein would not have known anything about Watergate . This was n’t finding a dollar under a sofa somewhere . ”
What Happened To Frank Wills?
In the twelvemonth after Watergate , Frank Wills ’ life convey a dark number . He struggle to find work , and was convict of shoplifting sneakers in 1983 ( though volition always insist upon his innocence ) . He briefly worked for the comedian Dick Gregory , helping to sell health add-on , but eventually made his way back home to South Carolina , where Wills impress in with his female parent .
testament worked odd jobs , but he and his mother mainly know off her societal security payments until her death in 1992 . Unable to give a funeral , Wills donate her soundbox to medical research . He go bad eight eld later on Sept. 27 , 2000 , and though many outlet account that he ’d had a brain tumor , testament had in reality died of AIDs .
“ This was a taboo subject , ” Adam Henig , author ofWatergate ’s Forgotten Hero : Frank Wills , Night Watchman , told WOTP . “ [ E]ven though it was running rampant within poor , rural , Southern Black communities . ”
Thomas S. England / Getty ImagesFrank Wills outside his female parent ’s house in 1992 , two decennary after the Watergate malicious gossip began .
By the time of his death , Henig added that Wills had become a footnote in the Watergate saga , even though he ’d played a crucial role in bring out the confederacy . Some accounts did n’t even mention Wills by name .
“ It was always ‘ the security measures safety , ' ” Henig explained to WOTP . “ And in some cases — and this was by award - winning writers — they would call him ‘ a custodian ’ or ‘ the Black janitor . ’ I mean , they could n’t even get his job title right . But again , that ’s historically how we ’ve treated people of color . It ’s only been recently where we ’ve in conclusion tell apart it and come to a enumeration . ”
Frank Wills also saw a connection between his treatment during Watergate and his slipstream . “ When you ’re calamitous and you do something wrong , everybody ’s always criticise aloud , ” he told theLos Angeles Timesin 1973 , “ but when you ’re mordant and do something good , nobody pay any attention . ”
Though some — like Woodward — suspect that the Watergate scandal would have come out one direction or the other , volition played an indisputable role in uncovering the conspiracy . His diligence in June 1972 snowballed into one of the biggest scandals in American history and contribute to the resignation of President Richard Nixon two years later .
Despite this , Frank Wills never got his due . Nixon was excuse for his use in the Watergate scandal ; volition was condemned .
After reading about Frank Wills and the Watergate break - in , discover the stories of other independent graphic symbol in the Watergate malicious gossip , likeG. Gordon Liddy , Nixon ’s off-the-wall and loyal henchman , X - CIA operativeE. Howard Hunt , orMartha Mitchell , the married woman of the Attorney General who blew the whistle on Watergate .
