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I was born on
June 17, 1947 . Prior to that – as far as I’m concerned -
nothing particularly noteworthy happened on that day. Yes, there was
Bunker Hill Day, but that was just a minor skirmish, wasn’t it?
Twenty-five years later, however, on
June 17, 1972 , the break-in of the Watergate office complex
in
Washington
D.C.
changed the course of history.
 Twenty-four
year old, Frank Wills, a native of
Savannah ,
Georgia
visited
Washington
D.C.
in 1971 and liked it so much he decided to stay. Later that year, a
security services firm hired Frank to work as an $80-a-week security
watchman on the
midnight to 7 a.m. shift at the Watergate office complex.
Early morning, about
1 a.m. on
June 17, 1972 , on one of his rounds, Wills noticed a piece
of tape covering the lock mechanism on a door between the basement
stairwell and the parking garage. Frank didn’t immediately think much of
it. Usually Frank would find chairs and other objects propping that door
open, but this was the first time he'd seen tape. He ripped it off and
put it in his pocket, then went on about his rounds. At approximately
2 a.m. , Frank again made his rounds, and discovered that the
same door had been re-taped. At this point, it’s important to note that
James McCord, the leader of the burglars and a former member of the CIA,
noticed that the original tape had been removed, but instead of calling
off the operation, he simply re-taped the door.
The
historical entry in Frank Wills' log book:
"1:55 AM - Call police, Found tape on door
Call police to make inspection"
Frank Wills called the
D.C. police and the police arrested five men in the 6th floor
offices of the Democratic National Committee. From that point on, what
had been described as a third-rate burglary mushroomed into a political
atom bomb. One man, working at a job that many would consider to be
beneath them; one man set off a chain of events that resulted in the
resignation of President Richard Nixon, the conviction of Ehrlichman,
Halderman, Liddy, McCord, Colson, and an alphabet soup of movers and
shakers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is not often that a security
guard gets to bring down a government and change the course of History -
just by doing his job.
 "He's the
only one in Watergate who did his job perfectly," said Washington Post
reporter Bob Woodward to The
Post. "...Calling the police was one of the most important phone
calls in American history, and it was so simple and so basic."
As the significance of
the Watergate burglary became more and more apparent, Wills started
receiving due recognition for his efforts. The Democratic Party gave him
an award, as did the Southern Christian Leadership Council with the
Martin Luther King Award. He also was cast to play himself in the movie
about Watergate, “All The President’s Men.” Unfortunately, Frank Wills’
“15 minutes of fame” was short-lived. He was a hot commodity on the talk
show circuit for a minute. He hired an agent and charged $300 per
interview. Some interviewers actually paid the fee, but for the most
part his plans to capitalize on his newly found fame were abandoned.
In 1973 he left the
security firm because they refused to pay him for vacations, and because
he did not receive a raise for his role in uncovering the burglary.
After that he had difficulty finding other full time employment,
commenting to the Washington Post: “I don’t know if they are being told
not to hire me, or are just afraid to hire me.”
In the late 1970’s he was living back home with his ailing
mother.
Frank spent the next
stretch of years going from one job to another. He made some money on
the talk show circuit, but was unable to hold down a steady job because
of the traveling required. He was arrested in 1983 for shoplifting twice
- Once for a pen worth 98 cents, and the next time for a pair of $12
sneakers. Somehow he was able to take his defense as far as the Supreme
Court, but fell short of his plea. He was sent to Richmond County Prison
for a sentence of one year.
In 1990, he again
moved in with his ailing mother Marge and took care of her. Both of them
lived on her $450 social security check. She died in 1992 and Frank
couldn't afford to do a thing with his own mother's body, so he donated
it to science. Then he turned to making money as a handy man. He stayed
in the run down house that his mother died in, with no electricity or
running water. For the last few months of his life, he waited for death
himself in a hospital. He suffered from a brain tumor and had been ill
for several months.
In his latter years,
Frank Wills rarely spoke of Watergate. Having realized long ago that he
was regarded as something less than a footnote in the Watergate saga, he
choose to try to deal with the hand he had been dealt. He worked briefly
for Dick Gregory, lived in the
Bahamas
and had a Harry Nilsson album dedicated to him.
By 1993 he was so
destitute that he was washing his clothes in a bucket until James Kilby
founded an organization, Treat Every American Right (TEAR) to raise
money for Mr. Wills.
By the time of
the 25th anniversary of Watergate (1997), Wills was a
forgotten man, who had grown bitter and frustrated. In a Boston Globe
interview, he said: "I put my life on the line. If it wasn't for me,
Woodward and Bernstein would not have known anything about Watergate.
This wasn't finding a dollar under a couch somewhere."
Frank Wills, the
Watergate security guard who discovered the 1972 break-in that led to
President Nixon's resignation, died penniless
Wednesday, September 27, 2000 in a hospital in
Augusta ,
Georgia
. He was 52.
June 17th, the day of
my birth, in some way, intrinsically ties me to this important figure in
American History. Each year I am taken back to that fateful early
morning discovery of Mr. Wills, and I wonder why it is that decent men
must always bear the burden of those of lesser worth. As we morn the
brother who simply did a job the way it was supposed to be done, let us
know, beyond the telling of the story that Frank Wills was indeed a
hero. He did not give us everything, but he gave us all he had.
Somewhere in this great
nation there should be a monument erected in honor of Frank Wills.
Chiseled from the blackest Onyx, and made to stretch its strong ebony
arm toward the heavens.
If Justice can be a blindfolded white woman, Truth can be a Black man
who served well as America's Night Watchman.
Rest in Peace brother
Frank. Rest in Peace. We will carry on ...
Acknowledgements:
Washington Post - Carl Bernstein
The Hollow Death of Frank Wills in “Life as I see it” by Randy Burns
"Candle in the Wind" written
by Elton John |
