Slow Burn – Watergate | Episode 4: Lie Detectors

Date: December 19, 2017
Host: Leon Neyfakh
Guests/Voices: Mark Lakritz, Mary DiIorio, Senator Lowell Weicker, (archival audio: John Dean, James McCord, others)

Episode Overview

Theme:
This episode of Slow Burn peels back the curtain on the behind-the-scenes drama and meticulous planning that fueled the televised Senate Watergate hearings in 1973. Through first-person accounts from two young Senate Committee staffers (Mark Lakritz and Mary DiIorio), listeners get an inside look at how the hearings became a national obsession, the narrative-building involved, and the human element within America’s greatest political soap opera—long before twenty-four-hour news cycles or social media.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Unexpected Beginnings and Personal Stakes

• Mark Lakritz and Mary DiIorio, both early-career professionals and dating, inadvertently had their first date on the night of the Watergate break-in (06/17/1972).
• Mark is offered a job on the Senate Watergate Committee in April 1973—a turning point both personally and professionally.
• Mary, initially resistant to leaving her promising life in San Francisco, ultimately decides to join Mark in D.C., working first as a researcher before becoming an investigator on the committee.
  • Quote:

    “This really was going to be important to him and I was in love. And so therefore it was important to me.”
    —Mary DiIorio [04:09]

2. How the Senate Hearings Came to Be

• The Senate voted unanimously (77-0) to investigate after the Watergate burglary, surprising even Nixon’s allies.
• Nixon’s team didn’t pressure Republican senators to block the investigation—a historical curiosity explored by the host, Leon Neyfakh.
• The turning point: Burglar James McCord’s letter to Judge John Sirica.
  • Quote:

    “When Sirica read the letter in court at the end of March 1973, Watergate instantly entered a new phase.”
    —Leon Neyfakh [03:03]

3. Behind the Scenes: Staff as ‘Script Writers’

• The public saw dramatic hearings, but much of the research, question-writing, and investigative work was carried out by young staffers like Mark and Mary.
  • Quote:

    “There was an enormous gap between what the public saw and what was going on behind the scenes. We were like the scriptwriters of the soap opera.”
    —Mark Lakritz [07:29]

• The committee asked questions about a wide range of topics: illegal fundraising, dirty tricks campaigns, and attempts to undermine Nixon’s rivals—many surfaced thanks to meticulous preparation by staff.

4. Televised Spectacle and Cultural Impact

• The Watergate hearings became “the greatest show on earth”—a national obsession watched live on TV.
• High drama: Senators questioning powerful officials on alleged criminal activity, creating pre-Internet “memes,” and introducing the public to a cast of unforgettable characters.
  • Memorable example: Senator Lowell Weicker grilling John Mitchell (Nixon’s Attorney General) over wild plans by G. Gordon Liddy, including kidnapping leftist leaders.
  • Quote:

    “That plan, complete with visual aids, included elaborate charts of electronic surveillance and breaking and entering, and prostitution, and kidnapping.”
    —Senator Lowell Weicker [06:29]

  • Mitchell’s dry response:

    “That is exactly what happened, Senator. It was a grievous error.”
    —John Mitchell (archival audio) [07:10]

5. The Soap Opera’s Emotional and Political Stakes

• The episode details how the hearings captivated the nation, with viewers “getting sucked into the scandal.”
• The Senate staff orchestrated the production, ensuring key questions exposed the inner workings of the conspiracy—raising the tension and drama at every turn.
• The hearings were not just about the break-in, but about exposing an entire system of corruption and political sabotage.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We were clueless. We didn't know how big it was going to be... But we had no idea that it was going to blow into what it blew into.”
  —Mark Lakritz [04:44]

• “We are not for sale.”
  —John Dean (archival testimony) [05:17]

• "John Dean implicated perhaps a dozen people in his sworn testimony today, and the President himself."
  —Archival news report [08:19]

Key Timestamps

• [00:33 – 04:31]: Mark and Mary’s personal and professional backgrounds, decision to join the Committee.
• [02:20 – 03:26]: James McCord’s bombshell letter and its impact.
• [04:44 – 05:01]: Lakritz and DiIorio recall their naiveté at the scope of the scandal.
• [06:29 – 07:17]: Senator Weicker’s infamous questioning of John Mitchell about Liddy’s wild plots.
• [07:29]: Mark reflects on being the unseen “scriptwriters” for the national drama.
• [08:19 – 08:29]: Archival audio highlights the scale of the scandal and high-level involvement.

Tone and Style

The episode masterfully blends personal anecdotes, archival sound, and narrative flair to humanize the Watergate saga. It alternates between the confessional and the dramatic—as much about young people stumbling into world history as it is about the unraveling of a presidency. The tone is accessible, suspenseful, and tinged with irony, as Leon Nayfakh asks how something so serious also became compulsively watchable television.

Conclusion

“Lie Detectors” demystifies the spectacle of the Watergate hearings—not just as a pivotal moment in American history, but as a carefully choreographed performance shaped by determined young staffers. Through their eyes and voices, listeners see how a national scandal becomes personal, and how the work of “scriptwriters” behind the scenes changed the national conversation forever.