While televising congressional hearings may seem like a pretty contemporary customs , the metier has been bringing cameras to Capitol Hill ( andinto courtrooms ) for decennium . Thefirst live idiot box broadcastof a congressional group meeting was the scuttle seance of the eightieth Congress back in January 1947 . But it did n’t become a common practice until a few decennium later , when theWatergate scandalbolstered public need for greater government foil .
On May 17 , 1973—11 calendar month to the twenty-four hour period after the Watergate break - in — Sam Ervin , North Carolina senator and read/write head of the commission tasked with investigating the scandal , kickedoff the first of 51 day of public , televised hearings . Though the coverage took place during the day , the National Public Affairs Center for Television vent it every night in full on PBS place , drop anchor by Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer .
These “ gavel to gavel ” programme go on until November 15 and featured testimony direct from all the president ’s men — names infamous to anyone familiar with the Nixon disposal ’s abuses of power ( or just anyone who ’s seenAll the President ’s Men ) . The committee began with Nixon ’s out circle — people like Hugh Sloan Jr. and John Dean — and moved inwards , hitting witnesses like John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman by July .
uncalled-for to say , receive the revelatory hearing as they unfolded would take a sentence machine . To revisit them today , however , all you demand is internet entree . The American Archive of Public Broadcasting ( AAPB ) , an organisation run away by the Library of Congress and Boston radiocommunication station WGBH , has made all the footage available tostream for free online . The digital display also include a comprehensive episode guide , transcripts , acast of charactersbreakdown , and the videos from the House Judiciary Committee ’s impeachment debates the following yr . What you wo n’t see is any defense fromRichard Nixonhimself : He resigned on August 8 , 1974 , before the House could vote to impeach him .
you’re able to explore the AAPB ’s archivehere .
