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MU
Receives Watergate Papers
By Jeremy Diener
On July 13, 1973, Don Sanders, Deputy Minority
Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign
Activities, indirectly asked perhaps the most important question
in the Watergate hearings: Is there a recording system in the
White House? The answer set in motion events leading to the resignation
of President Richard M. Nixon. Personal papers and various other
documents offering Sanders' first-hand account of one of the most
remarkable events in U.S. Presidential history were recently donated
to the University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries, which will make
them available for scholarly study for the first time.
"These documents provide an insider's
account of some of the most high-level affairs regarding the Watergate
hearings," said Jim Cogswell, director of the MU
Libraries. "In the hands of the right scholar, they could
potentially provide answers to some of Watergate's most compelling
questions. This is a very exciting donation to MU Libraries."
The gift includes boxes of records, papers,
books and other documents created and collected by Sanders at
various points throughout his professional career. In addition
to records of interview transcripts and other materials related
to the Watergate hearings, the boxes include documents from his
service on the House Committee on Internal Security through his
service as Boone County Commissioner.
"We really have only scratched the surface
of this collection," Cogswell said. "We hope this gift
will raise the visibility of our archives and special collections
services. We want historians, sociologists, political scientists
and others to view the MU Libraries as an untapped reservoir for
research and scholarship in a wide variety of subject areas."
Sanders' widow, Dolores Mead, donated the
documents to the University, where Sanders earned a law degree
in 1954 and a master's degree in history in 1991. Other members
of his immediate family, including his mother, Anna Sanders, were
involved in arranging the gift. The documents will be processed
and available to scholars and researchers in about six months,
Cogswell said.
Sanders began his career in the United States
Marine Corps before working briefly as a lawyer in Columbia in
1959. Later that year, he was accepted for training in the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, where he served until 1969, when he was
appointed Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the House Committee
on Internal Security. In 1973, he joined the Watergate committee,
following that with other appointments in Washington D.C., including
four years on the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. In 1983 he
returned to Rocheport, Mo. He served as County Commissioner for
Boone County from 1989-90.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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