Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 3
The Preamble
Sharon McMahon
4.9 • 15.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"The week that changed the world.” Was it a chance encounter at the World Tennis Championship in 1971, “Panda diplomacy” between the U.S. and Communist China, or a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters by a team of 5 burglars, that drastically altered the trajectory of world history? It was around this time that the Women’s Equity Action League also filed one of the farthest-reaching Class Action lawsuits, leading to President Nixon signing the Education Act into law. Join us as we talk about the origins of the Watergate scandal, the landslide victory that kept Nixon in office, and the establishment of Title IX.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's no one like you, and there never will be. |
| 0:03.0 | From the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody. |
| 0:06.4 | There are many legends, but there is only one. |
| 0:12.0 | Michael in IMAX and Cinema's Wednesday, April 22. |
| 0:19.4 | Hello, friends, and welcome back to our docu-series about the 1970s. |
| 0:26.9 | If you've been listening to our previous episodes, you know we've already been on a wild ride |
| 0:32.4 | through government deceit, an unbelievable party in Iran, student protests, and travels through space. |
| 0:41.0 | Well, buckle up because there is so much more to come. Today, we're going to talk about |
| 0:46.0 | 1972 when President Nixon visited Communist China. Title IX was established. Nixon was re-elected, and an eagle-eyed security guard |
| 0:59.0 | spotted a little piece of masking tape in a building you may have heard of called Watergate. |
| 1:08.0 | I'm Sharon McMahon, and this is the Preamble podcast. |
| 1:13.0 | According to Eugenio Martinez, one of the Watergate burglars, the mission felt doomed from the beginning. |
| 1:20.6 | Martinez had signed divorce paperwork that same day going directly from the courthouse to the airport to get to Washington, D.C. |
| 1:29.5 | Not only that, but the car that picked up the five-man team heading to the Watergate office building |
| 1:35.9 | reminded him of a hearse. Martinez felt a deep sense of foreboding, but continued with the mission. |
| 1:46.7 | Inside the DNC offices, they turned off their walkie-talkies, |
| 1:50.8 | cutting off communication with anyone outside the building. |
| 1:54.6 | They rifled through files and documents, |
| 1:57.5 | photographing as many as possible, |
| 1:59.4 | but soon heard the sounds of people moving |
| 2:03.5 | up and down hallways and stairs. |
| 2:07.8 | They told themselves it was just guards and employees doing regular nightly checks, but in fact, |
... |
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