Watergate and this week’s news

Plus: Silent Sam and presidential hair |

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. SUBSCRIBE to TIME Magazine August 23, 2018 By Lily Rothman It's been quite a week for John Dean, the White House lawyer who became an important figure in the Watergate scandal by cooperating with prosecutors. A few days ago, President Trump referred to him as a "rat" in a tweet. Then, on Tuesday, many saw parallels to his story in the decision by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to plead guilty. TIME's Olivia B. Waxman spoke to Dean about what it's like to be back in the news, what he thinks of what's going on in Washington now—and the key lesson from Watergate that he thinks the world could use right now. Click here to read more. Here's more of the history that made news this week: HISTORY ON TIME.COM These Strands of Lincoln's Locks Could Sell for Thousands What's behind the fascination with presidential hair? Why UNC's 'Silent Sam' Statue Was Focus Point of Protest The racist rhetoric spewed at the now-toppled statue's unveiling ceremony and the symbolism of the statue itself fueled decades of protests at UNC These Men Offered 'Perfection in Cremation Technology' to Nazis These were the office-workers who greenlit the Holocaust. We can learn from the records they left Walls Don't Just Keep People Out. They Change Those Inside The first walls made possible a revolution in human society. We might call it the Civilian Revolution — that moment in each community when the majority of males chose to devote their lives to things other than warfare How Did Marilyn Monroe Get Her Name? This photo show how Norma Jeane Dougherty became Marilyn Monroe FROM THE TIME VAULT 70 Years Ago: Betty Grable “As Betty herself readily admits, her talents are unremarkable. Unlike some other movie stars, she can lay no claims to sultry beauty or mysterious glamor. Her singing and dancing are pleasant and spirited, but not highly skilled. Her peach-cheeked, pearl-blonde good looks add up to mere candy-box-top prettiness. Even her intensively publicized legs (immortalized in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater, along with Gable's ears and Barrymore's profile) cannot compare in symmetry to Dietrich's. Why do moviegoers flock to Betty's pictures with an ardent persistence they have never offered to other stars of greater beauty and larger gifts? Betty Grable, long-shanked, blue-eyed, 5 ft. 3½ in., 110 pounds, knows one answer. ‘Girls,’ she says, ‘can see me in a picture and feel I could be one of them.’” (Aug. 23, 1948) Read the full story Today in 1963: The Atomic Arsenal “Everyone knows—or should—that the U.S., with its nuclear arsenal, is the mightiest nation in human history. But few people really realize the staggering dimensions of that might. For one thing, facts about the arsenal have been shrouded by military secrecy. For another, the destructive power possessed by the U.S. simply beggars imagination. Last week the world got its best glimpse yet of the size and condition of the U.S.'s nuclear nest egg. It came when Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara testified on behalf of the recently signed nuclear test ban treaty before the Senate Foreign Relations, Senate Armed Forces and Joint Atomic Energy Committees." (Aug. 23, 1963) Read the full story Today in 2004: Big Cats “Livestock owners around the world generally kill predators, but the 45,000-acre Mugie Ranch is trying something new. It is part of the Laikipia Predator Project, run by wildlife biologist Laurence Frank of the University of California, Berkeley, who is seeking better ways for big cats and humans to coexist. Adapting techniques from Masai tribesmen, who have herded cattle amid predators in this region for centuries, he is teaching ranchers to build taller, stronger bomas—traditional livestock pens made of thorn branches—to stop night-time raids by lions… If the big cats bring tourist dollars to Mugie Ranch, then both humans and lions come out ahead. The future of this spectacular species may depend on such experiments.” (Aug. 23, 2004) Read the full story HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB By the Numbers Check out this Twitter thread from Pollster.com co-developer Charles Franklin for a look at how Watergate affected Nixon’s approval ratings over time. Pay Up Ciara C. Torres-Spelliscy writes for The Conversation about the history of campaign-finance laws, and what to know about the past to better understand the Michael Cohen case. Terrible Trade At the Independent, David Keys marks the 500th anniversary of the transatlantic slave trade and draws attention to the horrors that surrounded that history from the very beginning. Sell High In light of this week’s U.S. stock market achievement of the longest bull market period in history, Peter Eavis and Stephen Grocer at the New York Times look back at the history of market rallies. On the Road Take a deep dive into the history of American conservative populism with Sasha Issenberg at Smithsonian magazine and the story of the road trip that started a movement. To Unsubscribe Unsubscribe here if you do not want to receive this newsletter. Update Email Click here to update your email address. Privacy Policy Please read our Privacy Policy. TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication Please email history@time.com TIME Customer Service 3000 University Center Drive Tampa, FL 33612-6408 Connect with TIME Find TIME on Facebook Follow TIME on Twitter Subscribe to more TIME Newsletters Get TIME on your Mobile Device Get TIME on your iPad Subscribe to RSS Feed