Erosion-threatened Cape Cod beach house may have played role in Watergate scandal

An erosion threatened home in Eastham may have played a role in the Watergate scandal, one of the biggest political messes in U.S. history.

The home, which sits on a bluff above Coast Guard Beach, is known as the "Bartlett House," and is owned by the National Park Service. According to the Cape Cod National Seashore, the house is about 13 feet from the edge of the cliff and has been deemed uninhabitable.

But back in the day, the house sometimes functioned as a retreat for government bigwigs. And its Watergate connection is detailed in an amazing 2020 article by Jack Clarke in the Cape Codder newspaper, which features this powerhouse paragraph:

"A half century ago next summer, inside a small rustic cottage nestled among the Cape Cod sand dunes of Coast Guard Beach, the Watergate scandal was hatched. It kicked-off with a Labor Day weekend phone call from the unobtrusive beach house and ended with the first and only resignation of a sitting American president."

Before Clarke's splendid career in environmental policy, including serving as Mass Audubon’s Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, he had a seasonal job with the Seashore. Young Jack emptied the trash at the Bartlett House back in the 1970s, when the home was used as a vacation spot for White House VIPs.

Clarke wrote that he "had the occasion to meet many of its occupants including John Ehrlichman, then White House counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs." Ehrlichman was a big player in the Nixon administration.

Clarke's insider knowledge would eventually result in a jaw-dropping reveal, published in the Cape Codder in 1974.

First, let's recall what Watergate was all about. The big event was a burglary at the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex in Washington in 1972.

The investigation into the break-in "led to the highest levels of the Nixon administration and ultimately to the President himself. President Nixon resigned from office under threat of impeachment on August 9, 1974," according to the U.S. National Archives.

But the Eastham home appears to have a connection to an event that might be seen as an appetizer to the Watergate break-in. This misadventure was centered around a Department of Defense analyst named Daniel Ellsberg, who shared government documents about the Vietnam War with The New York Times.

The information came to be known as the "Pentagon Papers," and "reported that the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations had misled the public about America's involvement in Vietnam," according to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

In 1971, according to the Nixon Museum, the president ordered several men, known as "plumbers," to break into the offices of Ellsberg's psychiatrist, Dr. Lewis Fielding in hopes of finding damaging information about Ellsberg.

According to the Nixon Library, there is consensus that "the Fielding break-in was the precursor to Watergate, which ultimately led to the end of Nixon's presidency."

That's where the bombshell story by legendary Cape journalists John A. Ullman and Greg O'Brien, comes in. Published in the Cape Codder on July 4, 1974, the headline read "Ehrlichman Launched Plumber Caper from VIP House On Eastham Dunes."

The exceptional reporting was buoyed by the fact that Clarke knew that visitors to the Bartlett House had to register at the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham. This information placed Ehrlichman at the house in summer 1971.

According to the Cape Codder story, written while Ehrlichman was on trial, testimony showed that while he was in Eastham, "Ehrlichman was actually giving orders to the White House 'Plumbers' to go ahead with the Ellsberg caper."

It sure seems like a memorable Cape Cod vacation! And perhaps the Bartlett House deserves a temporary plaque until it is moved or torn down.

It could say something like "a whole boatload of trouble may have started right here."

Eric Williams writes about a variety of ways to enjoy the Cape, the weather, wildlife and other subjects. Contact him at ewilliams@capecodonline.com. Follow him on X: @capecast.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Erosion on Cape Cod: Threatened home has ties to Watergate scandal