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With many eyes glued to Jan. 6 hearings, Vermont historian looks back to Watergate

GarrettGraff (c) Andy Duback.jpg
This hour, host Connor Cyrus talks with Burlington author and historian Garrett Graff.

Burlington author and historian Garrett Graff's book, "Watergate: A New History," which was published in February, examines some previously unknown details about the downfall of former President Richard Nixon.

During this episode of Vermont Edition, he speaks with host Connor Cyrus about how that scandal of the 1970s compares with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the resulting congressional hearings.

While Graff points out some similarities of the two eras, he also says it is too early to know if the events of Jan. 6 will lead to change or another attempted insurrection. "We don't know whether we are in the beginning, the middle or the end of Donald Trump's effect on America and our politics," he said. "I was writing about Watergate 50 years later, and it looks pretty different to us now than the series of events that America thought that it lived through from 1972 to 1974. ... It's too soon to know whether Jan. 6 is going to be seen as a turning point or as a warning that was ignored."

Connor Cyrus joined Vermont Public as host and senior producer in March 2021. He was a morning reporter at WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), he started his reporting career as an intern at WPTZ, later working for WAGM in Presque Isle, Maine, and WCAX Channel 3, where he covered a broad range of stories from Vermont’s dairy industry to the nurses’ strikes at UVM Medical Center. He’s passionate about journalism’s ability to shed light on complex or difficult topics, as well as giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Tedra joined Vermont Public as a producer for Vermont Edition in January 2022. Before moving to Vermont, she was a journalist in New York City for 20 years. She has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.