The Forgotten Man

On the night of June 17, 1972, Frank Wills was working as a security guard at Washington's Watergate complex. He noticed on his first round that the latch of a basement door had been taped open. Wills assumed workmen that day had done it; so he removed the tape and continued his patrol. When he came around again, however, he found that the tape had been replaced. Wills called the police. The five Watergate burglars were arrested, and the episode became part of the currently traumatic American history.

Wills alone gained an instant obscurity from the episode. He received a pro forma letter of commendation and a $5-a-week raise. He was also sufficiently unnerved by the event that he quit his job. Now he is back on the beat again in another Washington building, making $85 a week.

The incident left him with enough reflections to make him want to run for political office himself some day. "There is a breakdown in the political system," says Wills, who is now 25. "The American people are not aware of what is really happening. I've seen it firsthand, and it's opened my eyes real wide. I feel sorry for the people who look at Watergate and say it's just politics."

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