Sen. Sam Ervin, Key Figure In Watergate Probe, Dies

Sen. Sam Ervin, Key Figure In Watergate Probe, Dies: "'If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate were in effect breaking into the home of every citizen of the United States,' Ervin said. 'And if these allegations prove to be true, what they were seeking to steal was not the jewels, money or other precious property of American citizens, but something much more valuable - their most precious heritage: the right to vote in a free election.'

He said that Watergate 'for the first time undertook to destroy the integrity of the process' and said its perpetrators showed 'the same mentality as the Gestapo.'"