• The Swan Who Was Spared

    AIR MAIL

    February 17, 2024

    The real reason Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, Truman Capote’s guest of honor at the Black and White Ball, was the only “swan” he didn’t betray.
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  • Why Nikki Haley’s Attacks Work Better Than Her Rivals’

    POLITICO

    September 28, 2023

    I was an opposition researcher. Here’s what her rivals should do if they want to start winning.
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  • Sonoma County-born consultant, author Joseph Rodota launches true crime podcast about the Hillside Strangler

    THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

    June 7, 2022

    Santa Rosa native Joe Rodota circles back to the Hillside Strangler investigation, three decades after immersing himself in the case as a researcher.
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  • Galleria Toledo – Teatro Stabile hosts a reading from “Il Moro” by Joseph Rodotà

    ARTI E SPETTACOLO

    April 19, 2022

    The Naples theatre company will present Joseph Rodota’s play “IL MORO,” followed by a discussion of the cultural legacy of the photographer Wilhelm Von Gloeden.
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  • THE JEANE DIXON EFFECT Audio Play Released

    BROADWAY WORLD

    July 22, 2020

    THE JEANE DIXON EFFECT, a play by Joseph Rodota based on the life of the late "celebrity psychic" Jeane Dixon, has been released as an audio play on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
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  • Capitol Weekly Podcast: Joe Rodota and The Oppo File

    BROADWAY WORLD

    June 18, 2020

    Politics often get ugly, and there is nothing uglier than Opposition Research: digging up dirt on your opponent — or sometimes your own candidate.
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  • Watergate Salad: A Fluffy Green Bite Of Washington, D.C.'s Past

    NPR

    August 3, 2019

    New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel gave us the Waldorf salad. Boston's Parker House hotel is home of the Parker House roll. And D.C.'s most famous hotel has its own eponymous treat: the Watergate salad.
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  • FROM ROME TO WATERGATE

    WANTED IN ROME

    April 1, 2019

    Until the break-in that occurred the night of 16 June 1972 in the offices of the Democratic National Committee, the Watergate was known primarily as a place of luxury and privacy.
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  • A WATERGATE ANNIVERSARY

    MEDIUM

    June 9, 2018

    The country seems eager to learn more about another era in which a political, legal, and constitutional drama was unfolding in the nation’s capital, centered on the White House, and no one had any idea what might happen next.
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  • REVIEW: AT THE WATERGATE, SCANDALS, STARS AND LEAKY WINDOWS

    WASHINGTON POST

    May 18, 2018

    Every American knows the word “Watergate” — the political scandal that brought down Richard Nixon, its suffix attached to every public embarrassment for the past four decades. It’s short, snappy and easier to remember than the Teapot Dome scandal.

    Fewer outside the nation’s capital know that “Watergate” refers to an actual place, a sprawling complex of apartments, stores and offices where, on June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the behest of Nixon’s reelection campaign. The rest, as overeducated pundits love to say, is presidential and linguistic history.

    For most of us, that’s enough. For Joseph Rodota, it’s just the starting point for an obsession: “The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address.”
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  • WATERGATE IS A PLACE, TOO

    CURBED DC

    April 25, 2018

    Joseph Rodota, author of The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address, likens the building complex to “an aging celebrity. It almost feels like an elegant Italian movie star brought to life.”
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  • INSIDE (AND OUTSIDE) AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS

    SAVING PLACES

    April 19, 2018

    The 1970s Watergate scandal, one of the most defining moments in 20th-century American history, irrevocably altered the country’s political landscape. The events that took place on the 6th floor of the Midcentury Modern complex, however, are just one part of the building’s story. There’s also the construction drama between Italian architectural genius Luigi Moretti and the federal government, as well as other political dramas spurred on by the college campus-like atmosphere the hulking complex evoked.

    These stories and more are told for the first time by author Joseph Rodota in his 2018 book, The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address.
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  • CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: JOE RODOTA

    CAPITOL WEEKLY

    March 19, 2018

    The story of the Watergate break-in has been well-told, but in this “biography of a building,” Rodota weaves a fascinating history that includes more than just the events of June 17, 1972.
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  • ‘THE WATERGATE’ REVIEW: AN EDIFICE ON THE POTOMAC

    WALL STREET JOURNAL

    March 8, 2018

    "...an informative, comprehensive account of one of America’s most famous building complexes."
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  • NEW BOOK GOES INSIDE WATERGATE HOTEL – ‘AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS’

    CAPITAL PUBLIC RADIO

    March 6, 2018

    It's considered one of the most infamous buildings in U.S. history, and it remains culturally relevant in discussions ranging from deflated footballs to the Trump administration. The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., is most known for its significance in the Richard Nixon impeachment trial, but it also housed key political figures from Ronald Reagan to Ruth Bader Ginsberg to Monica Lewinsky. Political strategist Joe Rodota examines how the hotel played a critical role in shaping 20th century politics in the United States in his new book, “The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address.”
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  • THE ARCHITECTURE OF WASHINGTON DC’s WATERGATE COMPLEX: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS

    ARCH DAILY

    March 1, 2018

    Joseph Rodota's new book The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address (William Morrow) presents the story of a building complex whose name is recognized around the world as the address at the center of the United States' greatest political scandal—but one that has so many more tales to tell. In this excerpt from the book, the author looks into the design and construction of a building The Washington Post once called a "glittering Potomac Titanic," a description granted because the Watergate was ahead of its time, filled with boldface names—and ultimately doomed.
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  • HOW REAGAN SAVED THE WATERGATE

    CAPITOL WEEKLY

    February 26, 2018

    Before the 1980 election, the Watergate Hotel prepared two budgets: the Carter Budget and the Reagan budget. The Reagan budget was considerably higher.
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  • A LOOK INSIDE THE WATERGATE COMPLEX

    WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO

    February 26, 2018

    The Watergate Complex in Washington DC is known as one of the most iconic structures in America. It is also known for the great deal of scandals the building witnessed prior to the break in that made it notorious. Joseph Rodota recounts the spectacle under the Watergate roof and unpacks its political, social and cultural influences over the span of more than 50 years.
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  • THE WATERGATE

    C-SPAN

    February 21, 2018

    Joseph Rodota provided a history of the Watergate complex, including the notorious scandal connected to its name, and shared stories of many of its notable residents.
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  • SCANDALIZED: THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE WATERGATE

    GOVERNMENTALITY PODCAST

    February 26, 2018

    On this episode, host Allen McDuffee talks with David Graham, staff writer for The Atlantic, about the scandals that are plaguing the White House. And in the book chat, Joseph Rodota discusses his new book on the history and power of the Watergate complex, THE WATERGATE: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address.
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  • BOOK REVIEW: THE WATERGATE BY JOSEPH RODOTA

    WARREN ADLER

    February 23, 2018

    What Joseph Rodota has done is give life to this inanimate configuration of apartments, offices and a hotel complex as if he was probing the inner life of a living colorful and controversial celebrity which has morphed into an enduring historical symbol of bizarre events.
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  • NEW BOOK UNCOVERS THE WATERGATE’S INFAMOUS PAST

    WJLA GOOD MORNING WASHINGTON

    February 21, 2018

    In his new book, “The Watergate,” author Joseph Rodota takes readers inside America’s most infamous address. In addition to addressing the structure’s scandalous past, Joseph also uncovers a world of unknown history.
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  • THE WATERGATE HOTEL HAS A FASCINATING FOOD HISTORY

    FOOD & WINE

    February 21, 2018

    A new book looks at the entire story behind the building, from the lives of its famous and powerful residents to its kitchens and parties.
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  • THE WATERGATE’S OTHER SECRETS, FROM A DRUNK BETTE DAVIS TO CONDOLEEZZA RICE’S BAD CATERING

    WASHINGTON POST

    February 20, 2018

    The Watergate complex had seen plenty of scandals long before the break-in that made it infamous — and the shenanigans continued long after President Richard Nixon’s “plumbers” had left the building.

    Joseph Rodota recounts all the drama under the Watergate roof in his new history of the building, “The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address,” from the initial investment from the Vatican that funded its construction to the tenure of chef Jean-Louis Palladin at the complex’s restaurant.

    But it’s the stories of its denizens that are the juiciest.
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  • REVIEW: THE WATERGATE: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS

    PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY

    February 19, 2018

    This account mixes history, finance, and high-level political gossip to evoke the Watergate complex’s mystique.
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  • REVIEW: NEW BOOK PUTS READERS INSIDE THE WATERGATE, ONE OF WASHINGTON’S MOST NOTORIOUS ADDRESSES

    USA TODAY

    February 19, 2018

    As author Joseph Rodota shows in his excellent new book The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address (William Morrow, 432 pp., ★★★½ out of four), life in the Watergate didn't always match the hype of its developers, although the intrigue inside the buildings often outstripped anyone's imagination.
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  • WATERGATE REVISITED

    WASHINGTON EXAMINER

    February 19, 2018

    Meticulous and intriguing details are many. The excruciating and often ironic politics of Washington have a showcase here, including such tidbits as this: the Democratic National Committee, a Watergate tenant, fell behind in its rent in 1972 and was nearly evicted, just prior to the infamous break-in that year that eventually brought down President Richard Nixon. Imagine that.
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  • REAGAN OWNED ‘A PIECE’ OF THE WATERGATE BEFORE WINNING PRESIDENCY

    WASHINGTON TIMES

    February 19, 2018

    Former President Ronald Reagan owned “a piece” of the infamous Watergate before becoming president, according to a new book about the complex at the center of former President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
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  • HOW THE WATERGATE SCANDAL ALMOST HAD A DIFFERENT NAME

    POLITICO

    February 18, 2018

    The Democratic National Committee was broke and almost evicted from its office space. But someone stepped in at the last minute.
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  • THE WATERGATE: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS BY JOSEPH RODOTA

    WASHINGTONIAN

    January 3, 2018

    Of the dozens of books dissecting the Watergate scandal, few have tackled one of its biggest characters: the complex itself. In his first book, political consultant Rodota meticulously chronicles the buildings’ biography, including gossipy accounts of various residents (from socialite Anna Chennault to Monica Lewinsky) and, of course, details of the historic burglary.
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  • REVIEW: THE WATERGATE: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS

    LIBRARY JOURNAL

    January 3, 2018

    A fascinating account, part history, part society page, which will appeal to a wide audience of general readers and those intrigued by architectural history.
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  • REVIEW: THE WATERGATE: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address

    BOOKLIST

    January 1, 2018

    There are few places more notorious in American lore than the Watergate, the site of a game-changing political scandal some four decades ago now referenced regularly in the news. A campus of ocean-liner-like behemoths with lodging, residential, and commercial spaces, the Watergate complex almost didn’t get built. This and other fun facts and esoteric anecdotes elevate Rodota’s meticulous history of the fabled Washington establishment into an unlikely combination of campy political gossip and erudite architectural exploration.
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  • REVIEW: THE WATERGATE INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS

    KIRKUS REVIEW

    November 22, 2017

    The author profiles the personalities and interior design choices of many famous, and sometimes notorious, Watergate residents: politicians, lawyers, doctors, diplomats, and businessmen. Two women stand out: Martha Mitchell, the volatile, outspoken, hard-drinking wife of Nixon’s attorney general and campaign manager, John Mitchell; and socialite Anna Chennault, a wealthy widow described by her biographer as “extremely aggressive socially, and ambitious, and she wanted to be the queen, she wanted to be on the top of the social heap, and she worked it.” Other notables include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, newspaper editor Ben Bradlee and his wife, Sally Quinn; Condoleezza Rice; and Monica Lewinsky, who apologized to her neighbors for “intrusions” during the Starr investigation. Like the residences, the hotel attracted stars: Pearl Bailey, who cooked a roast for Henry Fonda in her suite’s kitchen; Shelley Winters, who breakfasted in the hotel dining room wearing a bathrobe and slippers; and Katharine Hepburn, who demanded that her room’s heaters be disconnected so her room would be cool enough.

    A richly detailed history of a site awarded landmark status.
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  • PATT MORRISON ASKS: ‘CHESSMAN’ PLAYWRIGHT JOSEPH RODOTA ON CALIFORNIA’S ONGOING CIVIL WAR OVER THE DEATH PENALTY

    LA TIMES

    October 12, 2016

    One reason Californians will be voting, again, about the death penalty, next month, is because of a man named Caryl Chessman.
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  • B STREET THEATRE; Special Engagement World Premiere of CHESSMAN

    BROADWAY WAY

    July 15, 2016

    B Street Theatre, Sacramento's Resident New Works Theatre, is thrilled to present the World Premiere of Chessman. The production runs October 13 - 22, 2016.
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  • The Watergate First Charmed Washington, Then Scandalized America: With a Face-Lift, It’s Ready for the Next Half-Century

    Huffington Post

    April 28, 2016

    The reopening of the Watergate Hotel marks the latest chapter in the roller-coaster history of this famous - and to Americans above a certain age, infamous - complex, which includes three co-op apartment buildings and two office towers.
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  • A Consultant’s Journey from War Room to Playwright

    Campaigns and Elections

    April 30, 2015

    Chessman was without a doubt the most famous Death Row prisoner in the world when his lawyers petitioned Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown for a clemency hearing in October 1959. I never set out to be a playwright. But three decades of campaign research training made this play possible.
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  • Famous California death row case finds stage

    Sacramento Bee

    March 17, 2015

    Rehearsals for “Chessman,” a new play by Joe Rodota, were about to start up Tuesday at the B Street Theatre, and the author, a political consultant, was comparing the job of playwright to opposition research
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  • Christopher Isherwood Returns to Berlin

    Huffington Post

    October 9, 2014

    Contemporary Berlin is a vibrant, international city filled with artists, playwrights, dancers, musicians, authors and, increasingly, hundreds of technology entrepreneurs. The unofficial city motto is "Arm Aber Sexy" -- Poor, But Sexy. It struck me that Berlin should embrace Isherwood and Bachardy. Somehow, Isherwood's achievement -- his writing, the life he shared with Bachardy, Bachardy's own work -- all needed to be reintroduced in a new and personal way to the people of Berlin.
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