Nearly everyone involved with the Watergate saga has been scrutinized, except one: night watchman Frank Wills. On the evening of June 17, 1972, the 24-year-old security guard was on duty at the Watergate Office Building when he detected a break-in. A high school dropout with only a few hours of formal security training, Wills alerted the police who caught five burglars, ultimately igniting a national political scandal that ended with the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
Through exhaustive research and numerous interviews, the story of America’s most famous night watchman is told. The only African American connected with the Watergate affair, Wills enjoyed a brief moment in the limelight but was unable to cope with his newfound fame and lived the remainder of his life in obscurity and poverty.

Adam Henig has written for Time, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Independent Review of Books and BlackPast.

Adam Henig

Foreword by JaQwan J. Kelly

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: ca. 25 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8480-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4315-1
Imprint: McFarland

• “It takes generosity of spirit, and often the talents of a fine detective, to find poetry in the life of a common man. Adam Henig has those qualities, and the tale he tells of the life of Frank Wills is both tragic, and illuminating, in his capable hands.”—John A. Farrell, author of Richard Nixon: The Life

• “Absorbing…compelling biography.”—Herb Boyd, author of Baldwin’s Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin

• “Adam Henig provides a sensitive look into the life of a unique character in the Watergate scandal.”—Joseph Rodota, author of The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address

• “A moving exposition.”—Carol McCabe Booker, contributor, Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Account of the Civil Rights Movement

• “Adam Henig, through his exhaustive research, gives Wills his dignity and honor back.”—Don Rhodes, columnist, The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle