Vintage LIFE Magazine photos showcase the Watergate in mid-century splendor, years before it became embroiled in a scandal that destroyed Richard Nixon's presidency. The six-building complex containing apartments, offices and one hotel is where countless political heavyweights, Georgetown hostesses, well-connected socialites and influential makers with a long string of pearls and dark money would party with either party: Democrat or Republican, it didn't matter.
Anna Chennault, a Nixon power broker held court from her glamorous penthouse apartment where she hosted an array of glittering high profile guests including Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and J. Edgar Hoover (top right). One columnist once said her living room 'resembled nothing so much as a set in a James Bond movie.' Other Nixon- acolytes like Maurice Stans (bottom left) who was the president's Transportation Secretary and later finance chairman, also lived in the Watergate before he pleaded guilty on give counts of campaign fraud. Martha Mitchell, (enjoying the in-house hair salon) was the wife of the Attorney General and the Watergate's first whistle-blower. Mitchell was subsequently drugged and tranquilized in an attempt to keep her mouth shut.