Memorial Union to host panel discussion on the implications of the Watergate scandal 50 years later – Iowa State Daily

A panel discussion on the implications of the Watergate scandal will be held at the Memorial Union on September 5 at 5:30 p.m.. 

The discussion, titled “Watergate 50 Years Later: What have we learned?”, will take place in the Great Hall of the MU, featuring three panelists and one moderator.

During the discussion, panelists will explore the lessons learned from the scandal, the use of impeachment since Nixon resigned and the impact of the expansion of presidential immunity by the Supreme Court. 

Panelists include Ed Mezvinsky, Jonathan R. Yarowsky, Jeff Ubiois, with Kathie Obradovich serving as moderator for the evening. 

Mezvinsky is an Ames native who served as a member of both the Iowa House of Representatives and U.S. House of Representatives. During his time in Congress, Mezvinsky served on the House Judiciary Committee during former president Richard Nixon’s impeachment proceedings in 1974. 

Mezvinsky’s congressional papers include records of the closed sessions of the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate. The Mezvinsky papers can be found at the ISU Parks Library Collections.

Yarowsky was chief counsel of the U.S. House Judiciary Eco­nomic and Commercial Law subcommittee in 1982, before serving as general counsel of the House Committee on the Judiciary. He then served as the special counsel for former president Bill Clinton from 1995-1998. 

Ubiois has collaborated with Mezvinsky on his collection of Watergate records since 2016. He is the Vice President of Knowledge Management at Lever for Change for the MacArthur Foundation. He also works in programs with Foundation’s American Democracy, Philanthropy and 100&Change. 

Obradovich is the editor-in-chief of the Iowa Capital Dispatch and has 37 years of reporting experience in Iowa. Before joining the Capital Dispatch, she worked as a political columnist and opinion editor for the Des Moines Register. 

For more information about lectures at Iowa State, visit their website.