Forty-three years ago - on March 1, 1974 - a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted several former aides of President Nixon for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglaries. They became known as the "Watergate Seven". The grand jury secretly named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator. The men included Charles Colson who served as Nixon’s Special Counsel from 1969 to 1973. During that time, Joan Temple, known then as Joan Hall, was Colson’s office manager.
At the Story Corps mobile booth in Fort Myers, Temple speaks with her daughter Ellen Stone about her time in the Nixon White House and her testimony in the Watergate trial in 1973.
After leaving the White House Joan Temple worked as assistant to Secretary of Labor Peter Brennan.
Colson pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg. He served seven months in federal prison - the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.
This interview was recorded at Story Corps in Fort Myers, a national initiative to record and collect stories of everyday people. This excerpt was selected and produced by Amy Tardif.