The mystery man
Bruce Givner was an intern on the 6th floor of the Watergate building the night of the famous break-in. While others left the DNC offices at roughly 6 p.m., Givner stayed until 12:05 a.m. the following morning availing himself of the DNC's free WATS line, where he called friends and family all evening. As such, Givner foiled the plans of the Watergate burglars whose goal was to break-in around 10 p.m. Instead, they had to wait until Givner turned off the lights at the midnight hour. Had there been no interruption of their plans there never would have been a Watergate! Givner tells his intimate story in a fascinating way and from his point of view. He was dubbed the "Mystery Man" and reporters and authors have interviewed him endlessly.
On November 10, 1974, The New York Times Sunday Magazine published an article by Sol Stern about the Watergate break-in, "A Watergate Footnote," wherein Stern refers to Givner as "the mystery man" in the Watergate event. Givner wrote to the Times explaining who he was and downplaying any participation in the critical and historical event.
The Times published his letter. Givner also was interviewed by Bob Fink, a researcher for The Washington Post, who had been hired by Woodward and Bernstein to work on their book, All the President's Men. Fink confronted Givner, at first, strongly suggesting that Givner may have been a part of the botched event, a plant, but shortly after that conversation, Fink was convinced Givner had not played a role in the crime.
Givner foiled the plans of the Watergate burglars whose goal was to break-in around 10 p.m. He tells his intimate story in a fascinating way and from his point of view. For years he has been dubbed the "Mystery Man".
the author.
Had there been no interruption in the burglar’s plans there never would have been a Watergate! Bruce’s presence as an intern substantially delayed the break-in and indirectly led to the eventual arrests of the burglars.
In 2019 Givner released a book titled MY WATERGATE SCANDAL TELL-ALL: How I Unwittingly Caused This Historic Event recalling and detailing his experiences and life before and during the Watergate events. He held a press conference at the former DNC headquarters along with Watergate arresting officers, Paul Leeper and John Barrett.
The three took media on a tour of the 6th floor of the Watergate describing each moment of Givner’s late stay there and the officers’ blow-by-blow description of the arrest.