The Watergate Girl opens a window on a troubled time in American history. It’s also the story of a young woman who sought to make her professional mark while trapped in a failing marriage, buffeted by sexist preconceptions, and harboring secrets of her own all during a frightening time. Her house was burgled, her phones were tapped and even her office trash was rifled through. Wine-Banks, a current MSNBC legal analyst, began her career as an organized crime prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice which led to her selection as one of three assistant Watergate special prosecutors in the obstruction of justice trial against President Nixon’s top aides. At the time, the barley 30-year-old Jill Wine Volner (as she was then known) was the only woman on the team that prosecuted the highest-ranking White House officials. Called “the mini-skirted lawyer” by the press, she fought the casual sexism of the day to receive the respect accorded her male counterparts— and prevailed.
