Greigg served as the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1970 to July 1972. It was in that position that Greigg found himself at the genesis of the Watergate scandal in the early morning hours of June 17, 1972. In the office of Greigg's personal secretary, in DNC headquarters at the Watergate complex, D.C. police officers first confronted burglars carrying eavesdropping devices.Alfred E. Lewis, "5 Held in Plot to Bug Democrats' Office Here," The Washington Post, 1972-06-18, at 1. Awakened early that morning by a call from a D.C. policeman and informed that his offices had been burglarized, Greigg asked, "did you catch the kids?" The officer responded, "no, sir, these men we arrested were in business suits."Martin Weil, "DNC's Stanley Greigg Dies; Signed Watergate Complaint," Washington Post, 2002-06-16, at C8. Greigg called the DNC Director, Lawrence O'Brien, and told him that "all hell had broken loose." Later that morning Greigg signed the original criminal complaint. That complaint led to a series of investigations that culminated in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. Ironically, the Watergate scandal also ended the congressional career of the man who defeated Greigg in 1966, Wiley Mayne. While serving as a member of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 during its consideration of articles of impeachment of Richard Nixon, Mayne voted against the articles, changing his position only later, after the most damning evidence emerged. That year Mayne lost his bid for re-election, in an outcome attributed to his votes against impeachment."Smith Wins as Scherle, Mayne Lose," Des Moines Register, 1974-11-06, at 1, 4.
