Frank Wills (security guard)

Frank Wills (February 4, 1948 – September 27, 2000) was an American security guard best known for his role in foiling the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee inside the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Then 24, Wills called the police after discovering that locks at the complex had been tampered with.

Five men were arrested inside the Democratic headquarters, which they had planned to bug.

Wills was born in Savannah, Georgia on February 4, 1948.

His parents separated when he was a child and he was primarily raised by his mother, Margie.

In the mid-1970s, Wills finally settled in North Augusta, South Carolina, to care for his aging mother, who had suffered a stroke.

Together, they survived on her $450 per month Social Security checks.

In June 1972, Wills, at the age of 24, was working as a private security guard at the Watergate office building on the shores of the Potomac River.

This was the location of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters.

In the one year that Wills had worked there, there had been only one attempted burglary.

In fact, it was considered so safe that security officers in the building carried around only a can of mace.

In the wee hours of the morning of June 17, Wills noticed a piece of duct tape on one of the door locks when he was making his first round.

The tape was placed over the latch bolt to prevent the door from latching shut.

He removed the tape and continued on his patrol.

Thirty minutes later, Wills returned to the door and noticed there was more tape on the same door.

Without hesitation, Wills rushed up to the lobby telephone and asked for the Second Precinct police.

The police turned off the elevators and locked the doors while accompanying Wills to search the offices one by one.

Five men were found in the DNC offices.

Wills' log entry made on June 17, 1972, at 1:47 a.m. is memorialized in the National Archives.

Over the next 20 years, Wills struggled to establish and maintain roots and stability while suffering bouts of unemployment.

He shuttled between Washington and other southern cities, with some time spent in The Bahamas.

He said in an interview that Howard University feared losing their federal funding if they hired him.

A security job with Georgetown University did not last long.

Also, he worked in a failed stint as a diet food spokesperson for the comedian Dick Gregory.

The arrests triggered the Watergate scandal and eventually the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon in 1974.

Although hailed as a hero, Wills did not receive much financial reward or a promotion and later had difficulty finding work.

He did media appearances and played himself in the 1976 film All the President's Men, but spent much of his life jobless and in poverty.

Wills played himself in the 1976 film All the President's Men. The book and film were based on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's 1974 book accounting their investigation into the Watergate scandal.

Wills also appeared briefly on the talk show circuit.

In 1979, Wills was convicted of shoplifting and fined $20.

Wills recalled in 1997, "When we turned the lights on, one person, then two persons, then three persons came out, and on down the line."

Details that emerged during their questioning and trials triggered the Watergate scandal.

The five men arrested were Bernard L. Barker, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord Jr., and Frank Sturgis.

One story reports that after the Watergate break-in, he received a raise of $2.50 per week above his previous $80 per week salary.

Another story states he wanted, but did not receive, a promotion for discovering the burglary.

According to The New York Times, Wills quit his job because he did not receive a raise.

He then struggled staying employed because media opportunities and appearances kept him away from work, most of which consisted of minimum wage jobs.

After dropping out of high school in 11th grade, Wills studied heavy machine operations in Battle Creek, Michigan and earned his equivalency degree from the Job Corps.

He found an assembly-line job working for Ford in Detroit, Michigan.

He later had to give up his assembly-line job due to health issues, namely asthma.

Wills then traveled to Washington, D.C., and worked at a few hotels before landing a job as a security guard at the Watergate hotel.