At the time there also was the saying"Nixon bugs me!!
In regards to Watergate I was in my early teens and politics wasn't on my radar then.
I learned later...from the Nixon tapes that he asked Haldeman "who was the asshole that did this?"(the break in)...he knew nothing about it before hand.
Then he authorized the cover-up...then winning the 1972 election in a MASSIVE landslide...take about paranoia!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal
Nixon's own reaction to the break-in, at least initially, was one of skepticism. Watergate prosecutor James Neal was sure that Nixon had not known in advance of the break-in. As evidence, he cited a conversation taped on June 23 between the President and his Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman, in which Nixon asked, "Who was the asshole that did this?"