During Watergate, Gergen faced a crucible that emphasized the importance of staying true to one's values.

David Gergen was twenty-eight when he was hired as a White House speechwriter during President Nixon's first term. He had a ringside seat for history as it was being made. "When I first arrived, the power, glamour, and status went to my head," he said. He would later come to realize how naive and unprepared he was for the events of the next few years. His ambition helped him become a rising star in the Nixon administration. He recalled, "I was grasping for the brass ring and was as ambitious as everybody else, probably more so."

Gergen eventually rose to lead Nixon's speechwriting team, learned of his guilt only two days before the news broke in August 1974. Even then, he did not feel he could leave, lest he be viewed as "a rat leaving the sinking ship," especially when President Nixon asked him to write his resignation letter. As he watched Nixon leave the White House for the last time in his helicopter, Gergen thought his own career in public life was over. He recalled the infamous 1919 Chicago Black Sox World Series team, whose players were accused of cheating and banned from baseball for life. "I thought I'd never play again,"
he said.

"Since that searing experience with Watergate," Gergen concluded, "I have always favored transparency." This early experience improved his ability to advise Presidents Ford, Reagan, and Clinton, and to become a wise teacher of future leaders as director of Harvard's Center for Public Leadership.

I have frequently disagreed with those I worked for, because the Watergate lessons were so vivid in my mind. They remind you that you have to stay true to your values. Nixon did not have a moral compass, and everything went off track.