Frank Wills was an African American private security guard who was on-duty during the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters inside the Watergate complex in Washington, DC.
Wills, who was only 24-years old at the time, called the police after realizing that the locks at the complex were being tampered with.
It turned out that five men were planning to bug the Democratic headquarters, and Wills' intuitive thinking led to their arrests. Later, it was discovered that President Richard Nixon was involved, and this triggered the Watergate scandal which eventually led to the Nixon's resignation as President of the United States.
Sadly, Wills never received a promotion for discovering the burglary, and according to The New York Times, he eventually quit his job.
But he was recognized as a national hero for opening the country's eyes to government corruption. He was honored by the NAACP and the Democratic National Committee, and made several major media appearances.
He even played himself in a film about the Watergate scandal called All the President's Men that was released in 1976.
Sadly, he died in the year 2000 at the age of 52 from a brain tumor. He was never compensated by the government for his historic discovery.
