The Real Watergate Scandal: Collusion, Conspiracy, and the Plot That Brought Nixon Down (44 page)
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Authors: Geoff Shepard
The author headed the Plumbers Task Force. This slim volume, published posthumously, gushes with patriotic observations but also contains a whole series of admissions against interest that show how due process was denied in Ehrlichman’s separate prosecution in the Plumbers trial.
Dean, John.
The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It
. New York: Penguin Viking, 2014.
This most recent of Dean’s Watergate books is commented upon in Chapter 3.
THE VANQUISHED
Most of the major defendants, with the notable exception of John Mitchell, wrote their side of the Watergate story. In the intervening years, much of what they said has turned out to be true. (Arranged by date of publication.)
Magruder, Jeb Stuart.
An American Life: One Man’s Road to Watergate.
New York: Athenaeum, 1974.
Since this book was published prior to the cover-up trial, it restricted Magruder’s ability to alter his recollection of events to conform to some aspects of the government’s case.
McCord Jr., James W.
A Piece of Tape: The Watergate Story: Fact and Fiction
. Rockville, MD: Washington Media Services, Ltd., 1974.
McCord remains an enigma. His actions and motivations figure prominently in the series of doubter books described in the next section.
Colson, Charles W.
Born Again.
Old Tappan, NJ: Chosen Books, 1976.
Colson was a controversial Nixon political operative. He was only tangentially involved in Watergate and yet was indicted in both the Plumbers and the cover-up cases. He may have been among the most wronged of the Watergate defendants. Prudently, he reached an early plea bargain and spared himself the terrors of actual trials.
Haldeman, H. R., with Joseph DiMona.
The Ends of Power.
New York: Times Books, 1978.
Haldeman insisted to the end that he had done nothing more than serve his president as chief of staff. One of the few non-lawyers involved in Watergate, he may never have realized the risks from his actions.
Nixon, Richard M.
The Memoirs of Richard Nixon.
New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1978.
The former president’s section on Watergate comes as close as could be to an admission of deliberate inattention, if not of actual wrongdoing.
Stans, Maurice H.
The Terrors of Justice.
New York: Everest House, 1978.
When the onslaught was over and the multitude of accusations against him turned out to be baseless, Stans asked (rhetorically) where he should go to get his reputation back.
Liddy, G. Gordon.
Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980.
While the moving party in most of the wrongdoing, Liddy refused to break his silence, becoming known as the Ironman of Watergate and serving the longest jail term of any defendant (over five years) before his sentence was commuted by President Carter.
Ehrlichman, John.
Witness to Power: The Nixon Years.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982.
Of the major Watergate defendants, Ehrlichman was the least involved and received the shabbiest treatment at the hands of the prosecutors. Although Nixon’s counsel, the taping system was kept secret from him, for which he never forgave Haldeman or the president.
Haig Jr., Alexander M.
Inner Circles: How America Changed the World
. New York: Warner Books, 1992.
Haig replaced Haldeman as Nixon’s chief of staff largely out of a sense of duty but was overwhelmed by the political onslaught the scandal had become.
Haldeman, H. R.
The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House.
New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994.
The posthumous publication of his secret diaries was criticized as the ultimate act of disloyalty at the time, but they show a candor and lack of criminal intent with regard to his Watergate involvement.
Gray III, L. Patrick, with Ed Gray.
In Nixon’s Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate
. New York: Times Books, 2008.
This was also published posthumously but shows how Gray was totally out of his element as acting FBI director, never realizing that his deputy, Mark Felt (“Deep Throat”), was secretly undermining him at every opportunity.
Bork, Robert H.
Saving Justice: Watergate, the Saturday Night
Massacre, and Other Adventures of a Solicitor General
. New York: Encounter Books, 2013.
Bork lost any chance of being confirmed for the Supreme Court when he agreed to stop the carnage at the Department of Justice by firing Archibald Cox. He did it out of the most patriotic of motives but got “borked” for his good deed.
WATERGATE DOUBTERS
This series of books raises doubts about the accuracy of the conventional wisdom regarding the Watergate scandal. Interestingly, most were not written by Republican stalwarts but by authors and journalists who identified disturbing discrepancies. (Arranged by date of publication.)
Higgins, George V.
The Friends of Richard Nixon.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1975.
Higgins is a former federal prosecutor who first wrote about the complete lack of due process at the Watergate trials.
Thompson, Fred D.
At That Point in Time: The Inside Story of the Senate Watergate Committee
. New York: Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company, 1975.
Thompson was minority counsel to the Ervin Committee. His book is replete with stories of how Republican efforts to pursue alternative investigations were thwarted by the Democratic majority.
Hougan, Jim.
Secret Agenda
:
Watergate, Deep Throat and the CIA.
New York: Random House, 1984.
Hougan did the early and seminal work on highlighting all of the discrepancies in the stories of how the break-in occurred and was investigated in such a strange manner.
Colodny, Leonard, and R. Gettlin.
Silent Coup: The Removal of a President.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
Their book is really two separate stories. The first is how the military so distrusted Nixon and Kissinger that they set up a spy ring within the White House and may have conspired to facilitate Nixon’s downfall. The second, the “Golden Boy” section, focuses on John Dean and his disturbing role in instigating Watergate events. Colodny’s extensive research files, including taped interviews with dozens of key figures, recently have been donated to Texas A&M.
Zeifman, Jerry.
Without Honor: The Impeachment of Richard Nixon and the Crimes of Camelot.
New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1995.
Zeifman was majority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee and describes how the impeachment inquiry staff was taking secret direction from Kennedy administration stalwarts.
Rochvarg, Arnold.
Watergate Victory: Mardian’s Appeal
. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1995.
Rochvarg was a summer law clerk for the law firm handling Robert Mardian’s appeal from the cover-up trial. His description of how they argued and won a reversal of his conviction contains lots of good insights into the unfairness of Sirica’s actions in the trial itself.
Adler, Renata.
Canaries in the Mineshaft: Essays on Politics and the Media.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001.
Adler was a member of the impeachment inquiry staff but is a contrarian and thus included in this section. Her first and last essays are of significant interest. “Searching for the Real Nixon Scandal,” published in
The Atlantic
in 1976, questions the work of the House impeachment inquiry (of which she was a part). “A Court of No Appeal,” published
in
Harper’s
in 2000, harshly criticizes Judge Sirica and his conduct of the Watergate trials.
Rosen, James.
The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate
. New York: Doubleday, 2008.
Rosen spent seventeen years researching this excellent book about John Mitchell and defending his role in the Watergate scandal.
Shepard, Geoff.
The Secret Plot to Make Ted Kennedy President: Inside the Real Watergate Cover-up
. New York: Penguin Sentinel, 2008.
This is my first Watergate book and details how the scandal was so successfully exploited for political gain by Democrats who had served in the Kennedy administration and longed for a return to power.
Colodny, Leonard, and Tom Shachtman.
The Forty Years War
. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
A sequel to
Silent Coup
, this book describes the continuing foreign affairs battles between the neocons and the realists.
Merritt, Robert, as told to Douglas Caddy.
Watergate Exposed: How the President of the United States and the Watergate Burglars Were Set Up
. Chicago: Trine Day LLC, 2011.
The author claims to have been a police informant and in possession of inside information with regard to the circumstances surrounding the Watergate burglary arrests. His co-author was their initial counsel. Much of the book strains credulity, but if even 10 percent of it is correct, it will dramatically affect views of the origins of the Watergate scandal.
Holland, Max.
Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat
. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2012.
The author argues that Deputy FBI Director Mark Felt leaked information about the Watergate investigation to Bob Woodward not out of disinterested patriotism but in the hope of displacing the acting director of the FBI, Pat Gray. Felt’s credibility should be evaluated in that context.
Himmelman, Jeff.
Yours in Truth: A Personal Portrait of Ben Bradlee
. New York: Random House, 2012.
In the course of researching a book about the
Washington Post
’s former executive editor, Himmelman came across evidence that documented Bernstein’s grand juror interview, an infraction denied for the prior four decades. His courage in revealing these long-held secrets was denounced by his former friends and colleagues.
Stanford, Phil.
White House Call Girl
. Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2014.
This is a sequel to Colodny’s “Golden Boy” section on John Dean. Stanford, an Oregon journalist, delightfully describes embarrassing associations of Dean and his wife and then documents his disclosures with the thoroughness of an academic paper.
Stone, Roger, and Mike Colapietro.
Nixon’s Secrets: The Rise, Fall, and Untold Truth about the President, Watergate, and the Pardon
. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2014.
Stone, who worked at CRP and was close to Nixon in his later years, recaptures the good, the bad, and the ugly about what we now know (or suspect) about Nixon and Watergate.
A
Adams, Sherman,
106
Agnew, Spiro,
xx
Agurs
rule,
163–164
Air Force One
,
xxiii
All the President’s Men
(book),
18
,
111–112
All the President’s Men
(film),
113
American Civil Liberties Union,
207
,
219
Andreas, Dwayne,
190
Archer Daniels Midland,
190
Ash, Roy,
xxvii
B
Bantam Book Publishing Co,
135
appellate court panel stacking and,
14
,
49–51
,
202–205
as false hero of Watergate,
14
participated in secret meetings,
6
,
14
,
15
,
49–51
,
202
,
205
Beck, Dave,
106
Ben-Veniste, Richard,
12
,
71
,
80–81
,
82–83
,
87
,
88
,
90–91
,
95–97
,
138
,
158
,
159
,
161
,
164
,
165
,
191
,
196
,
291–294
participated in secret meeting,
7
,
52
,
53
,
54
,
211
Bernstein, Carl,
18
,
27
,
30
,
34
,
103
,
106
approached Watergate grand jurors,
6
,
30
,
107–110
,
111
,
112–113
Bittman, William,
12
,
72–73
,
74
,
148
,
158
,
159
,
161–162
,
169
,
295–297
Blind Ambition
,
166–167
,
175–176
,
190
Blue Book,
xiii