This is the 8th book I will add to my Watergate shelf and the last, because this book is DEFINITIVE, you can forget all the others.
It's loooooong. BeThis is the 8th book I will add to my Watergate shelf and the last, because this book is DEFINITIVE, you can forget all the others.
It's loooooong. Because Watergate was a sprawling giant squid with tentacles that reached everywhere and loved squirting black ink all around to confuse its pursuers.
For instance it took a while for some investigators to figure out where Ehrlichman ended and Haldeman began.
The nature of Watergate was not stable. One lawyer said "Some days were more Buster Keaton than Al Capone."
You heard of the White House Tapes where Nixon says "A million dollars? We could get that. I know where we could get a million dollars." - well when they finally prised the tapes from Nixon's clamlike fingers
archvists would later estimate it took about one hundred hours to transcribe just a single hour of conversation
This was because Nixon and his cronies did not e-nun-ci-ate their words. Poor transcribers. Did he just say (expletive deleted) or (deleted expletive)?
I have reviewed several Watergate books before and rattled on at length about why it is so interesting and blah blah blah so I will not do so again. I am done with Watergate. After this great history, everyone can be.
I would love to write a realllly looooong review explaining exactly how the whole Watergate thing began and how Mr Nixon didn’t know anything about itI would love to write a realllly looooong review explaining exactly how the whole Watergate thing began and how Mr Nixon didn’t know anything about it until after it happened and how Gordon Liddy unintentionally totally destroyed his presidency (One man! He did it!) but I can see your eyes glazing over already so I will reluctantly confine myself to a few remarks.
1) This book covers in great detail the period 20 January (Inauguration Day) to 17 July 1973. The collapse of Nixon is AWESOME – from the president who won the biggest landslide ever to the only president who had to resign and be pardoned for criminal activities. And it only took 18 months. Fantastic. So the focus is on the period when Watergate transformed from a cloud the size of a man’s hand way out on the horizon to a tropical typhoon demolishing all buildings above ground level. But because Michael Dobbs is an excellent narrator and guides us through vast complexities with the grace of a mountain goat I wanted MORE of this story: Nixon’s total paranoia in 1972 which led to the dirty tricks, plus the crash & burn of the rest of 1973 and 1974. So that was kinda frustrating. Not many times do I wish a book was twice the size.
2) 21st March 1973. This is just astonishing. Dean tells Nixon that the Watergate burglars are blackmailing their political bosses for hush money. Instead of saying “what in hell? That would be illegal! Don’t give them a cent! Are you crazy?” Nixon switches immediately into Don Richard Corleone mode :
”How much money do you need?” “I would say these people are going to cost a million dollars over the next two years.” (That by the way was a wild guess.) ”You could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten.”
So you see RN’s criminality right there. He didn’t tell anyone to burglarize anybody but he was instantly on board with covering it up.
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3) The most shocking quote in the whole book is on page 263. It is April 22 and Watergate is raining down hard upon RN and his two main men Haldeman and Ehrlichman. RN says
Just remember you’re doing the right thing. That’s what I used to think when I killed some innocent children in Hanoi.
This is so grotesque that I thought it had to be a made up quote. The notes say it comes from the detailed diary kept by Haldeman himself.
4) There are glints of humour in all the anguish. At one point somebody had to step up and listen to the tapes to see just how incriminating they were.
After several hours of listening to tapes in a locked room, Haldeman’s normally sharp mind had ceased to function clearly.
And later that same day :
By convincing each other that the president had said the opposite of what he had actually said, Nixon and Haldeman had finally come up with their best-case scenario.
And as a side note I might say that when you read about the lives of rich American men you get the strong idea that what motivates these guys way way more than money or sex is golf and fishing. Man alive, do rich American men like to golf and fish.
It has to be borne in mind that Nixon and his pal Kissinger were the warlords who ordered the carpet bombing of North Vietnam, the secret bombing of CIt has to be borne in mind that Nixon and his pal Kissinger were the warlords who ordered the carpet bombing of North Vietnam, the secret bombing of Cambodia (not secret to the Cambodians but they were under strict instructions to keep quiet about it) and were okay with the napalming of men, women and children in those grim countries in that far-off time. It has to be borne in mind because otherwise you find yourself getting to like Nixon. He suffers so very much! He’s the best villain. He’s like the roly-poly toy in budgerigar cages, you give him a peck and he rolls backwards and then bobs right back up again. So you peck him again.
And he crashed and burned so spectacularly! Talk about ups and downs - November 1972 – wins re-election in a truly spectacular fashion – he got 18 million more votes than McGovern, he won FORTY-NINE states – and 21 months later he resigned before he was impeached. Fantastic. And for those 21 months he was twisting, burning, frothing, moaning, groaning, grinning, winning, losing, bruising, sinning, beginning, not mending but ending, not waving but drowning, muttering, gurning, toiling, roiling, boiling (it was hot), gambling, shambling, nocturnally and conversationally rambling, aiding and abetting, deeply regretting, thinking, drinking, listening to tapes of himself listening to tapes of himself, cursing, rehearsing, he was maudlin, mawkish, hawkish, defiant, furious, curious, self-deprecating, awkward, always awkward, sheepish, he was besmirched, confident, craven, lonely, garrulous, drooling (when in hospital), fooling (no one but himself), mewling, he was lamenting and he was dementing. He was the dark and brilliant bucketful of American pain.
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Thomas Mallon gets hold of Watergate and fondles all the details and lays them out before you, his offhand insights and westwingish dialogue are just the ticket For instance – post- resignation, Nixon is writing a book about foreign policy –
"It would display the kind of expertise people were willing to concede to him, they way they'd admit the bird man of Alcatraz did have a way with canaries"
but I was kind of a bit huh like did I miss something or what because there seem to be some pretty big things that just like glide by peripherally, I mean I would have thought it warranted a whole scene to itself when Nixon first thought – you know what? I might have to actually really resign over this. You don't get that. There's not much angst. The bit players take the lion's share. See Rose Mary Woods erase that tape! All singing and dancing! See Howard Hunt skulk! See some batty old dame ramble on about Roosevelt! Look in vain for Woodward & Bernstein – they ain't nowhere except three namechecks. And Deep Throat is just a dubious movie, which Pat Nixon will never see. We hope.
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I bet you wouldn't have guessed that Alexander Haig (see him twinkle!) gets the best jokes : Visiting Nixon in hospital :
"Viral pneumonia, no complications – finally something around here without complications!"
and later
"Good news, Mr President! The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company says the penalty for a person's recording phone calls without telling the other party is limited to removal of the violator's equipment. And considering the importance of maintaining phone service at the White House, they've agreed to waive that."
***
This is a 4 star novel brought down to three, I'm very sorry to say, by Mr Mallon's insistence on spending too many pages on a couple of the dullest parts of the whole tangle – octogenarian soirees and the Howard Hunt/Fred LaRue/Clarine Lander thing was yawnsome, all the time I wanted to jump into HR Haldeman's closet and overhear his bedroom conversations, all of that. And then, you might have thought that the gruesome Watergate revelations would have provoked some great blazing stand-up rows amongst the cast of characters, but according to Mr Mallon, you'd be wrong. His novel drives all the president's men around in a big airconditioned Rolls Royce, you can hardly hear any of the disagreeable offstage booing. It's all pretty quiet.
The Watergate scandal shows the success and the failure of American politics – the system allowed a morally bankrupt politician to reach the very top, twice, but then found him out and destroyed him. That was an American success. Then again, he was destroyed because of a third-rate comedy-capers chickenshit burglary, and not because he ordered the killing of thousands of civilians in a couple of Asian countries. They busted him, but really, it was for the wrong crime.
But for those who love to hate Richard Nixon, this is a must read....more
Reading about Nixon's career in the excellent first part of this book has reminded me that he was the earnest drudge imbued with an unyielding desire Reading about Nixon's career in the excellent first part of this book has reminded me that he was the earnest drudge imbued with an unyielding desire for various horrible jobs in politics which few sensible people would want. He was willing to drag his ass all over the country relentlessly campaigning for years and years and years. Eight years as Veep didn't put him off. Nope, not at all. Eight years out of politics in 1960-7 didn't put him off. As Paulie Wallnuts in The Sopranos would have said, "I can do that standing on my head". Clearly, Richard Nixon was The Mummy - you run and run and run and you look behind and the damn Mummy is still stomping up, he's gonna get you, you can't get away from him. Run run run - stomp stomp stomp. Richard Nixon was The Mummy.
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1972: Nixon confers with Haldeman
A short comparison between two bad presidents - Bush vs Nixon
The 1960s were very interesting times. For all his faults, and they were legion, George W Bush did not preside over a situation where the National Guard shoots dead four students because they were in a demonstration. He did invade Iraq but he didn't authorise Agent Orange and napalm to be used against thousands of civilians. He didn't bomb a neighbouring neutral country for months. Vietnam was immeasurably more corrosive in America than Iraq because of its scale and because of the draft. We knew Bush's crimes because we saw them every day on the tv, whereas the faroff days of Nixon are now blurry, so Bush seems much worse and Nixon nearly got rehabilitated. Nixon's problem was that he got caught. So either all the other presidents have done similar illegal stuff and not got caught making Nixon uniquely stupid or they've been reasonably honest. We assume lazily that all politicians are crooked, but Watergate brought the shock of proof. Nixon did it, he okayed a burglary and he paid hush money to the burglars, then he tried to cover it all up and fired anyone who attempted to uncover it. Fantastique!
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"You got me fair and square!"
Why I loved Watergate
The enormous thrill of Watergate was in seeing a president who won the biggest ever landslide in 1972 get torn down step by step and ejected from his seemingly impregnable White House fortress by the American constitution and by the judges and senators who believed in it all within the space of 2 years. Sounds like a Frank Capra movie and in some senses it was. Watergate was Shakespearean without the poetry. Nixon was Cassius, Brutus and Caesar at one point or another, and finally he was Lear, raving away, suffering terribly and understanding nothing.
As regards this particular book
I have to remove one star from the rating here because once again he runs into the trap of confusing detail with information, as here:
Dean's recitation began with Haldeman's instruction that he establish "a perfectly legitimate campaign intelligence operation" at CREEP. John Caulfield first developed a plan, but Mitchell and Ehrlichman agreed with Dean that it was not suitable. Dean then suggested that they commission Gordon Liddy for the task. Liddy proposed several hare-brained and expensive schemes which were again were rejected, but he then enlisted Hunt as an ally. The two visited Colson who, in turn, pressed Magruder for action. Meanwhile Haldeman, through his aide, Gordon Strachan, similarly pressured magruder for campaign intelligence. Magruder responded by turning to Mitchell and urging the campaign to authorize Liddy's plan to wiretap the Democratic National Committee. Mitchell agreed, and the fruits of the taps went to Strachan, who gave them to Haldeman.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
So sometimes the stark drama of the events passes through these dense thickets as might a lumbering, dimly perceived but dangerous large beast half a mile away, trumpeting and destroying the next village's huts but leaving your crop of facts and names untouched. Still, a favourite tale well told....more
This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this NatioGood evening.
This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shaped the history of this Nation. And each time I have done so to discuss with you some matter that I believe affected the national interest I now understand I made some of you feel slightly on edge. I understand now that I have a problem with eye contact and passive aggression. For that I am sorry. In all the decisions I have made in my public life, I have always tried to do what was best for the parts of the Nation which I happen to like. Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. To cling on by my fingertips, as you might say.
In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. Great boots have been stamping down on my clutching fingertips. The whole thing has become nauseating. As long as there was able to be clinging without stamping, I felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion, that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future. But with the stamping, I now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served, and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged. I have damaged hands and will probably not be able to fondle my various pets which were gifts and not bribes in the future as I have in the past, in spite of what my political enemies will have you understand. My family unanimously urged me to do so. But the interests of the Nation must always come before any personal considerations.
From the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the slight Watergate matter which I had not been fully informed about until ten or twelve minutes ago I might not have the full support of Congress. I have never been a quitter. I have been a clinger and a receiver of pet gifts and a serial underminer of the nation’s morale but never a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. I am racked with horror, the very bile rises in my throat as I contemplate leaving the White House whilst the Democratic Party is still intact. But as President, I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad. To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication and the vindication of my little dogs, my horses and other political affiliations and to prove how third rate the burglary was which began this whole sorry story would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home.
Therefore, I shall re – I shall therefore re - I shall – I shall – Gggg
Snnnggg
And Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President from noon tomorrow . As I understand the matter, his first act will be to pardon me for any high crimes and misdemeanors committed by other people.
As I recall the high hopes for America with which we began this second term, I feel a great sadness that I will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next 2 1/2 years. But in turning over direction of the Government to Vice President Ford, I know, as I told the Nation when I nominated him for that office 10 months ago, to replace Spiro T Agnew who had just been jailed for high crimes and misdemeanours, as you will recall, that the leadership of America will be in hands which can be counted on not to drop too many important things.. By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of escaping which is so desperately needed by the President right now. I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision. I would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were wrong because really they were right, and I say that in the spirit of humility and of taking a firm stand against everything which isn’t in the best interests of this great nation of ours. To those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, to many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, I will be eternally grateful for your support and will be visiting you in your various correctional facilities, of that you may be assured. And to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me, because all of us, in the final analysis, are wrong, even though some of us are right. I shall leave this office with bitterness and deep regret at and yet I believe that future historians will recognise Watergate and all it represents as one of my greatest achievements. Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have succeeded. I pledge to you tonight that as long as I have a breath of life in my body, I shall continue to live.
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