5.0 out of 5 stars
The first definitive narrative history of Watergate.
Reviewed in the United States đşđ¸ on May 18, 2023
Watergate A New History By Garrett M. Graff
The first definitive narrative history of Watergate, exploring the full scope of the scandal through the politicians, investigators, journalists, and informants who made it the most influential political event of the modern era.
I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about Watergate, but not so. Graff's premise is that what we call "Watergate" and what brought Nixon's presidency down was not just the burglary at the DNC headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, but what went on through-out Nixon's presidency (and before). The first hundred or so pages dealt with some of the earlier scandals of the Nixon presidency, and I had a hard time getting into the book. But once we got to the burglary and the ensuing coverup and payofffs and congressional investigations and indictments, the book took off, reading like a thriller and a real page-turner. Overall 69 people, as well as many large corporations were indicted resulting from the Watergate scandal.
A couple of interesting tidbits. Female attorneys were relatively rare back then. I know I was in law school (and avidly watching the hearings on TV everyday). However, the Ervin Committee had a female attorney, Jill Volner, on its staff. The book describes how at a meeting with Jeb Magruder (one of those ultimately convicted) at which she was present when asked whether he wanted coffee, "Magruder turned to Volner and said 'I'll take mine black.' Neal {Volner's boss}...drawled, 'Not very smart, insulting a major player in deciding the terms of your plea agreement.'"
And one of the 43 attorneys on the Impeachment Committee's staff was a young attorney named Hillary Rodham. And just for fun, another interesting factoid is that at the time Federal court rules barred females from wearing trousers to court.
Watergate â what does it all mean?
âWatergate: A New Historyâ takes an in-depth look at an event that changed politics. Today, most people know about âWatergateâ from films and television. What people âthinkâ happened is sometimes very far different from what actually did happen. Even those who remember events from fifty years ago do not have clear, concise, or accurate recollections. âWatergate: A New Historyâ revisits those familiar events and evaluates, condenses, and reorganizes them while maintaining the historical legacy as well as the bizarreness that âWatergateâ has come to represent.
âPowerâ is Washingtonâs main marketable product, and this is a story about powerâthe hunger for it, the drive to protect it, the challenges to it, those who have it and those who are driven to have more. It is also a story full of contradictions, inadvertent mistakes, and deliberate deception. Those familiar details are just a sliver of the full story. After all, nearly every major player ended up being charged with lying, perjury, or obstruction of justice.
The book also reminds readers of the âforgottenâ positive accomplishments of Richard Nixon. He was the first president to visit Peking, the first to stand in Moscow. He signed Title IX, the Clean Air Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and created the Environmental Protection Agency. The list goes on, and yet the one word, âWatergate,â has come to define his presidency.
âWatergateâ is the scandal that defines all other scandals. It inspired a generation of investigative journalists who became not just observers of events but also participants with subjective voices. Now, fifty years later, what does it all mean? âWatergate: A New Historyâ attempts to answer that question. It reminds us of one of the most famous âunknown names in American history: William Mark Felt, Sr., of Twin Falls, Idaho, son of a carpenter, who was âDeep Throat.â It also reveals the origin of another âfamousâ moniker. When the grandmother of David Young, a member of Nixonâs special investigation team, asked what he did in the White House, he replied that he helped the president stop some leaks. She replied, proudly, âOh, youâre a plumber!â And the rest is history.
I received a review copy of âWatergate: A New Historyâ from Garrett M. Graff and Simon & Schuster Publishing. âWatergate: A New Historyâ is now available in print, on Kindle, and as an audiobook from independent bookstores, online booksellers, retail stores, public libraries and anywhere books are sold.
I have known Garret Graff for some time. Okay, with that out of the way, this is a thorough account of the end of the Nixon presidency because of the Watergate conspiracies. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in rural South Korea but followed the progress of the Watergate investigations fairly well through the Armed Forces radio, Time and Newsweek magazines, and the Korean press. Graff traces a multitude of threads back to the Nixon White House using court documents, tapes and tape transcripts and all the wealth of journalism and historical research that has appeared over the decades. For all it's complexity and for all the conflicting accounts, this history of Watergate offers a gripping and accurate account of the unraveling of the Nixon administration in a dispassionate tone that underlines the enormity of the scandal and its impact on American politics to this day.
All-inclusive and intensely magnified retelling of the scandal - from newly published sources and with a new perspective as a result of new facts. Having lived through it all, I recall watching the congressional hearings on TV and noting what stars Judge Sirica, Sam Ervin and Howard Baker became as a result. Detailed to the max with oodles of footnotes and notes on the sources to back it all up. Had forgotten what a character Martha Mitchell was - essentially the alcohol-loosened lips that managed to say everything Nixon wanted to say but didn't dare. Surprising are the number of scandals that really outdo the much-covered break-in itself.
Notably prescient of DJT: George F. Will's take on "Nixon team's mental gymnastics to preserve his innocence to the White Queen in _Alice in Wonderland_, who was capable to believing 'six impossible things before breakfast.'" And in his interview with David Frost, Nixon said, "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." Yeah...so someone IS above the law.
A massive doorstop that manages to capture the intrigue and sometimes the absurdity of a seminal part of our country's history.
