Book Review "All The President's Men"

All the Presidents Men, set against the backdrop of the Watergate scandal, is a political cum investigative expose. Relentlessly pursued by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Watergate scandal resulted in the resignation of a sitting American president Richard Milhous Nixon and amendments in the Freedom of Information Act. It brought the corrupt practices adopted by the Nixon administration for reelection into the public eye and set a precedent of true journalist ethics for years to come. The book is a must read for working and aspiring journalists alike because it teaches the foundations of the journalism profession in face of the good, the bad and the ugly.

At 2:30a.m on 17th June, 1972 five burglars are arrested inside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee inside the Watergate Complex. The five men are Frank Sturgis, Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James W. McCord, Jr and Eugenio Martinez. At their preliminary hearing Bob overhears one of the defendants state his profession as CIA operative; already perplexed by the fact that the defendants have retained their own counsel, he embarks on an investigation with the help of Carl Bernstein to uncover the clandestine activities of CRP (Committee to Reelect the President) involving top White House aides H.R.Haldeman, John D. Erhlichman, the ex Attorney General John Mitchell, top CRP officials Maurice Stans, Jeb Magruder, Herbert Kalmbach, former FBI agent E. Howard Hunt and former CIA operative G.Gordon Liddy. These officials are the ones who controlled the secret hush fund to sabotage the Democratic campaign.

Uncovering these activities in the national press brings the whole saga to the attention of the senate and two official investigations are initiated. Alexander Butterfield brings to the notice of the senate investigation the presence of a secret White House taping system which is subpoenaed by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, which is refused by Nixon citing presidential privilege. In retaliation Nixon orders AG Elliot Richardson to fire Cox; he refuses and resigns. The responsibility now falls on Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus; who refuses and is fired, next in line Solicitor General Robert Bork wants to resign but is persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay and he fires Cox. This chain of events is known as the Saturday Night Massacre.

Despite all the efforts of the Nixon administration to mislead the public and official investigations, Bob and Carl’s efforts to uncover even the tiniest bit of information keeps the whole investigation on the right path. They are helped along by sources, the most famous being Deep Throat. Before publishing any story or lead they confirm it from 3-4 sources and also from the person about whom the story is. They were blessed to have understanding editors and publisher behind their backs who supported them throughout their investigation.

All along the arduous two year journey they faced a lot of criticism but believed that there is more to the whole scheme of things not what the White House initially dubbed as “a third rate burglary”.

(Publication date: August 2010

Publication Name: Life with World Call)