King Richard: Nixon and Watergate: An American Tragedy, Dobbs - B+

         This is a limited re-telling of the Watergate story, focusing on the early days of Nixon's second term, Jan. 20 - July 17. It hones in on the inner workings of the WH as each individual slowly realizes what a mess he has gotten himself into, and that there is no way out. As Kissinger put the finishing touches on the peace deal with N. Vietnam, the Watergate burglars were being pressured by trial Judge John Sirica to state who they had taken their orders from.  Sirica sent Liddy and Magruder to DC jail to await sentencing. Howard Hunt insisted on money from John Dean before he went to jail, prompting the White House Counsel to tell the president that Dean, Mitchell, Magruder, Haldeman and Ehrlichman had all committed crimes and that there was a "cancer" on the presidency. In late March, the first cracks in the dam appeared when McCord's sentencing was deferred because he indicated a willingness to cooperate with Judge Sirica. Nixon and Haldeman decided that Magruder and Mitchell were expendable. Dean was concerned that he was too. Dean retained counsel and began to bargain for immunity. In mid-April, Hunt "told all" and Magruder struck a plea bargain deal. With information piling up, the DOJ briefed the AG, who told Nixon he needed to get rid of Haldeman and Ehrlichman. At this point in mid-April, Nixon struck upon a theory he would try to foist upon the world and the WH press corps: that he just learned about all of this and now was the chief investigator. He and Haldeman listened to the tape of Dean's "cancer" meeting to try to establish that the president did not approve of buying off Hunt, when the eventual release of the tapes showed that he actually did. Nixon eventually asked Haldeman and Ehrlichman to resign, and he announced their departure on national tv. Dean was unable to reach a deal with the prosecutors, but was entitled to "use immunity" for anything he testified to before the Senate Select Committee. On June 25th, John Dean began to testify, mesmerized the nation, and dug the administration's grave before the Watergate Committee. A month later, Alexander Butterfield disclosed the existence of the taping system. Nixon decided to not destroy them because the tapes would exonerate him. "The story of Richard Nixon's fall is neither a Greek tragedy nor a Shakespearean tragedy but a uniquely American drama that we continue to live with today. It is a story without an end because it is the story of us all."

         Most Watergate histories are top-down, and this one is the opposite. This is not a big picture of what happened, when and how it all unravelled, but rather an inside the coverup look at everything falling apart. There is an extensive recounting of who said what to whom in the WH that highlights the completely delusional thinking that went on in Nixon's world.