The Great Coverup: Nixon and the Scandal of Watergate

The Great Coverup: Nixon and the Scandal of Watergate

No American history, government, or journalism collection is complete without this new edition of "The Great Coverup: Nixon and the Scandal of Watergate," by Barry Sussman, the best account of the fall of Richard Nixon. It is a dramatic case study of tenacious reporting and suspenseful twists and turns in the political crime of the century.

John Dean, Nixonâ€™s White House counsel, said ten years after the break-in, â€œWhen people ask me which book they should read to understand Watergate, I recommend this oneâ€¦ Serious Watergate students report this is the best overview of the subject. I heartily agree. Anyone who wants to understand Watergate, and not make a career of it, should read "The Great Coverup." (Reviews and excerpts are here: http://www.watergate.info/sussman/.)

A key Nixon goal was to limit the Watergate investigation to the break-in alone, making it appear to be little more than politics as usual. But by September, 1973, as Sussman, who was the Washington Postâ€™s special Watergate editor, spells out:
â€œUnder Nixon the CIA had been dragged into domestic affairs; the investigation and findings of the FBI had been subverted; the Justice Department had engaged in malicious prosecutions of some people and failed to act in instances where it should have; the Internal Revenue Service had been used to punish the Presidentâ€™s alleged enemies while ignoring transgressions by his friends and by the President himself; the purity of the court system had been violated; congressmen had been seduced to prevent an inquiry into campaign activities before the election; extortion on a massive scale had been practiced in the soliciting of illegal contributions from the nationâ€™s great corporations; the President had secretly engaged in acts of war against a foreign countryâ€¦ and agents of the President were known to have engaged in continued illegal activities for base political ends."

"The Great Coverup" was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times and the Washington Post when first published. Wrote David Halberstam: "From the start, the Post was thus unusually lucky. It had the perfect working editor at exactly the right level." In their book, Woodward and Bernstein noted that Sussman was â€œgiven prime responsibility for directing the Post's Watergate coverage,â€œ and added:
"Sussman had the ability to seize facts and lock them in his memory, where they remained poised for instant recall. More than any other editor at the Post, or Bernstein and Woodward, Sussman became a walking compendium of Watergate knowledge, a reference source to be summoned when even the library failed. On deadline he would pump these facts into a story in a constant infusion, working up a body of significant facts to support what otherwise seemed like the weakest of revelations. In Sussmanâ€™s mind, everything fitted. Watergate was a puzzle and he was a collector of the pieces."

If there was a â€œpolitics as usualâ€ aspect to Watergate, Sussman writes, it was in the help Nixon got from members of both political parties. Therein lies one of the bookâ€™s many lessons: Watergate would have been brought to a close much sooner except â€œfor the help powerful men on Capitol Hill extended to their President.â€
Country USA
Manufacturer A Catapulter Book
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2011-01-27
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	A Catapulter Book
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2011-01-27
Format	Kindle eBook

The Great Coverup: Nixon and the Scandal of Watergate

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