Watergate: The 40th Anniversary

This being the the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, I thought I’d mention three books to read by way of memorializing this ignominious event in our political history:

• Ellsberg, Daniel. Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (New York: Viking Penguin, 2002)






• Kutler, Stanley I. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012 ed.)

• Rudenstine, David. The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996)

“What did the president know and when did he know it?”—Howard Baker, Tennessee Republican and co-chair of the Senate Watergate Committee.

“I am not a crook.”—Richard Nixon, denying his involvement in the Watergate scandal to a group of newspaper editors.

“Expletive Deleted”— a frequent editorial insertion in transcripts of tapes recorded in the Oval Office to replace coarse language.

“Deep Throat”—the name given to the secret source that informed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward of the depth of executive branch involvement in Watergate and other illegal activities.

“Dirty Tricks”—a phrase used to describe tactics designed to disrupt a political opponent’s campaign events or to distribute disinformation.

See too the Chapman University Law Review Symposium, The 40th Anniversary of Watergate: A Commemoration of the Rule of Law (January 27, 2012) from the Webcast Archives of the Chapman University School of Law.