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The New Nixon Tapes
Free Press
January 1999
On Sale: January 16, 1999
Featuring: Richard Nixon
ISBN: 0684851873
EAN: 9780684851877
Kindle: B000FBJFEQ
Paperback / e-Book (reprint)
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Non-Fiction Biography
Richard Nixon said he wanted his administration to be "the
best chronicled in history." But when Alexander Butterfield
disclosed the existence of a voice-activated taping system
to a Senate committee in July 1973, Nixon's White House and
its recordings quickly became the most infamous in American
history. The tapes dominated the final two years of Nixon's
presidency, and almost single-handedly forced his
resignation. But only 60 hours were actually made public
in the 1970s. Many thousands of hours remained secret and in
Nixon's hands, and he fought fiercely to keep them that way
right up to his death. Finally, thanks to a lawsuit brought
by historian Stanley I. Kutler with the advocacy group
Public Citizen, a landmark 1996 settlement with the Nixon
estate and the National Archives is bringing over 3,000
hours of tapes to light. The initial release in November
1996 of over 200 hours of material comprised all those
conversations concerning abuse of power -- every
Watergate-related tape, as well as those concerning many
other campaign misdeeds and some Pentagon Papers
discussions. Finally, the full story of Nixon's downfall can
be told. From Ehrlichman's saying, "Dean's been
admonished not to contrive a story that's liable not to
succeed" to Nixon's asking, "Is the line pretty well set now
on, when asked about Watergate, as to what everybody says
and does, to stonewall?" Abuse of Power reveals a
much more extensive cover-up than ever realized. From
Colson's announcing, "Well, we did a little dirty trick this
morning" to Nixon's ordering a McGovern watch "around the
clock" to the planting of a spy in Ted Kennedy's Secret
Service detail, Abuse of Power redefines the meaning
of campaign tactics. And from a worried discussion of Dwayne
Andreas's "bag man" to Nixon's stating that the burglars
"have to be paid. That's all there is to that," to a quiet
conversation with Rose Mary Woods to see if there remained
$100,000 in his safe for "a campaign thing that we're
talking about," here is a money trail that anyone can
follow. Packed with revelations on almost every page,
the Abuse of Power tapes offer a spellbinding
portrait of raw power and a Shakespearean depiction of a
king and his court. Never have the personalities of
Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Colson, Haig, Kissinger, Dean, and
Mitchell been so vividly captured with the spoken word. And
never has an American President offered such a revealing
record of his darkest self.
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