The Arrogance of Power (133 page)

Aftermath:
(Nixon plays “God Bless America”) unidentified clipping, [
SF Chronicle
?], July 14, 1986; (“He's Back”)
Newsweek
, May 19, 1986; (Carter/other presidents consulted)
JA
, p. 552–; Crowley,
Winter,
op. cit., p. 130–; (“running for ex-presidency”)
SF Chronicle
, Dec. 2, 1978; (pardon)
AMIII
, p. 461; (foreman) int. Vladimir Pregelj; (“That's justice?”)
SF Chronicle
, June 19, 1982; (Krogh)
JA
, p. 530; int. Egil Krogh; (contrition)
AMIII
, p. 461; int. Benton Becker; (“won't grovel”)
JA
, p. 538; (“I did wrong”)
Newsweek
, Oct. 20, 1975, citing Rev. Eugene Coffin; (“only a footnote”) Colson, op. cit., p. 270; (Churchill quote)
SF Chronicle
, Mar. 8, 1985; (“obeyed Mark Twain”) Knight News Service, Jan. 8, 1981; (“Nixon and his apologists”) Magruder,
Power to Peace
, op. cit., p. 177; (“If there was dominant sentiment”) Shannon, op. cit., p. 11.

 

AMI
    Stephen Ambrose,
Nixon: The Education of a Politician,
Vol. 1, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

AMII
    Stephen Ambrose,
Nixon, The Triumph of a Politician,
Vol. 2, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.

AMIII
    Stephen Ambrose,
Nixon, Ruin and Recovery,
Vol. 3, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

AOP
    Stanley Kutler,
Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes,
New York: The Free Press, 1997.

DDEL     Dwight D. Eisenhower presidential Library.

DPP     Drew Pearson Papers, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.

E     Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by Senator Ervin.

FB     Fawn Brodie,
Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character,
New York: W. W. Norton, 1981.

FBP     Fawn M. Brodie Papers, Marriott Library, Special Collections, University of Utah.

FR     Final Report (applies to government documents).

HD
    H. R. Haldeman,
The Haldeman Diaries,
New York: Putnam, 1994.

HD,
CD     H. R. Haldeman,
The Haldeman Diaries,
The Complete Multimedia Edition, Santa Monica, CA: Sony, 1994.

JA
    Jonathan Aitken,
Nixon: A Life,
Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 1993.

JFKL     John F. Kennedy presidential Library.

JFRP     John F. Rothmann Papers.

LAT     Los Angeles Times.

LBJL     Lyndon B. Johnson presidential Library.

MEM
    Richard Nixon,
The Memoirs of Richard Nixon,
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.

MO
    Roger Morris,
Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician,
New York: Henry Holt, 1990.

NA     National Archives.

NM
    J. Anthony Lukas,
Nightmare,
New York: Penguin, 1988.

NP, NA     Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives housed at College Park, MD.

NSF     National security file.

NYT     New York Times.

PAT
    Julie Nixon Eisenhower,
Pat Nixon: The Untold Story,
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986.

PERJ
    Allen Weinstein,
Perjury,
New York: Random House, 1997.

R     U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 93rd Congress, 2nd Session, “Impeachment Inquiry” [pursuant to House Resolution 803], chaired by Rep. Peter Rodino.

RN     Richard M. Nixon.

TW60
    Theodore H. White,
The Making of the President, 1960,
New York: Atheneum, 1962.

TW64
    Theodore H. White,
The Making of the President, 1964,
New York: Atheneum, 1965.

TW68
    Theodore H. White,
The Making of the President, 1968,
New York: Atheneum, 1969.

TW72
    Theodore H. White,
The Making of the President, 1972,
New York: Atheneum, 1973.

VP, NA     Richard M. Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers, National Archives, housed at Laguna Niguel, CA.

WHT     White House tapes. The tapes themselves are housed at the National Archives, College Park, MD. Where so indicated, tapes have been transcribed by the author's researcher, Robert D. Lamb.

WP     Washington Post.

WSPF     Watergate Special Prosecution Force.

WSPF (H-R)     Hughes-Rebozo Investigation, Watergate Special Prosecution Force.

 

M
ore than a thousand people were interviewed for this book. We thank them all, but draw the reader's special attention to the following. Of Richard Nixon's surviving family, his brother Edward and his nephew Donald talked with us. Tricia Nixon courteously declined an interview request while Julie did not respond. From amongst Nixon's friends, Jack Drown and Donald Kendall were interviewed. We could not see the late Bebe Rebozo, who had suffered a stroke, and Robert Abplanalp did not reply to letters. The late C. Arnholt Smith was interviewed, as were former Senator George Smathers and Adnan Khashoggi. Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, the psychotherapist with whom Nixon had a long relationship as patient and friend, gave three extensive interviews.

Of Nixon's staff, the following granted interviews: Alexander Butterfield, Dwight Chapin, John Dean, the late John Ehrlichman, Peter Flanigan, Leonard Garment, Alexander Haig, Herb Klein, Egil Krogh, John Sears, Ron Walker, and Ronald Ziegler. So, too, did former Defense Secretaries Melvin Laird and James Schlesinger (who also served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and director of the Central Intelligence Agency). Brent Scowcroft, former military assistant to the president and deputy assistant for national security affairs, was helpful. The late Maurice Stans, who served Nixon as commerce secretary and on several occasions chaired his campaign finance committees, gave a long interview at his home in California. The late Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, former chief of naval operations, displayed a fine memory and perceptive insights. George Shultz, who served as labor secretary, director of the office of management and budget, and treasury secretary, also talked with us. Cynthia Bassett, daughter of Nixon's early press spokesman, provided her father's intimate correspondence and diaries.

Of those involved directly in the break-ins at the Watergate and the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, we spoke with Howard Hunt, Bernard Barker, and Rolando Martinez.

We are grateful to Lou Campbell, who served at the Nixon White House as an executive protection officer, and to Barry Toll, a former head of one of the battle staff units that stand ready to brief the president and top commanders on procedures in a nuclear crisis, for their patient assistance.

Former Representative Jerome Waldie, who served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation, gave us access to his “impeachment diary.” Both he and Lowell Weicker, former senator and member of the Senate Watergate Committee and later governor of Connecticut, impressed us with their evident devotion to the core principles of American democracy. John Doar and Jerome Zeifman, special counsel and general counsel, respectively, to the House Judiciary Committee, were both interviewed. Professor Sam Dash, former chief counsel of the Senate Watergate Committee, gave a long interview at his Georgetown University office. Richard Ben-Veniste, former assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, was as impressive in interview as he was in court. James Doyle and John Barker, who worked closely with special prosecutors Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski as public affairs assistants, were both interviewed; Doyle kindly gave us access to his taped Watergate journal. Robert Morgenthau, the veteran district attorney of New York County, was helpful as in the past. Former IRS supervisor Marty Philpott explained the probe into Teamsters' contributions to the Nixon White House. The family of the late, brilliant IRS agent John Daley allowed us to rummage in the treasure trove of his filing system. Norman Casper, the IRS informant whose field craft led to exposure of Caribbean banking scams, was endlessly cooperative.

President Johnson's assistant secretary of state, William Bundy, special assistant Joseph Califano, Jr., and national security adviser Walt Rostow threw light on Republican interference with the Vietnam peace initiative in 1968. Anna Chennault and former South Vietnamese ambassador Bui Diem gave detailed accounts of that episode. Although recovering from an operation, Howard Hughes's longtime troubleshooter Robert Maheu talked with the author at length. Huntington Hartford and Seymour Alter, who were also unwell, offered memories of Nixon's Paradise Island connection. The brave Elizabeth Newell told, for the first time, what she had learned from a Rebozo bank official of Nixon's alleged offshore investments. In prison in California, David Silberman offered his account of an alleged Nixonian financial scam. Alvin Kotz, also in jail when interviewed, was informative on stolen securities and much else. The relatives of both men put up with a barrage of questions over many months, as did Silberman's former secretary, Dee Anne Hill.

The indefatigable Greek journalist Elias Dematrocopoulos sat for many interviews and provided a cornucopia of documentation, especially on the
allegation that Nixon accepted an illegal contribution from the Greek dictatorship in 1968.

An investigative book on this scale owes much to the labors of those who have gone before. Special thanks are due to John Rothmann, a sometime Republican activist in California who maintains a unique and extraordinary private archive, and to Michael Ewing, a former congressional investigator with an encyclopedic knowledge of organized crime.

Of the many authors and journalists who have written about Nixon, Roger Morris's published work on the early years—and the help he gave the author—was invaluable. Charles Elliott, Jr., guided the author through Nixon's hometown of Whittier. Gil Troy, who has written about Pat Nixon, allowed us to copy his files. John Lowenthal, lawyer and longtime believer in the innocence of Alger Hiss, offered the most evenhanded advice he could muster. Charles Higham and Benjamin Schemmer, respectively published and unpublished biographers of Howard Hughes, readily supplied documentation. Peter Wyden, John Prados, and Evan Thomas, authors knowledgeable on intelligence matters and the Bay of Pigs, were all helpful. So, too, were Jerry Hunt and former reporters who investigated Nixon's relationship with Marianna Liu. Catherine Forslund, now assistant professor of history at Rockford College, Illinois, made available her dissertation and expertise on the Anna Chennault episode. Alan Block, professor of the administration of justice at Penn State University, opened up his files on organized crime in the Bahamas, as did Jerry Shields. Lisa Gubernick provided unique archival material on Paradise Island. Jeff Gerth's work on how Nixon's world intersected with that of organized crime was an important resource, as was that of former
Newsday
editor Robert Greene and Jonathan Marshall. Professor Joan Hoff gave us access to a mass of material arising from a recent Watergate lawsuit. The author Ron Kessler submitted to a grilling about his sources, and Peter Dale Scott, Berkeley professor and devoted student of the world of intelligence and organized crime, helped once again.

Anthony Lukas, author of a Watergate account no researcher of the subject can be without, died tragically while this book was being written. He had given us thoughtful guidance early in the project. The authors of three other indispensable works on Watergate, Fred Emery, Jim Hougan, and Stanley Kutler—professor of American institutions at the University of Wisconsin—offered every encouragement. Emery dipped into old files, and both Hougan and Kutler opened their archives to us. David Wise lived up to his name and supplied out-of-print congressional volumes. Seymour Hersh allowed us to carry away files by the boxload, and helped with contacts. Former Senate intelligence committee investigator Scott Armstrong dug deep in memory in a lengthy interview. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were helpful and supportive. Where our path crossed their old Watergate tracks, we concluded that “Woodstein” deserved their accolades.

Of the several skilled journalist-researchers who worked on the project, Robert D. Lamb performed long and sterling service. We thank him especially. Sondra Feldstein, who holds an advanced degree in American history and who worked for us on a previous book, read and annotated judiciously the many books we could not read thoroughly ourselves. The skills of Kari Huus, Greg Murphy, Gus Russo, Phil Stanford, and Julie Ziegler were valuable as we identified tough investigative areas. Cinda Elser especially, and Alex Kramer, traced elusive people and records. Researchers Blair Campbell, Brian Connolly, Mark Herman, James Rosen, and Monisha Saldanha, starting out on their careers, gave us willing help in the early days. In Nassau, Nicki Kelly shared her expertise on the Bahamas. Brenda Brodie and Gordon Winslow gave us the benefit of their knowledge of anti-Castro activities. Bill Pugsley labored to get unreleased material freed up at the Johnson Library, and Warren Rabe trawled the Truman Library on a purely volunteer basis.

Librarians and archivists for the National Archives—Pat Andersen, David Paynter, and Karl Weissenbach of the Nixon Presidential Materials Project at College Park, Maryland, and Paul Wormser of the Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers holdings at Laguna Niguel, California—were most cooperative. So, too, were Lyndon B. Johnson Library director Harry Middleton, David DeLorenzo at Harvard, Tom Harkins at Duke University, Mike Sutherland of the Mary Norton Clapp Library at Occidental College, and Stan Larsen and Nancy Young at the manuscript division of the University of Utah. All were generous with time and facilities, and so, too, once again, was Waterford County Librarian Donal Brady in Ireland.

The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, in our experience of it, proved less helpful than other presidential or private libraries. Its director, John Taylor, who has often spoken on the record, turned down our interview request. Archivist Susan Naulty did respond helpfully to some specific questions. The overall impression, however, was that the Nixon Library is more committed to promoting the virtues of the late president than to providing a wholly open service to researchers and scholars. We found it disquieting, too, that numerous interviewees told us they felt they needed to “check with the Library” before being interviewed. In the end, we did not visit the Library.

James Lesar, an attorney and Freedom of Information Act wizard, once again did battle with recalcitrant agencies. Terry Murphy worked magic on old photographs, as did John Lombard on computers. Patrick Farren of Alex International made vast quantities of books and paper travel backward and forward across the Atlantic. Simi Kerman and Stephen Aaron and Nancy Pulley stored our research in the basements of their homes. Larry and Lesley McDonald offered hospitality in Delaware, and Michael and PJ Dempsey gave us refuge after we were robbed at gunpoint.

Against all the odds, Jeanette Mundy is still prepared to work as our assistant after more than ten years, and Zvenka Kleinfeld ran the office during research stints in the United States. Jennifer O'Leary struggled with the earliest
chapters in Cork. Pauline Lombard was mistress of the file and tape system and myriad related books at our Irish base. Jenny and Sally Brittain, Jenny Barlow, Breeda O'Connell, Ann Dalton, and Anne-Marie Ronayne photocopied hundreds of thousands of pages of documents over the years. James Ronayne drove thousands of miles to and from airports and courier offices. A trusty friend, Tiddy Rowan, flew in to the rescue when more hands were needed.

Sincere thanks to my editor at Viking, the talented Rick Kot, his assistant, Brett Kelly, and to Tory Klose, the managing editor who made a crazed schedule work. That extraordinary New York publishing potentate Phyllis Grann ensured that the book and its author survived its grueling five-year birth process. Wayne Lawson got it right, once again, at
Vanity Fair.
My effective agents, Sterling Lord in New York and Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown in London, supplied business sense and friendship in equal measure. Former BBC colleague Bill Cran, at the helm of his own distinguished freelance documentary film company, Invision Productions, fashioned two fine films for the BBC and the History Channel from the clay of our draft manuscript.

The true sustaining strength behind us, however, has been that of our family. The love and understanding of Bob and Terry Swan, Robbyn's parents, have been central to keeping our spirits up. Our five fine children, from the eldest to the youngest, have good reason to resent the five-year presence of the Nixon project in their lives. In many different senses, though, the effort has been for them.

 

A.S. and R.S.

Ireland, 2000