The Last of the President’s Men by Bob Woodward (PDF)

Description

Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in his new book The Last of the President’s Men. Woodward reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon’s resignation. In forty-six hours of interviews with Butterfield, supported by thousands of documents, many of them original and not in the presidential archives and libraries, Woodward has uncovered new dimensions of Nixon’s secrets, obsessions and deceptions. The Last of the President’s Men could not be more timely and relevant as voters question how much do we know about those who are now seeking the presidency in 2016—what really drives them, how do they really make decisions, who do they surround themselves with, and what are their true political and personal values?

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Those who read my enthusiastic review for Pat Buchanan’s recent book on the 1968 Presidential Campaign may wonder at my similar enthusiasm for reporter Bob Woodward’s latest indictment of the Nixon Administration. Perhaps I feel a sense of closure with this work, which is the culmination of Woodward’s lifelong crusade against Richard Nixon. Nixon’s legacy has been a part of my literary life, I’ve read all his books over the years. So this is a personal journey for me as well. Now join Woodward in his most personal work yet, as he strives to unravel yet one more mystery after all these years. But first, some criticism:In his opening chapters, Woodward repeatedly characterizes Nixon’s personality as ‘weird’ after winning his first presidential election. What’s also weird is obsessing about the personality quirks of a leader who has been dead for nearly twenty years. Why shouldn’t Nixon’s mood be a bit off? He’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. After being told for eight years that he wasn’t good enough to be president (or governor of California), RN finally saw all his dreams come true. That would be an understandable strain on anyone. But Woodward seeks to psychoanalyze RN, one of the late leader’s perennial complaints about the biased press. They didn’t do that to JFK, Nixon would grumble.This book is a fascinating study into the mindset of journalists and journalism during the late sixties. Reporters like Woodward revered President Kennedy to almost the point of worship. JFK was a regular guy that journalists could pal around with, share a beer, and talk about hot women. Nixon was always suspicious that these elitist reporters wouldn’t want to share a drink with him. For this, they called him paranoid. But Nixon was right, and it’s confirmed in the biased tone of Woodward in this work. It’s informative (and fun) to contrast how people like Woodward choose to describe similar behavior between JFK and RN.When JFK snapped at aides, it was excusable because of his bad back pain. When RN did the same, it’s because he was a really mean guy. When Nixon tapped a woman on her thigh, it was because he was a disgusting opportunistic pervert, abusing his position. When JFK would actually penetrate numerous women during his presidency, it showed what a great guy he was. (By some accounts, not all such encounters were consensual, such as the female pool reporter targeted by the rascally Camelot president). When RN tape recorded people without their knowledge or consent, it was because he was a despicable devil. When JFK (and Johnson) tape recorded people without their knowledge or consent, it was because they were really great guys. When RN wiretapped people to use something against them, it was nothing like the happy and wonderful wiretapping that JFK had Hoover perform against the Reverend Martin Luther King, jr. Being a Democrat is like a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to the “watchdogs” from our nation’s fourth estate.In every case, reporters like Woodward could have won Pulitzers investigating the political and personal failings of Democrat presidents, but chose not to. They didn’t want to earn careers and money at the expense of their personal heroes. No such journalistic compunction protected RN. Indeed, it is puzzling that Woodward has such a vindictive tone towards Nixon, even after all these years. Woodward and Bernstein would have been stuck covering the local sports news without Richard Nixon. He made them rich and famous, honored through the end of their days.Woodward also fails in his analysis when he thinks he has uncovered nefarious scheming between Nixon and Kissinger on the Vietnam war. W thinks that he has a new smoking gun memo from RN, where RN notes that the result of three years of bombing North Vietnam has been ‘zilch’. But that is in perfect keeping with the political goal of bombing the North Vietnamese ‘back to the negotiating table’. As every history of the Vietnam war relates, Nixon’s goal was to force the North Vietnamese to sign a peace treaty with the United States, return our prisoners of war, and allow the U.S. to withdraw from Vietnam ‘with honor’. Mission accomplished, Woodward, but your bias blinds you to the obvious. The day that the North Vietnamese signed that peace deal, Nixon started the long process of drawing down our troops and turning the war over to South Vietnamese president Thiew.W conveniently fails to remind the reader that the post-Watergate Democrat-controlled congress slashed funds to support South Vietnam, dooming them to the precise Communist invasion that the ‘Domino theory’ warned would happen. They doomed the war effort, and got to pin all the blame on RN for a war he didn’t start. That’s what happens when Democrats get to write all the history books. Here, Woodward tries to raise the possibility of some unstated dark motive between Nixon and Kissinger, when all signs pointed to them trying to get to that goal of a peace treaty and an eventual withdrawal from Vietnam. They desired a political victory, not a military one, which they achieved and history reflects.It’s a small distinction, to not see the difference between a clear political goal to the bombings, and confuse it was some definitive military effect. Again, by assuming the worst interpretation and worst possible motive of RN, W misses an opportunity for true closure. W also expresses outrage over Nixon hoping for an election advantage from increased bombings. Gee, like how President Johnson sought a clear political advantage for Hubert Humphrey by announcing a bombing pause right before the Democrat primaries? W won’t tell his readers this, because it is assumed the reader will also consider RN evil personified for governing largely the same as his predecessors.Now the preceding really sounds bad and it is, but it’s not the meat of the book. By and large it’s an enjoyable account as Woodward and his interview subject Butterfield take us back to the heady days of the new administration and their agenda. Butterfield had a difficult job (be careful what you wish for), supporting Chief of Staff Haldeman and anticipating RN’s moods. It makes for great reading.Woodward really tries to dislike his subject. But look at the circles that Woodward now travels: In 2015, W called up Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on his speed dial to confirm a hand written RN memo that Butterfield had in his possession. Which Kissinger helpfully did! Who else could do that? Despite his biases, Woodward is always compelling as an author and an investigator. This book is as exciting as anything starring Robert Redford (what non-truthful movie is he stuck doing these days?)I listed the above failings because I want to be clear in my enthusiasm for this work. Woodward won’t be around to kick Dick Nixon around forever, and I’m glad that his final investigation into the last of the President’s men (Butterfield) has given him some sort of closure. Nixon destroyed himself even while knowing there were men like Woodward out there waiting to get him. Read this book and see history come alive, before all those involved are gone and forgotten. I hope Woodward will induce you to think for yourself, and in that his final Nixon investigation is a pleasing read and literary success.

⭐Richard Nixon was thinking towards posterity when he ordered taping machines to be added to the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room and telephones in both rooms. Later, machines were added to other places Nixon used for meetings. The machines were voice-activated and Nixon did not have to decide who or what to record. Everything was recorded – not always so clearly – and most on Nixon’s staff were unaware that the machines were there. One of the few who did was Alexander Butterfield, hired on as an assistant to Nixon’s close assistant, Bob Haldeman. Butterfield had been in charge of having the system installed.The system remained secret and was only disclosed during the Watergate hearings.Alexander Butterfield, at age 89, is one of the few Nixon confidants still alive and he worked with author Bob Woodward on Woodward’s newest book, “The Last of the President’s Men”. Using interviews between the two men and an unpublished manuscript of Butterfield’s, Woodward gives a fairly straight-forward account of Butterfield’s time in the Nixon White House and the devastating consequences when the existence of the tapes were disclosed in the Watergate hearings in July, 1973. For the next year – the tapes and what was on them – was one of the main sources of conversation and speculation from Washington out to the rest of America.Richard Nixon wasn’t the first president to have a taping system in his White House, but the others devices seemed to be the type where the president had to decide to record. Nixon’s tapes recorded everything – theoretically, anyway. Nixon wanted to preserve his administration in the history books he was planning to write, and having correct tapes of conversations was necessary. The president seemed to forget about the existence of the recordings, which were full of both “official” discussions, but quite a few “off the record” ones, as well. It was the latter that got Nixon – and his staff – into trouble. Butterfield gives details on the Watergate Hearings, where he was “ground zero” on the tapes. Later, he wondered why he had disclosed the existence of the tapes. But I suppose even if he hadn’t, these ultra-secret tapes would somehow have come to light.Alexander Butterfield’s book is both a history of the taping system which ended in the Watergate Hearings, but also gives a pretty good look at Richard Nixon the man. Nixon was capable of petty tyranny…and words of compassion. He was both physically and emotionally awkward. There have been many good biographies of Richard Nixon which sketch his character in much fuller detail than the Butterfield/Woodward book. This book looks at a pretty important – though small in time – portion of Nixon’s life. Butterfield is also candid about the others he worked with in the White House, and looks at Nixon’s views of those who both surrounded him at work, but also in the wider world. His “Enemies List” was not even a secret at the time. Butterfield’s time in the White House covered a very important time in US history and the authors are not shy in giving the ins and out of both foreign and domestic policies. The chapters on the Vietnam war are particularly insightful; “everyone lies” seemed to be an SOP in Nixon’s White House.Curiously, the Butterfield/Woodward book is not particularly long. The text in the e-book is about 160 pages long and the rest is devoted to Documents, Index, and Acknowledgements. “The Last of the President’s Men” is a good read for those interested in Watergate and the times. Richard Nixon IS preserved for posterity…

⭐Bob Woodward is a famous journalist and author famous, with Carl Bernstein, for publicising the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon. This short book explores the role of Alex Butterfield who as assistant to Nixon had the infamous taping system installed that confirmed the president’s criminal involvement in the Watergate cover-up. The revelations of Nixon’s personal awkwardness when meeting people for the first time is staggering for a man who was at the centre of American politics for over a generation. These accounts alone are worthy of the read. An easy one day read.

⭐A real pry into the devious workings of the White House when scandal is on the horizon. A psychiatrist would have had a field day with Nixon – especially with regard to his paranoia. Why he ever put a tape system in the Oval Office is anybody’s guess especially when he knew what shinanikins he was up to. Nixon’s aid Butterfield (the subject of the book) is the one who spilled the beans about the tapes.

⭐If you are familiar with Bob Woodward’s work, it will be no surprise that this book is filled with fascinating facts and insights based on first hand and open recollections of Alexander Butterfield – and it is written in a eminently readable style. It is a detailed, informative and genuine perspective of one of historiy’s great insiders into one of history’s most interesting men – both touching and frightening.

⭐Ordered as one of multiple Woodward books to use as holiday reads so still working through the list

⭐Just as you’d expect from Bob Woodward – factual and precise. Coould have done without all the cross-referencing.

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