While Richard Nixon's culpability for
Watergate has long been established—most recently by PBS in 2003—what's
truly remarkable that after almost forty years, conventional accounts
of the scandal still don't address Nixon’s motive. Why was President
Nixon willing to risk his reelection with so many repeated burglaries at
the Watergate—and other Washington offices—in just a few weeks? What
motivated Nixon to jeopardize his presidency by ordering the wide range
of criminal operations that resulted in Watergate? What was Nixon so
desperate to get at the Watergate, and how does it explain the deeper
context surrounding his crimes?
For the first time, the groundbreaking investigative research in Watergate: The Hidden History
provides documented answers to all of those questions. It adds crucial
missing pieces to the Watergate story—information that President Nixon
wanted, but couldn’t get, and that wasn’t available to the Senate
Watergate Committee or to Woodward and Bernstein. This new information
not only reveals remarkable insights into Nixon’s motivation for
Watergate, but also answers the two most important remaining questions:
What were the Watergate burglars after? And why was Nixon willing to
risk his Presidency to get it?
Watergate: The Hidden History
reexamines the historical record, including new material only available
in recent years. This includes thousands of recently declassified CIA
and FBI files, newly released Nixon tapes, and exclusive interviews with
those involved in the events surrounding Watergate—ranging from former
Nixon officials to key aides for John and Robert Kennedy. This book also
builds on decades of investigations by noted journalists and
historians, as well as long-overlooked investigative articles from
publications like Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times.