The Nixon Conspiracy: Watergate and the Plot to Remove the President

by Geoff Shepard

Overview

Geoff Shepard’s shocking exposé of corrupt collusion between prosecutors, judges, and congressional staff to void Nixon’s 1972 landslide reelection. Their success changed the course of American history.

Geoff Shepard had a ringside seat to the unfolding Watergate debacle. As the youngest lawyer on Richard Nixon’s staff, he personally transcribed the Oval Office tape in which Nixon appeared to authorize getting the CIA to interfere with the ongoing FBI investigation, and even coined the phrase “the smoking gun.” Like many others, the idealistic Shepard was deeply disappointed in the president. But as time went on, the meticulous lawyer was nagged by the persistent sense that something wasn’t right with the case against Nixon.

The Nixon Conspiracy is a detailed and definitive account of the Watergate prosecutors’ internal documents uncovered after years of painstaking research in previously sealed archives. Shepard reveals the untold story of how a flawed but honorable president was needlessly brought down by a corrupt, deep state, big media alliance—a circumstance that looks all too familiar today. In this hard-hitting exposé, Shepard reveals the real smoking gun: the prosecutors’ secret, but erroneous, “Road Map” which caused grand jurors to name Nixon a co-conspirator in the Watergate cover-up and the House Judiciary Committee to adopt its primary Article of Impeachment.

Shepard’s startling conclusion is that Nixon didn’t actually have to resign. The proof of his good faith is right there on the tapes. Instead, he should have taken his case to a Senate impeachment trial—where, if everything we know now had come out—he would easily have won.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642937152
Publisher:	Bombardier Books
Publication date:	11/23/2021
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	134,961
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Geoff Shepard graduated from Whittier College and Harvard Law School and served for five years on the Nixon White House staff, rising to associate director of the Domestic Council. He also served as deputy counsel on Nixon’s Watergate defense team. Shepard is the author of two previous books on political corruption and scandal. He and his wife live near Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Major Players and Events 5

Chapter 1 The Gathering Storm: Events Culminating in the Watergate Break-in 13

Chapter 2 The Watergate Break-in: Tempting the Deep State 34

Chapter 3 Origins of the Cover-up 58

Chapter 4 Sirica's Search for "Truth": The Break-in Trial 63

Chapter 5 Dean Switches Sides: The Collapse of the Cover-up 71

Chapter 6 Nixon Cleans House: Senior Staff Casualties 92

Chapter 7 Cox's Army: The Watergate Special Prosecution Force 109

Chapter 8 The Ervin Committee: Conduct of a Legislative Trial 124

Chapter 9 Butterfield Spills the Beans: Revelation of Nixon's Taping System 134

Chapter 10 The Saturday-Night Massacre: Richardson's Showy Resignation 151

Chapter 11 The Eighteen-Minute Gap: An Unresolved Conundrum 165

Chapter 12 Indict and Impeach: Jaworski Gets Rolled 178

Chapter 13 The Road Map: The Secret Report that Sank Nixon 200

Chapter 14 Nixon Unveiled: How Releasing the Tape Transcripts Backfired 224

Chapter 15 U.S. v. Nixon: The Supreme Court Weighs In 238

Chapter 16 The House Impeachment Inquiry: Congress Piles On 244

Chapter 17 Nixon's Demise: Two Weeks That Changed the World 257

Chapter 18 The Cover-up Trial: Prosecuting Nixon in Absentia 285

Chapter 19 The Real Smoking Gun: Unsealing the Road Map 307

Chapter 20 It Didn't Have to Happen: What if Nixon Hadn't Resigned? 346

Acknowledgments 355

Cast of Characters 357

Notes and Sources 360

Endnotes 361