Watergate and Afterward: The Legacy of Richard M. Nixon

by Leon Friedman (Editor), William F. Levantrosser (Editor)

Overview

This volume brings together a distinguished group of scholars, jourbanalists, and former Nixon Administration officials to examine the Watergate controversy and its legacy. Particular attention is paid to Nixon's misuse of government power for political ends, his administration's obsession with secrecy and the control of information, and the impeachment proceedings in Congress. This is the second in a trilogy of titles based on the Hofstra Presidential Conference on Richard M. Nixon (the first, Richard M. Nixon: Politician, President, Administrator [Greenwood, 1991], was also edited by Friedman and Levantrosser). Watergate and Afterward includes a final assessment of the Nixon Presidency by a group of biographers who have written extensively about the man and his politics, as well as appraisals of Nixon's accomplishments and failures by both administration figures and outside historians. Special effort was made throughout to incorporate opposing points of view on the various issues under discussion, making this one of the most comprehensive and balanced assessments of the Watergate scandal and its aftermath available in print.

The book begins with essays that describe the political reactions to Watergate and Nixon's attempt to remove the first special prosecutor on the case. In the discussion section that follows, new insight into what the break-in was supposed to accomplish is provided by Reverend Jeb Stuart Magruder, speaking for the first time in a public forum. Subsequent papers discuss the different efforts by the Nixon Administration to uncover information about political opponents, the politicization of the Justice Department, the constitutional confrontation in the Supreme Court over the Nixon tapes, and the Pentagon Papers case. Discussants include Charles Colson, who was in the White House at the time, Tom Brokaw of NBC, and Ron Ziegler and Gerald Warren of the White House press office. Finally, the impeachment proceedings are reexamined in chapters that explore the specific charges against the president and the political coalitions that formed in Congress around them. Ideal as supplemental reading for courses on the presidency and modern American politics, Watergate and Afterward is an important contribution to our understanding of this critical period in postwar history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313277818
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/24/1992
Series:	Contributions in Political Science , #27
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1470L (what's this?)

About the Author

LEON FRIEDMAN is the Joseph Kushner Professor of Civil Liberties Law at Hofstra University Law School. His many previous works on politics and law include The Justices of the United States Supreme Court, 1789-1990. As an ACLU lawyer, he handled a number of law suits against members of the Nixon Administration.

WILLIAM F. LEVANTROSSER is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Colloquium on the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He is the author of Congress and the Citizen-Soldier and Harry S. Truman: The Man from Independence (Greenwood Press, 1986).

Table of Contents

Watergate and the Abuse of Presidential Power
Watergate Re-Examined
Watergate and the Nixon Presidency: A Comparative Ideological Analysis by David R. Simon
President Nixon's Dismissal of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox: An Analysis of the Constitutionality and Legality of an Exercise of Presidential Removal Power by Nancy Kassop
Discussants: Stanley I. Kutler, J. Anthony Lukas, Reverend Jeb Stuart Magruder, Earl J. Silbert
Politics and the Governmental Process
Information, Dissent, and Political Power: Watergate Revisited by Alan F. Westin
Richard M. Nixon and the Politicization of Justice by Michael A. Genovese
Discussants: Moderator: Monroe H. Freedman, Charles W. Colson, John Shattuck
Separation of Powers
United States v. Nixon Reexamined: The United States Supreme Court's Self-Imposed "Duty" to Come to Judgment on the Question of Executive Privilege by Howard Ball
Discussant: Philip Lacovara
The Protest Movement
Discussants: Tom Hayden, David J. Garrow, Sanford Gottlieb
Secrecy, the Government, and the Media
Secrecy and Democracy: The Unresolved Legacy of the Pentagon Papers by John Kincaid
President Nixon's Conception of Executive Privilege: Defining the Scope and Limits of Executive Branch Secrecy by Mark J. Rozell
Discussants: Moderator: Victor Navasky, Tom Brokaw, Howard Simons, Gerald L. Warren, Ronald L. Ziegler
Response: John Kincaid
Impeachment Proceedings
The Nixon Impeachment and Abuse of Presidential Power by Dagmar S. Hamilton
Domestic Legislative Coalitions and Impeachment by Terry Sullivan
Discussants: John Doar, Elizabeth Holtzman, and Judge Charles E. Wiggins
Reexamining Nixon
Nixon Biographers; Discussants: Moderator: Louis W. Koenig; Stephen E. Ambrose, Roger Morris, Herbert S. Parmet, Raymond K. Price, Jr.
Researching the Nixon Presidency: Documents and Evidence
The Status of the Nixon Presidential Materials by James J. Hastings
Discussants: Joan Hoff-Wilson, Harry P. Jeffrey, Mark R. Weiss
The Evolution of the Nixon Legacy
Moderator: Fred I. Greenstein; Richard Nixon Reconsidered: The Conservative as Liberal? by Barry D. Riccio
Richard Nixon and the Idea of Rehabilitation by Sherri Cavan
Discussants: H. R. Haldeman, Robert H. Finch, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Program of Conference
Index

Editorial Reviews

This is the second volume of proceedings from the 1987 Hofstra University Conference on the Nixon administration. Unlike its fine predecessor, Richard M. Nixon: Politician, President, Administrator ( LJ 8/91), this compilation brings together former aides, members of the judiciary, media notables, and historians to discuss the negative aspects of the Nixon presidency. A spirited dialog among biographers Stephen Ambrose, Roger Morris, Herbert Parmet, and Raymond Price concludes that Nixon's rehabilitation will continue as Watergate's overshadowing impact lessens. An abrasive H.P. Haldeman and historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. are less sanguine. The Rev. Jeb Stuart Magruder reemerges for the first time in years but has disappointingly little to say. Panelists offer powerful, even emotional recountings that provide differing perspectives on The Pentagon Papers , executive privilege, the tapes, policies and intrigues, and the daunting problems archivists encounter in making documents available to the public. A comprehensive overview of the unraveling of the Nixon administration, especially recommended for presidency collections.-- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp . Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.

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