The Final Days

There isn't really anything I can add to the plethora of reviews and comments made about this excellent work of history. All I can add is my personal experience of having the key players portrayed as the flawed human beings they were rather than being sketched out as stark black and white myths. Even Richard Nixon was shown to be a complex personality who had aspects the reader could empathize with while acknowledging his criminal behavior that led to a Constitutional Crisis and brought down his presidency. Those who enabled Nixon and defended his actions were shown to have acted with varying degrees of ignorance about what Nixon knew and when he knew it. When faced with the truth, almost all of the president's defenders came to the conclusion that he had to resign for the good fo the party and the country.What makes this book so powerful is how it is a warning from our not so distant past about having a president and administration that acts like the president is above the law and doesn't have to answer to Congress, the courts or the American people for his actions. Nixon's actions as president nearly brought the executive branch down and paralyzed the ability of the government to function. It took two years of investigation for Congress and the courts to finally force Nixon to take responsibility for his abuse of power. Still, he was allowed to resign and retire to his home in California. The pardon by Ford allowed Nixon to escape facing justice for his crimes. It makes me wonder what it will take to finally force the current president to be held accountable for his actions during the campaign and since he took office. How long will he be able to abuse the power of his office? How much damage will he do to our Constitutional Republic before he is forced out of office? Once we discover the breadth and depth of his criminal behavior, will we finally act to prevent future abuses by a president? The executive branch has been allowed to stake out and claim a considerable amount of power since 9/11 in the name of National Security. We need the other two branches to step up to act as a check and balance at the federal level. This is true no matter which party controls the White House. We can either learn from the history detailed in this book by Woodward and Bernstein or we can find ourselves repeating the sins from our past.

This book is a masterpiece for those interested in the events following the "Watergate Caper." The amount of research is dazzling, and the number of people who had to be interviewed in great detail in order to record not only the facts but also the emotions of all involved is immense. I'm amazed that anyone could produce such a book in less than 5 years, but Woodstein had this book on the market by 1976. I rather doubt that anything either of them has done or will do will surpass the quality of this amazing history. It's particularly valuable because it may be the only detailed recording of the facts that's not authored by a participant -- i.e., the only one that's unbiased, and most readers will, indeed, be struck by the obvious efforts these writers made to keep bias out of the book.This is definitely not a criticism of the writing, but potential buyers should be aware that the reading is probably going to be difficult. This small problem arises because of the huge number of characters that one must keep track of. I found myself re-reading many paragraphs just to understand, for example, who was doing or saying what with whom and what the ramifications might be. The other thing that made progress slow for me was the complicated timeline. With the machinations at the White House, the proceeding in the Special Prosecutors' offices and Judge Sirica's courtroom, the hearings at the Supreme Court, the agony of the Nixon family members, the circus at the Senate Select Watergate Committee, the House Judiciary Committee's deliberations over impeachment, the musings and communications between House, Senate, CIA, and FBI leadership, there were, understandably, many events transpiring simultaneously. Because some of these events spanned weeks, it was impossible for the authors to present everything in strict chronological order, so sorting out in my mind just when many things were happening also contributed to relatively slow progress through the book.Unfortunately, my "used" volume purchased from Amazon was listed as being in good condition, but it fell literally apart while I was reading it. That's too bad because, even in this day of archivable ebooks, "The Final Days" is one that many professional and amateur historians might want to keep for reference.

This is a behind the scenes look at the final days of the Nixon Administration. A quick background summary is that in 1972 burglars were caught breaking in into Democratic National Committee located in Washington D.C. . Eventually the the burglars were connected to the White House and Nixon. Much of this is covered in Bernstein and Woodwards more well known book(and movie) All the Presidents Men.This book picks up in mid 1974 about the time the famous tapes were an issue before the Supreme Court because Nixon had refused to turn them over. These tapes are recordings of conversations and phone calls Nixon had started recording in 1971. Nixon tried various tactics like releasing only transcripts of tapes and then only certain tapes. Finally after a fruitless battle in the Supreme Court he was ordered to release them all. It was with this final tape release the now famous "smoking gun" tape that showed he had been lying since nearly the beginning about a cover-up. It was after that his support in Congress crumbled and impeachment proceedings were being started. Rather than going thru a certain impeachment and removal from office that could take months of turmoil and distraction he resigned in August 1974.The book has a slow pace at first as it builds up to the impending finally. It does pick up towards the end as the drama builds. Nixon spends a lot of time fluctuating whether to resign or fight until the end the last few days.The book still feels relevant today given current political climate and talk of impeachment. This kind of gives an idea of what it may take for it to happen again. It's not quite as easy as some may think. I recommend this for political junkies and 20th century U.S. history buffs.

(Edited 18 December 2014)I am film literate but, even so, I never quite understood what was happening in the film of 'All the President's Men' and, after reading the book recently, I still don't get it. Read *this* however and things become clearer ... not crystal clear, but somewhat clearer. We discover the roles played by the rest of the White House team, members of Congress, senators, judges, lawyers, and the Supreme Court. What we hit - and I think this is the core of the matter - is one key transcript from the White House Tapes that made it clear that Nixon knew what was going on at Watergate and then tried to hide the fact that he knew. (Not only from the special prosecutors, but from his own people, his friends, power brokers, and family too.) He subsequently tried to withhold the transcript - because, by that stage, what was at issue was not only Nixon but the status of the American presidency. If you're looking for the fulcrum that gave the forces of light the leverage they needed, it was this transcript and his attempts to withhold it. Like any survivor - and further handicapped by his own personal demons - Nixon was no fool and knew what it took to get by in the Washington hothouse. He remained media-savvy up to the end (read 'The Making Of The President') and he was a convincing speaker: people who *heard* his debates against JFK on radio reckoned he won. But he was ultimately remote and hemmed-in by his emotional limitations; he was also tormented by mistrust and a desire to take revenge on those he felt had done him down. This book takes a day-by-day, play-by-play look at events and participants in a way that's similar to Max Gallo's 'Night of the Long Knives', which details Nazi Party revenge and murder in 1934. This book showed me that democracy as we know it was hanging by a thread at the time, and it doesn't seem to have got a lot better since. This book and Daniel Ellsberg's 'Secrets' put life under Nixon into perspective.

Woodward and Bernstein did more than anyone to expose the criminality and cover-up of Watergate, doggedly exposing the scandal in it's early days in the pages of the Washington Post when other media had given up on the story. In this gripping account they finish the story started in their seminal book "All the President's Men" and record Nixon's downfall and resignation. It's a masterful, powerful and gripping account. An absorbing and fascinating read.

A gripping read ,especially having read 'All the President's Men' twice over the years. I think 'AtPM' must be read first so as to establish that the Watergate break-in was just one of the numerous illegal activities done in Nixon's name and funded by CREEP i.e.Campaign to re-elect the President. If you read 'The Final Days' first then you might feel far too much sympathy for Nixon. Watergate and the cover-up,perverting the course of justice etc.etc. were just an end-of-career part of his 'trickiness'. To view him as a victim of any type lacks all credibility. The insights into the Nixon -Kissinger relationship are worth the price alone. The new edition does not have photos of the major players unlike earlier editions .

All the Presidents Men is a fantastic piece of work, and The Final Days is a brilliant companion piece to it, as its takes place in tandem to the events of the previous book.

having read all the president's men this is a well researched sequel detailing the events leading up to Nixon's exit - brilliant research, thrilling, depressing, fascinating bringing to life all the people involved in watergate-- told in a matter of fact yet muscular way -- couldn't put it down.