All The President’s Men: Third Level Inquiry

This post serves as well as my final review for this book. All The President’s Men is a history of political journalism which covered the fall of Richard M. Nixon in one of the most humiliating political scandals in White House. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were two reporters in Washington Post, they were appointed to cover a case of breaking-in and tapping at the Democratic headquarter in Watergate by five people. This soon turned out as extraordinary news, since it involved several men from President Nixon’s Committee for Re-election of The President (CRP) team. Interviews being made, and slowly but surely, Bernstein and Woodward unveiled organized illegal intelligence activities with the aim to win Nixon as a President. Not only both reporters, but Washington Post as a whole institution must suffer a lot in its fight to reveal the truth, but—as we all know—by the help of inside sources and honorable intentions of its crews, Washington Post had helped people of America to finally force its President to resign.

From the series of news published in Washington Post, Bernstein and Woodward then arranged them into this chronologically crafted history book. It becomes sort of political detective story, but the fact that this is a true story, made this book stands out from any other similar themed books. Four stars for All The President’s Men! And following the first and second level of inquiries for my The Well-Educated Mind Project, this is my analysis for the third level inquiry.

Dustin Hoffman & Robert Redford in the movie adaptation

Rhetoric-Stage Reading

What is the purpose of this history?

The main purpose is to show how people of America were proud of and respected honesty and honor in their blood; that when the sacred of White House was corrupted, there are brave people who sacrificed their career—and often their lives too—to reveal the truth. From the fall, this history also teaches us about how the conspiracy had been built.

What does it mean to be human?

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward showed us that we as human have the responsibility to correct the error in all aspects of life; and we must do it with the right and honest ways, with persistence and commitment.

Why do things go wrong?

Greediness and arrogance—I think—that had corrupted the White House at that time. Nixon was in his second period of presidential, he and his men must have thought that because they had put every other institutions—FBI, CIA, Ministry of Justice—under their control, their illegal activities won’t be revealed. Hunt, one of the President’s men, even blackmailed the President because he had some evidence about Watergate. The moral corruption of President and his men had been in the lowest level when they knew they would surely win.

What place does free will have?

In their fight to reveal the truth, both reporters and the Washington Post must face a lot of trials. Bernstein and Woodward were summoned to the court because they have tried to interview the jury. White House had openly attacked Washington Post’s reputation, and the newspaper’s stock had been crashed down to 50% in the stock market. At one time the two reporters were warned that their office and houses might have been tapped, and their lives were in danger. However—from the reporters, the senior redactors, to the owner—Washington Post had persistently kept their intention to supply honest investigations to its readers and to help the nation to know the whole truth; they fought to the end.

What is the end of this history?

When Bernstein and Woodward started their coverage for Watergate case, I believe they never thought where this would have ended; a breaking-in to Watergate was not unusual anyway. However, when they found that a huge amount of fund and someone from the closest circle of CRP were involved, they knew that this would be a delicate case. From then on they always looked at the higher level to see who was actually in control. Both reporters ended this history book when House of Representatives finally opened investigation to impeach President Nixon, and the law process began. Six months after this book first published, Richard M. Nixon resigned from his office after the Republican announced that they had been ready to the verdict against Nixon.

If at first the President and his men still arrogantly challenged their ‘enemies’—Washington Post was their biggest target—at the end President’s men fought each others, raced to reveal evidences, to get a chance to put the blame on the others. Nixon was under his men’s control and forced to sacrifice one of his assistants, and at the end his closest friends fell with him too. In a way Washington Post helped America to clean up their corrupt government by their journalism. The end of this history opened a new hope of a better presidential (Nixon was succeeded by Gerald Ford).

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*I read translated version in Bahasa Indonesia by Penerbit Serambi*

Read and posted for:

All The President’s Men: First and Second Level Inquiry

These are the first and second level inquiries for completing tasks of my The Well-Educated Mind Self-Project. The third one would be posted separately.

Grammar-Stage Reading

Who is this story about? What challenge did they face?

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward are two Washington Post’s reporters who covered news of Watergate scandal that forced President Richard M. Nixon to resign his office. They wanted to reveal the truth—who, why, how—behind the breaking-in and tapping of the Democratic headquarter.

Who or what causes this challenge?

Watergate seemed to be controlled by President Nixon’s Committee for Re-election of The President (CRP) team. Of course, White House denied and covered up any inquiries from reporters that had any chance to put them in dangerous position.

What happened to the two reporters?

Confronted with the absolute power of high level executives, the two reporters had bravely submitted direct inquiries to powerful people, sometimes attacking them through their news—while kept maintaining the newspaper’s integrity by never reporting something they were not 100% sure of the accuracy —in order to reveal the truth.

  

Logic-State Reading

Look for the reporters major assertions

Since this story was previously written as series of reports in newspaper, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward published this book also as a chronological series of reports; and therefore I could not find the explicit major assertions within the history. However, I think the reporters wanted to highlight that it is the nation’s and people’s responsible to seek the truth about their government, even if it might have been conducted by the highest levels of authorities. We must always look at and thoroughly work on all possibilities and chances; that nothing is impossible.

What questions are the reporters asking?

They knew that Watergate had something to do with the high levels in White House; the question was how far the moral corruption had infected White House. Did the President involve in this, did he know about it, or was it merely his men’s action?

What sources do the reporters use to answer them?

They dug every news—new and old ones, every comment from interviews with so many people--but they had also a valuable secret source that seemed to know everything and involved in the case. This source—nicknamed Deep Throat—has guided the reporters to find the truth, without revealing his own identity. They also consulted their lawyer for legal aspects of interviewing, quoting comments and reporting it for the newspaper.

Does the evidence support the connection between questions and answers?

In their reports, the two reporters always followed journalism ethics by cross-examining and reconfirming news with other sources, and provided the subject chances to deny or confirm the news. So, I think they always used a respectable evidence to answer their questions.

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Read and posted for:

All The President’s Men: Chapter 10-17

The next chapters of All The President’s Men, following my post of chapter 1-9, as the first inquiry of my The Well-Educated Mind Self-Project.

Chapter 10

After election Washington Post got a source who was willing to guide them to the right path on their Watergate journalism. The source said that Nixon’s assistant had done investigation about “news leakage”. Meanwhile White House had started to put hard pressure upon Washington Post.

Chapter 11

The two Washington Post reporters—Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward—were summoned to the court for asking questions to Watergate jury, but they could luckily get away from punishment. Watergate defendants were persuaded by CRP to plead guilty. The trial did not end satisfyingly.

Chapter 12

A senator started a thorough investigation of Watergate, he would challenge White House executives by summoning President’s assistants. It was found that Nixon’s team had screwed few other Presidential candidates’ campaign with dirty tricks; Senator John F. Kennedy was one of the victims. CRP finally issued subpoena for Washington Post and few other media.

Chapter 13

Washington Post found false campaigns conducted by Nixon’s team over some issues to stimulate public opinion. ‘Deep Throat’ said that President was furious of Watergate news leakage. White House wanted to get rid of Washington Post, but on the other hand they were also frustrated because the game was now near the end. The new FBI Director has been appointed, and his testimony had helped Washington Post to clear its reputation.

Richard M. Nixon

Chapter 14

Money was still flowing even after Watergate. There were first signs of catastrophe that would strike White House. President held a press conference saying that he would let his assistants testify in front of Watergate Senate Committee. Meanwhile few of his Advisors resigned, while the other started to whistle about his colleagues’ involvement in the scandal.

Chapter 15

President’s loyal men started to fight each other between themselves. Nixon’s Advisor—John Dean—had reported to him that two of his men knew all about Watergate, but those two persuaded Nixon to sacrifice Dean. Moreover, seemed that there had been many illegal activities like Watergate “from the beginning”, and at the end John Dean might be involving the President for covering up illegal activities.

Chapter 16

President Nixon announced resignation of his two most loyal men who had involved in Watergate. White House then made an open apology to Washington Post. It’s revealed that to investigate “news leakage” White House had done 17 tapping; Henry Kissinger—President’s Assistant for national Security—had given the authority to FBI. ‘Deep Throat’ warned the two reporters that the situation was getting more dangerous; CIA might have been watching them electronically. Meanwhile it’s obvious that President actively involved in the Watergate covering-up activities, but a president could not be indicted constitutionally when he was still serving. The biggest surprise was that the President even tapped his own office!

Chapter 17

White House finally submitted the tapping tapes, although there was one or two that had been erased. All the guilty President’s men were indicted one by one by the jury, and the House of Representatives finally started their investigation to impeach the President.

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All The President’s Men: Chapter 1-9

All The President’s Men is a history book about Watergate scandal that forced US President Richard Nixon to resign his office in 1974. I read this book for my The Well Educated Mind Self-Project. There would be two chapter posts, this one is for chapter 1-9, and there will be the second one for chapter 10-17. These chapter posts are part of the first level of inquiry for the project, the grammar-stage.

Two reporters of Washington Post doing reports of Watergate

Chapter 1

Five men were arrested for breaking-in the Democratic headquarter in Watergate. One of the main suspects (Howard Hunt) is a White House consultant.

Chapter 2

There was large sum of money in one of the Watergate suspects’ account which could be tracked to President Nixon’s Committee for Re-election of The President (CRP) campaign fund.

Chapter 3

A scheme of money laundering in Mexico was found, and interviews of CRP staffs revealed that the huge amount of money was used for Watergate’s tapping, and was distributed by highest level persons in CRP. Investigation was being held by the federal, but the final charges did not go as expected, the biggest evidence hadn’t mentioned at all.

Chapter 4

There had been some efforts to hide facts of Watergate tapping: documents were destroyed, staffs were under pressure to stay away from press, staffs were persuaded to give certain answers to FBI, and staffs possessed critical information were promoted after Watergate. Washington Post had a valuable source with nickname "Deep Throat".

Chapter 5

John Mitchell—Attorney General—was one of the controllers of the secret slush fund which was used for financing illegal intelligence activities against Democratic. There were four others related to it, one of them was from inside the White House. A security personnel named Baldwin confessed about the tapping.

Chapter 6

Nixon’s presidential campaign also used young attorneys—“Mafia USC”—to do political sabotage and espionage—“double spy”—to infiltrate the Democratic. There were more than fifty agents of White House who were directed to ruin the opposition and made the whole election collapsed.

Chapter 7

The “Mafia USC” recruiter had a relation with Howard Hunt; he was paid by Nixon’s private lawyer. Nixon’s campaign used provocateurs to sabotage Democratic convention, while Nixon’s Assistant was mentioned as one of the sabotage’s contacts. The Ministry of Justice had most of the evidences, but they have not done anything yet to follow up the case.

Chapter 8

Nixon’s Private Lawyer turned out to be one of five people who had the authority to withdraw the “secret fund”. Nixon’s Campaign Director finally held a press conference as a counter attack to Washington Post, but they still did not respond to the accusation.

Chapter 9

It was finally revealed that Nixon’s Assistant was the fifth person who controlled the secret fund, the key person of Watergate. Overjoyed with this, Washington Post made a mistake by publishing news which the reporters had misinterpreted their source. The investigation was then stuck.

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