From Andrew2 in another thread:

Speaking of Nixon, I stumbled on yet another book about him recently. It was a memoir from L. Patrick Gray, considered one of the major figures in Watergate (he was pictured on the cover of "All the President's Men"). Gray was the man Nixon appointed acting head of the FBI when Hoover died in 1972 and who famously burned files given to him by John Dean which had been removed from Howard Hunt's safe. (These were fake documents cooked up to make the Kennedys look bad - political dirty tricks.)

Gray wasn't such a bad guy - kind of a law and order type who was a bit naive and way over his head in a political job. In any case, one of the most interesting sections of his book is Gray's depiction of a searing conversation with Nixon in the Oval Office one afternoon during Gray's confirmation hearings. This was early 1973 and Nixon himself was feeling the pressure of Watergate, apparently. He was incoherent, rambling, paranoid, and intimidating, and he asked Gray to do some ethically difficult things. Gray found the whole experience traumatic; Nixon had been a hero to him and this was the day that showed him the "real" Nixon. The chapter about this meeting is one of the most graphic, personal descriptions of a meeting with Nixon I have ever read. (Gray backed it up with transcripts from the Oval Office recordings.)

Nixon was petty, paranoid, and vindictive; his recordings prove it. There have been other reports that Nixon was an alcoholic and addicted to sleeping pills during his time in office. He may have been a bold visionary in foreign policy but he was a deeply flawed man.



I just finished up this book and as with certain other Watergate books, it is fascinating to view the scandal from those in the midst of it.

I agree with most everything Andrew said, especially about Nixon. Ugh! What an ugly human being Nixon must have been.

I also found the look inside the FBI quite interesting. Also the possibility that there was actually more than one Deep Throat (Mark Felt). Another thing interesting was Gray's belief that the FBI would have eventually traced the break in to Nixon had not Bernstein and Woodward beat them to it.

Anyway, to give this thread life: BUSH SUCKS, WPE!

Your just looking for Herbs attention at this point...

Mc.....
Your just looking for attention at this point...

Is that how trixter operates? Just steals someone elses line?

Ok guys, if you don't have something to contribute about Nixon, Gray, the FBI, Watergate or books related to the topic, create your own thread to play in.

Skep, don't you see Gray as sort of a tragic figure? He wasn't exactly a boy scout - in fact, I detected a bit of hypocrisy in his memoir, such as insisting in one case that he broke the law "because it was the right thing to do" (in regards to a real law enforcement matter, a bomb suspect in Texas or something) and then later going on about how important it was to follow the law.

Yet, you can't put Gray in the same category as Haldeman, Erlichman, even Dean (who comes across as kind of a scumbag in Gray's book). All Gray really did was naively burn some files that he didn't realize at the time had anything to do with the Watergate cover-up. But unlike the others, he actually stood up to Nixon and intentionally disobeyed some of the more unethical instructions. Nixon wound up tossing him to the wolves, and for years he was hounded by the special prosecutors. For all of that he wound up on the cover of "All the President's Men." Doesn't quite seem fair.

I too found it intriguing how Gray's son hounded Bob Woodward about inconsistencies in "All the President's Men" and Deep Throat. Woodward surely hasn't told us everything, and the son's thesis that "All the President's Men" was partially fictionalized to suit a movie deal is convincing. Consider now looking back how Woodward and Bernstein still get credit for breaking the Watergate story (they did no such thing, and their book is still considered the de facto Watergate story - even though it is clearly not all factual and the two made many errors in their initial Washington Post stories. And for all that, it made them icons of journalism, heros, powerful, successful men (especially Woodward). No wonder Nixon was so bitter!

Andrew

Is that how trixter operates? Just steals someone elses line?

YES IT IS!!!

Marvin... How long you been here?

Nah Skep, this topic is boring. Ya needed me to bump it to the top of the page otherwise it would of ended up buried.

Not even a simple WPE or Bush sucks could save it.

BUSH SUCKS!

ya maybe he does but Skep already covered that in the initial post. Didnt really draw anyone in till I got here and saved this sinking ship.

BUSH SUCKS!

BUSH SUCKS!

CLINTON SUCKS!
McCAIN SUCKS!
OBAMA SUCKS!

I believe in equal airtime for all the candidates and politicians in general.

They all SUCK.

Shoot every last one of them and start over!




Note to the NSA, CIA, FBI, Secret Service, KGB, MI5 and any other bunch of letters I missed: "Shoot" is just a reference term and not a threat.

Andrew, you're right. Gray is a kind of tragic figure. He didn't belong on the cover of "All the President's Men," and didn't deserve the years of hounding, but then the Democrats had a hunch Nixon was up to no good and Gray was a Nixon appointee for a rather important position so naturally he was under scrunity.

Yep, telling Nixon he wasn't going to lie for him took a lot of guts and Gray paid a hefty price for it.

I wonder if Gray's son would have published his Dad's notes if Mark Felt never revealed himself as Deep Throat. As it turned out, the timing was perfect -- Gray was 89 and had a terminal illness when Felt "came out" prompting Gray to change his mind and write the book.


Yeah, Woodward is in a bit of a pickle. Why not correct the historical record Bob?

Stop all that sucking sound, I'm trying to sleep.