Stonewall: The Legal Case Against the Watergate Conspirators

by Richard Ben-Veniste, George Frampton Jr.

Here's a behind-the-scenes story of the criminal investigation whose conduct & outcome are historically unique. The authors, assistant Special Prosecutors who guided the Watergate investigation, 1st under Cox then under Jaworski, reveal the working of those whose persistence & idealism forced Richard Nixon's resignation. Acting in the name of the government, yet totally independent, the Special Prosecutor & his staff literally worked around the clock to piece together the truth--in spite of a repeatedly hostile & uncooperative White House. This book shows how a government of laws successfully combated a conspiracy & caused the resignation of the 37th President.
The first special prosecutor
The script & the players
The case against Richard Nixon: 'If you shoot at a king...'
The linchpin, John W. Dean III
The bugging of Richard Nixon
Saturday Night Massacre or Saturday Night Suicide?
The tapes hearings: no more Mr. Nice Guy
Archie's Orphans meet the Silver Fox: Jaworski arrives
Cancer on the presidency
The unindicted co-conspirator
Resignation & pardon: President Ford adopts the monkey
The trial begins: a jury is selected
'Truth...T-r-u-t-h...Truth'

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History

410 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 1977

Reviews

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Watergate Scandal refers to the Nixon Administration's attempt to cover up the break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. This break in occurred on June 17, 1972. The purpose of the break in was to photograph various documents and install bugs (wiretapping devices) in the offices to obtain information they had no business having. The first break in was successful, but the return break in to repair their bugs was not. From there, the story gets pretty wild. I won't spoil the book for those who haven't read it or those who are unfamiliar with this whole fiasco. Eventually, there were 69 indictments handed down, with 48 convictions. A lot of those convicted were directly related to the Nixon Administration. Before reading this book, I knew that Nixon was somehow involved in this mess of shenanagins, but I wasn't really positive on what his role was.

I knew very little about this whole thing before reading this book. The book was written by two people who worked directly on the prosecution's case, and were very thorough with their facts. I gained a lot of understanding about what happened and why it was such a huge issue. It is interesting that another administration is currently getting indictments handed out like Halloween candy. It is also interesting to see how one political party behaved towards another, and that there are such similarities all of these years later. It's ridiculous that we elect people to serve us and do things that serve the common good, and instead we get petulant children that engage in criminal activities. This wasn't a bad book at all, and I am happy to have found it.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dry at times, getting into the legal nitty-gritty, but provides a unique look at the scandal. Goes into a part of the affair not as thoroughly talked about (the Special Prosecution). Epilogue is a terrible read in today’s political environment. “The system nearly didn’t work.”

[Andrew Scholes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to see Watergate from the prosecutor's view. To say that it contradicted the various defendant's books is putting it mildly.