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 A Different Perspective on John Mitchell, Watergate, and the Nixon White House Nov 11, 2009
This book is extensively, if not exhaustively researched and provides an insight not only into the character and activities of John Mitchell, but into Watergate and the atmosphere in which the Nixon White House operated during a tumultous time in our history. As a low-ranking White House staffer who nevertheless had the privilege of observing the key figures and many of the events described in this and numerous other histories of the Nixon Administration, I learned much from James Rosen's book about people and events that I thought that I knew well. Mr. Rosen has made a valuable contribution to an account of the hisory of an era that heretofore one had to have experienced to fully understand. It is an excellent book and should serve as an important stone in the foundation of the history of the 60"s and early 70's, and of the series of events known as "Watergate."
History Relived Apr 17, 2009
This is an extraordinary piece of historical writing. It reads like a political thriller combined with Greek tragedy as it records the downfall of a great and honorable man who is done in by liliputian political operatives. Rosen accessed hitherto either ignored or unavailable resources such as the internal files of the Watergate Special Prosecutor's office in order to finally answer the question: who was really behind the Watergate break-in?
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A Superb Biography & Watergate Update Mar 08, 2009
James Rosen, a long time news correspondent for the Fox News Channel, has written the first full biography of former Attorney General John Mitchell, entitled The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate. Rosen's thesis is that Mitchell was not guilty of many of the crimes in which he was convicted in United States v. Mitchell, better known as the Watergate Trial. In that trial, Mitchell and a handful of others were convicted of the conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury resulting from the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Washington, D.C. Watergate building complex. According to Rosen and the evidence he presents, Richard Nixon, John Dean, and others conspired against Mitchell and caused him to be the administration's scapegoat.
Lest the reader be fooled by the title, this is not merely a rehashing of the Nixon Administration or the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent cover-up. In The Strong Man, Rosen presents a portrayal of the former Attorney General that differs from the way popular culture saw Mitchell: a tough, no nonsense, law-and-order type who wielded an iron fist in dealing with radicals during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Rather, he is shown to be a doting father to his children, a loving and devoted husband to an alcoholic and mentally unstable wife, and a loyal-to-a-fault confidant and friend to the president of the United States.
Well written, the book reads like a novel. Rosen guides the reader through the life of John Mitchell from his early days in Michigan to his days as a PT boat commander during World War II. Later, Mitchell became one of the most sought-after bond attorneys on Wall Street, eventually partnering with Richard Nixon. His time in prison and his life after the death of his wife are portrayed to give a complete picture of one of the twentieth century's most interesting personalities.
According to the "Acknowledgements," James Rosen began working on this book in 1991. He put the seventeen years between 1991 and 2008 to good use interviewing hundreds of people to obtain the necessary information. The sectioned entitled "Notes on Sources" reads like a Watergate Who's Who. Included in the list are two of the five Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker and James McCord, along with their boss G. Gordon Liddy. Also included are former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, Nixon chief of staff H. R. Haldeman, White House counsel John Dean, and Nixon Administration officials Robert Mardian, Alexander Haig, E. Howard Hunt, and John Ehrlichman. Further, he spoke with former vice-president Spiro T. Agnew and former president Gerald R. Ford, as well as Mitchell's children Jack Mitchell and Jill Mitchell-Reed. Many of the interviews were conducted in the 1990s; though a few interviews were conducted in person, most were done over the telephone or through written correspondence.
Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Rosen was able to obtain many official documents that have never been released and heretofore published. The term "previously unpublished" is mentioned throughout the text, showing the lengths Rosen went to in order to obtain new information. Many of these documents include testimony from executive sessions of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, which were not open to the public. Other never before seen documents came from FOIA requests to the Nixon archives and included transcripts of White House tape recordings. To Rosen's credit, much of what he used as source material for The Strong Man came from primary sources; very little came from secondary sources. He effectively used these sources throughout the book to put together a narrative that was easy to follow, thus making a tale of political intrigue simpler to follow.
As previously stated, the author's main contention is that John Mitchell, the former Attorney General of the United States, served as a scapegoat in an attempt to shield President Richard Nixon from the fallout of the Watergate burglaries and subsequent cover-up. He ultimately was sentenced to two-to-eight years in prison as a result of his convictions of perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy. Rosen reminds the reader that "Mitchell was never formally charged with ordering the Watergate break-in. However, the notion that he did order it...persisted...." (273) In fact, Mitchell had only perpetrated one Watergate-based crime: he committed perjury when he testified before the Watergate grand jury in 1972. (495) "... [N]one of the crimes Mitchell committed, and none of those for which he was wrongly prosecuted, occurred while he was entrusted with public office." (496)
It was clearly shown through the use of the aforementioned never-before-published documents that many of his contemporaries lied to save themselves. Chief among these were John Dean and Jeb Magruder. Through documentation and testimony of the principals, it is clear that Mitchell did not play the role in Watergate for which he was convicted. It is also clear that Mitchell could have saved himself by implicating President Nixon in the cover-up, but he never did out of a sense of loyalty to Nixon that was never returned.
One might ask why another Watergate-based book is necessary. After all, Richard Nixon resigned from office nearly thirty-five years ago and so much has been written about Watergate already. Many of the principals wrote books after their trials and terms in prison, including John Dean, G. Gordon Liddy, and Richard Nixon himself. John Mitchell, however, did not. This is unfortunate because the public has never heard Mitchell's side of the story; his loyalty to Nixon was too strong to allow him to put his thoughts to paper.
This book is recommended for several reasons. First, it tells the life story of an individual who played a pivotal role during a period of American history that saw significant social and political upheaval, in addition to a series of crimes that resulted in the resignation of the president of the United States. Second, a side of the Watergate conspiracy that has never been told has come to light. John Dean and G. Gordon Liddy are lauded by some in the media today despite their contributions to Watergate, but John Mitchell is still considered a villain by many. Perhaps this book will convince some that his role was not as significant as previously thought. Third, historians and students of history are always searching for new documents to peruse and examine. This book shows how discovering previously unreleased documents can change the perspective of history. And fourth, The Strong Man examines other significant aspects of the Nixon years, such as issues involving the Vietnam War, antiwar demonstrations, radical student groups, and desegregation. Certainly these areas are of interest to those studying the twentieth century.
Not Just the Only John Mitchell Watergate Story, the Definitive One Mar 02, 2009
As one who was a young federal lawyer in the early '70s and a former state College Young Republicans chair, with a wife who was detailed to the White House after Nixon resigned and for a time held custody of the Nixon Tapes for the National Archives, I have more than a passing interest in Watergate and have ready many, though by no means all, of the books by or about key characters. James Rosen's book weighs like a tome and is supported by a staggering amount of research and analysis in original and often unique source materials, yet surprisingly it reads almost like a page-turner novel as it plumbs the foibles, the complexities and yes, the virtues of the man who Rosen argues is the least-understood major player of the Nixon/Watergate era. He also raises a well-documented possibility that other Watergate actors, notably Dean and Magruder, may likewise have been misunderstood -- in the opposite direction. An altogether enthralling book, whether you already have an opinion of John Mitchell or are looking for a sound basis to form one.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Masterful political biography Feb 12, 2009
James Rosen had done a masterful job of researching and writing a political biograhy that illuminates both a central figure of the Watergate era and the events that we refer to as "Watergate" and its aftermath. Rosen provides impressive detail to explain both (1) John Mitchell's professional successes as a bond lawyer, as a political operative and campaign manager for Richard Nixon, and (surpisingly given his reputation) as Attorney General responsible for important civil rights achievements and efforts to insulate the Justice Department from the enormous political pressures from the Nixon White House and (2) and the tragic failures in John Mitchell's personal life (although it does not seem that anyone can quite explain "what he saw" in Martha). What was likely most interesting for me and for many others, however, is Rosen's enormously effective collection and marshalling of the evidence to explain who were "really" responsile for the Watergate tragedy, evidence that clearly implicates John Dean and not primarily John Mitchell (although one certainly concludes that John Mitchell should have thrown Gordon Liddy, Jeb Magruder and John Dean out of his office at the Justice Department when they first presented the "Gemstone" proposal to him). Let me add that there is also much to appreciate about this wonderful book even beyond the "wallowing in Watergate" interest. I hope that Rosen develops sufficient interest in other subjects to follow this book up with more.
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