NIXON NOTES 13-16
By Jess, Lana, Meghan, and Sara
CHAPTER 13
Chapter Summary:
After returning from the Caribbean, Woodward was introduced to a man
named Tim Butz, who claimed to know a spy for CRP that was a George
Washington University student. Woodward and Butz met with the suspected spy’s
fraternity brother, Craig Hillegass, for dinner. The spy was Theodore F. Brill, and it
was his job to report to the CRP what was going on with a group of Quakers holding
a 24-hour vigil in front of the White House. Woodward learned from the dinner that
there was a large network of spies (at least 25 people) sent by CRP to infiltrate the
Democratic Party. Brill was fired two days after the Watergate arrests,
The night after dinner, Woodward called Brill for confirmation of Hillegass’
story. Brill confirmed the story, and also mentioned that he was hired by George
Gorton, CRP’s national college director. He was supposed to go down to Miami to
infiltrate radical groups there, but was fired before he got the chance.
Woodward then called George Gorton, who admitted to sending Brill, but
claimed he was only there to get an idea of what the youth was up to, not for
espionage. Woodward, however, had trouble believing this. Gorton continued to
say he found radicals in 38 states and reported them to Ken Reitz, CRP’s Youth
Vote Division director.
Woodward later talked to an unidentified CRP official who was disgusted with
the CRP’s methods to re-elect the President. He didn’t approve of their dishonest
tactics and unfair manipulations to persuade the American people. After hearing
about this, Bernstein remembered back in May of 1972, Barker and Sturgis showed
up uninvited to a meeting of Cuban exiles where they took over plans to organize a
demonstration that supported the Haiphong mining. They gained many followers
through this and a story in the Post ran about how the public opinion was
deceived. A man named James Dooley who was a former head of the CRP
mailroom said that a ballot was stuffed for a poll asking if people supported the
President’s action to mine land. The CRP fabricated 4,000 false votes and that led
to the majority in favor of the President’s mining.
That February, reporters were shocked to hear that L. Patrick Gray would be
permanently filling J. Edgar Hoover’s position as the FBI director. Right before the
Watergate hearings, Woodward went to meet with Deep Throat- his anonymous
source for information regarding Watergate. Deep Throat was not there when
Woodward went to their normal meeting place and he left a note telling Woodward to
meet him in a bar the next night. Woodward did, and when he met up with Deep
Throat, he was informed that the President was worried about news leaks on
Watergate and was working to stop these businesses/investigators. Deep Throat
foreshadowed that Nixon knew the scandal would be uncovered eventually, and it
was only a matter of time until it was discovered. The Post should be patient with
revealing information in stories and let the scandal unravel itself, first. Deep Throat
also explained that Gray was given Hoover’s position because he had done his job
in the Watergate scandal and believed the entire scandal would be caught if he
couldn’t keep the position.
The next day, the reporters studied Woodward’s notes to try to put the
Watergate scandal in perspective. Pat Gray’s confirmation hearing was set for
February 28th, and he would remain on the stand until questions raised by the
Senate Democratic whip were answered. In his hearing, Gray said that all files from
the case had been turned over to John Dean. On March 2nd, Nixon announced he
would claim executive privilege against any demand that Dean testify at the Gray
hearings. Bernstein and Woodward eventually published a story about Nixon’s aides
paying a man named Donald Segretti for undercover activities in the military.
Character Overview:
Deep Throat:
Deep Throat was the source responsible for providing information to
Woodward in regards to the Watergate case. He met in secret with Woodward in
low-key places (garage and tavern) to discuss facts and secrets about the case. His
identity is kept anonymous and he chooses to use “Deep Throat” as his code
name. His role is key to the chapter, and the story, because he provided so much
useful information to Woodward and he also accurately predicted the outcome of a
few hearings.
CHAPTER 14
Chapter Summary:
This chapter begins with the Washington Post’s staff members receiving a
copy of a letter James Mccord had sent to John Sirica, the judge, saying that political
pressure had been placed on him to plead guilty and remain silent.
McCord gave his first sworn testimony, and afterwards, Bernstein and
Woodward began calling people who were present in the courtroom to reveal
information. They were told that the plans and budget were approved by John
Mitchell, Campaign Director for CRP, months before. Also, that Charles Colson,
Special Counsel to the President, knew about it in advance.
Bernstein and Woodward met with Seymour Hersh from the New York Times.
Hersh’s story was published on the front page of the paper, it was the first report that
McCord had testified that the cash payoffs to the Watergate conspirators had come
directly from CRP. Woodward called a CRP official and said that he knew Frederick
LaRue, Deputy Directly for CRP, was involved in the payoffs. The official told
Woodward that, if asked under oath, LaRue will say he helped pay the men off.
Woodward then spoke with Hugh Sloan, the Treasurer for CRP, who revealed that it
was around $75,000 transferred from the fund.
Bernstein and Woodward agreed to meet with Attorney General Richard
Kleindienst, but when they arrived at his house, his wife answered the door and told
them that he was called to the White House and that he wasn’t able to discuss
Watergate with them. Kleindienst later called them back and said he was called for
an urgent meeting and that it would all be out in a few days.
Woodward talks with Deep Throat who reveals that Dean and H. Haldeman,
White House Chief of Staff, will definitely resign and that Woodward should go find
quoteable sources if they wanted to publish it.
Woodward met up with Deep Throat, who reveals that Dean and Haldeman
will definitely resign. Later that day, Bernstein attended an announcement held by
the President; he said that he would suspend any person in the executive branch or
in other branches of government who was indicted in the case.
During this time, Woodward spoke with a man from CRP and asked him who
was talking to the prosecutors. The man told Woodward that Magruder went to the
prosecutors to pin the whole event on Dean and Mitchell.
Woodward then spoke with James. J Bierbower, Magruders lawyer. He tells
Woodward that Magruder will be testifyin before the grand jury and that there are
other people testifying that Mitchell and Dean were in on the arrangements for the
payoffs.
In that days issues of the New York Times, information was published that
said Dean was ready to implicate others if he was indicted. Bernstein tried to contact
Dean, but his secretary answered the phone and said she didn’t know where he was
or if he even worked at the White House anymore.
Character Overview:
James McCord:
- Former CIA Agent
- Did security work for CRP
- Served as the electronic expert in the Watergate burglaries
John Mitchell:
- Former Attorney General
- Resigned to become the Campaign Director for CRP
- Was in control of a secret Republican fund used in the Watergate burglaries
Jeb Stuart Magruder:
- Formerly worked as Haldeman’s aide and the Deputy Director of White House
Communications
- Resigned to become the Deputy Campaign Director for CRP
- Met with Dean and Mitchell to review preliminary plans for the burglaries
CHAPTER 15
Chapter Summary:
John Dean’s secretary calls Bernstein and reads to him a statement
that was issued in John’s name. The statement was replaying Dean’s
prior position of not commenting in the Watergate Scandal, but it was
threatening when Dean says that if people wish him to be the scapegoat in
the scandal, then they do “not know me, know the true facts, nor
understand our system of justice.” After rereading the statement, suspicion
manifested and Bernstein called the White House to find out the truth. No
one there would give him a straight answer, so he came in contact with a
friend of Dean who he had previously conversed with. The conversation
was unfriendly and unspecific, but it did tell Bernstein that the men who
had all worked under Richard Nixon together were now in unbarred
combat with each other. Succeeding his discussion with Dean’s friend, he
contacted an associate that was suggested by the friend. This associate
said that Dean respected how the Post was covering Watergate. The two
then had a conversation about how Dean would tell Bernstein the whole
story, except he didn’t want to be the one to talk to the press first. The
associate told him to investigate the President and who brought all the
charges to the president’s attention. After the conversation between the
two men, Bernstein and Woodward began to realize that Dean was the
key because he knew all answers. Bernstein called John Dean’s associate
daily and on Thursday April 26th, he finally got some news. Apparently on
March 21st, Dean had a meeting with the president where he told him
everything that had happened dealing with the Watergate scandal. The
president then sent Dean away on a trip to relieve some of his pressure,
and when Dean came back, it was clear that the president had sacrificed
Dean to save the rest of the men that were involved; this is proof of the
president’s direct involvement in the scandal. After a few days had
passed, Woodward went to the White House to interview people there
about John Dean. From this trip, he discovered that Dean was going to
implicate the president in the coverup.
Character Overview:
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John Dean: worked for the White House as the council to the President
o gave a statement to Woodward and Bernstein stating that he was
currently refraining from giving any information on Watergate to
them and he was going to continue that stance in the future; the
statement was mysterious and the two men began investigation of
John Dean’s involvement in the scandal;he later implicates the
President in the cover up
CHAPTER 16
Chapter Summary:
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Berstein and Woodward are convinced that John Dean would implicate
the President, but many thought it was too early to print that in the paper,
so they begin to look for specifics to make sure that Dean was telling the
truth. In place of this story, they printed a story telling how Haldenman and
Ehrlichman were involved in the cover-up of the scandal. On April 30th, it
was announced that Nixon had accepted the resignations of Bob
Haldeman and John Ehrlichman.
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Hunt and Liddy supervised burglary of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office which
linked Watergate to the Ellsberg trial (known as Watergate East and
Watergate West)
It is confirmed that the administration had used wiretaps to investigate
news leaks, indicating that the government had illegally failed to disclose
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all its wiretap info to Ellsberg’s defense attorney (during the Ellsberg trial;
linked to Watergate).
May 11, Judge Byrne dismissed all charges against Ellsberg.
May 14 - Ruckelshaus annouces that 17 new wire taps made by the
administration were leaked and that they had been hidden in Ehrlichman’s
White House safe.
May 16 - Woodward meets with Deep Throat on the eve of the Watergate
hearings. Deep Throat is unlike himself - nervous and unwilling to answer
questions. He tells Woodward that electronic surveillance is being done by
the CIA and that he had better watch what he says. Woodward informs
Bernstein of this, and they take this news straight to Bradlee around 2 am.
Bradlee says that this problem is no longer just journalistic - it is about the
state and future of the country.
May 17 - At the office the next day, the memo from Deep Throat about
electronic surveillance is spread, so everyone keeps quiet. The Watergate
hearings were scheduled to begin but the President would not testify
before the grand jury or Senate because “it would be constitutionally
innappropriate” and “would do violence to the separation of powers”.
Early June - Woodward goes to Colson & Shapiro, the law office of Chuck
Colson and David Shapiro, to discuss the story Woodward would print in
the Washington Post about Colson ordering Howard Hunt to burglarize
Arthur Bremer’s apartment. Both Shaprio and Colson deny this ever
happening. Woodward prints it anyway.
July 14th - Woodward learns from the committee’s investigative staff that
presidential aide Alexander Butterfield confirmed that Nixon bugged
himself - he has recorded tapes of his conversations and in a recent
interview, he discussed Hunt’s clemency with Colson. Butterfield then
goes on national television and reluctantly lays out the whole story of the
President’s tapes before the Senate committee as well as the country.
Character Overview:
Chuck Colson
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Special Counsel to the President.
Threatens to destroy the Washington Post after reading one of the stories
published about him.
Ordered Hunt to break into Arthur Bremer’s apartment to find things that
would connect him to left-wing political causes.
Denies ever having done this.
Has gigantic pot belly.
David Shapiro
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Colson’s law partner and his chief legal adviser for Watergate matters
Denies all accusations made against Colson
Alexander P. Butterfield
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Deputy Assistant to the President and aide to H. R. Haldeman
Reveals the President’s tapes to the committee’s investigative staff and
later to the entire country on live television.