The
Friends of Nixon
[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
The Friends of Nixon
"Like
Joyce," writes Roderick MacLeish in the Times Literary
Supplement, "Higgins uses language in torrents, beautifully
crafted, ultimately intending to create a panoramic impression."
Higgins himself related to the legal and judicial based
background not only gives a vast historical perspective
in this book he also covers an immense area of lobbying
and political side of American history.
Higgins has given a complete story of the trial of Watergate
on judicial basis and has given how the judicial system
works under threats and how different conspiracies are made.
He has presented the most difficult times of American political
history with a touch of his love for literature and writing
has given this book a status of a reference book with an
inside detailed picture of the white house and the water
gate scandal and the role of political advisors and others
hungry for money and power who ruined the career of an elected
president.
Much has already been revealed and written about Nixon the
anti-Semite, Nixon the dogmatist, Nixon the "school
yard bully" with his "Enemies List," and
much more. This book reveals why Nixon appeared to become
increasingly obsessed and self-destructive even as he was
serving in the top office in the world.
Higgins's close interest in the legal side of the Watergate
case against President Nixon and his associates led to two
books: the novel A City on a Hill and a non-fiction study,
The Friends of Richard Nixon (both 1975). He gives a historical
and legal picture of the Watergate, which makes this book
a comprehensive experience to read.
"Sentimentality, private eyes and innocent victims
to write exclusively of criminals who work on each other
in a community where sin is less talked of than are mistakes."1
We are shown many hidden and undercover areas of this scandal,
which shacked the very basis of American political system
with conspiracies, lies, fabrication and deceit.
Rehnquist rose to power after being named by Richard Nixon
in 1969 as a new assistant attorney general and head of
the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice.
In such civil rights cases as Nixon's use of the Army to
conduct domestic surveillance, Rehnquist vigorously defended
the president, offering advice that the embattled Nixon
valued so highly, that he privately called his legal aide
as "Renchberg."
We get to know about Nixon’s plagued mind and his
passion for power and rule; Higgins has shown him as another
Micaville, blinded for supremacy and clout.
A
scandal involving abuse of power by public officials, violation
of the public trusts, bribery, contempt of Congress, and
attempted obstruction of justice.
Higgins shows the Watergate affair, which signifies the
web of political scandals that plagued President Richard
M. Nixon from 1972 until his resignation in 1974.
Washington, D.C. police officers arrested seven employees
of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP), as they
were breaking into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters
in the Watergate apartment complex. Not only had Nixon,
his aides, and his reelection campaign conspired to sabotage
the president's Democratic challengers, but also they were
now attempting to impede the investigation of the Watergate
case. This shows Nixon’s preoccupation with power
and lust for control.
George Higgins gives a complete picture of the inside story
of the white house and Nixon under the toughest times of
his life. He has fully utilized his knowledge and insight
in to the political system of American judicial system and
administrative system of United States of America.
In May 1973, Nixon was forced to agree to the naming of
a special prosecutor for the case, Archibald Cox. Working
with a federal grand jury presided over by Judge John Sirica,
Cox subpoenaed secret tape recordings of presidential meetings
and telephone conversations; Nixon refused to release them,
citing the doctrine of executive privilege. In October 1973,
the president ordered Cox's firing. Higgins has made use
of all political and administrative understanding of political
system of United States of America. Higgins take us in the
halls of the supreme court and we find our selves actually
facing the federal grand jury, his command over the language
has given him an edge over this non fiction book which has
a touch of drama added to it. 2
Higgins has based his personal understanding and knowledge
of water gate scandal and its impact on the psyche of American
people and has utilized his legal understanding of American
judicial system. Higgins has given an insight in to the
legal and the most complicated area of justice and law.
Controversy persists as to the significance of Watergate.
Nixon and his defenders argue that he did nothing that other
presidents of both parties had not already done, to claim
him blameless they maintain that his political enemies hounded
Nixon from office. Nixon's critics reply that he endangered
the legal system by mortifying the electoral procedure and
that he had wanted to inflate the powers of the government
further than legitimate confines.
Higgins maintains in the book that The Nixon Era will go
down in history as one of the darkest of the Cold War period
when American politics was rampant with chaos at the highest
levels of government and the entire world teetered on the
verge of nuclear disaster because one man, Richard Nixon,
knew no precincts in his desire for power. Nixon’s
lust and greed for power put the world at the threshold
of nuclear disaster.
The Watergate scandal brutally shook the trust of the American
people in the government and turned out to be an ultimate
analysis for the U.S. Constitution. Throughout the tribulation,
however, the constitutional system of checks and balances
worked to prevent abuses, as the Founding Fathers had intended.
Watergate showed that in a nation of laws no one is above
the law, not even the president.
Endnotes
1. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, Peter Prescott, in Contemporary
Authors, New Revision Series, vol. 51, 213.
2.
George V. Higgins, The Friends of Richard Nixon, Little
Brown & Co. 1974, p. 159
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