David M. Dorsen

Reopening Watergate

A bold new look at Watergate from a member of the Senate Watergate Committee who argues that the received wisdom about Nixon’s resignation is inaccurate. Written by assistant chief counsel of the Senate Watergate Committee, Reopening Watergate is an eye-opening reassessment of the Watergate scandal and an essential text for understanding this infamous political moment. With painstaking attention to detail and an intimate knowledge of the legal machinations behind the scenes, David M. Dorsen focuses on important aspects of the story of Watergate that have not received substantial—or, in some cases, any—publicity. The evidence amassed by Dorsen demonstrates that some of the most prominent people involved in pursuing Watergate had inappropriate ex parte contacts with Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, including Judge John J. Sirica, who presided over both the trial of the burglars and the trial of the leaders of the cover-up (John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman). Dorsen further uncovers that Jaworski made inappropriate transfers of information to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino and counsel John Doar. Dorsen lays out compelling evidence for the inept legal representation given to President Richard M. Nixon, especially by his special Watergate Counsel, James D. St. Clair. Reopening Watergate draws on overlooked and ignored sources, including interviews by the Nixon Presidential Library, a number of which have not been previously published, and the notes of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein housed at the University of Texas at Austin. Dorsen shows that with competent and conscientious lawyers and advisors in the last year of his presidency, Nixon might have been able to survive his full term as president, instead of resigning, mired in shame and scandal. With a foreword by John W. Dean, Nixon’s White House counsel and the most pivotal (and knowledgeable) person in the Watergate scandal, Reopening Watergate will be the standard resource on this historic moment in American politics for decades to come.