Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years

by J. Anthony Lukas

Book Overview

In July 1973, for the first time in its history, the New York Times Magazine devoted a full issue to a single article: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J. Anthony Lukas's account of the Watergate story to date. Six months later, a second installment ran in another full issue. Later the Times asked him to write a third issue, on the impeachment, which never appeared because of Nixon's intervening resignation. But all of Lukas's painstaking...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821412876
• ISBN13: 9780821412879
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 648 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Post Morten of the Nixon Presidency

Nightmare, by J. Anthony Lukas In April 1973 J. Anthony Lukas was assigned to write an article on Watergate. This was followed by a second article; then a third. This book covers the whole story of Richard Nixon's abuse of his presidential powers. Chapter 1 starts with the 1970 election, which was not favorable to Nixon's hopes. He wanted a big victory in 1972. Attorney-General John Mitchell was a state and municipal bond lawyer who new about back-room deals. Protests in May 1971 Washington were met with Nixon's public disdain; privately he was worried (p.10). Nixon chose young men who had no independent judgment (p.8). Nixon felt threatened by the Establishment: "Wall Street, Cambridge, Georgetown" and others (p.13). A private security entity was created to investigate Nixon's enemies. [Was Nixon's problems due to an inferiority complex "lifelong sense of powerlessness" (p.18)?] Chapter 2 describes the insecurity of Nixon. The Huston Plan was killed by J. Edgar Hoover; but it seems to have gone forward (p.37). Sophisticated officials don't discuss secrets over a telephone, but in person in a private place (p.55). You never know who is listening to you. Nixon's 1972 campaign raised an unusually large amount of corporate money; often from companies that had problems in Washington (p.127). [Is creating problems for corporations a way for government to raise campaign contributions?] "Most contributions from the business community ... are made in response to pressure ..." (P.128). [The more business is regulated, the more money that can be extracted by the officials in Washington. "They all do it."] Nixon also raised money from the wealthy who wanted to be appointed ambassadors (p.134). Page 142 shows how a company backs the twin-party system. There are no witnesses on a golf course. [Could Nixon's greediness have caused the Establishment to turn on him after the election?] Kevin Phillips' book noted that the lack of a Wallace candidacy would swell the 1972 Republican vote (p.147). Nixon tried to stop Wallace (pp.147-149), and failed. But something happened (p.150). The most famous dirty trick was on Ed Muskie (p.163). Bogus letters to newspapers and congressmen were used to create public support for Nixon, at least 50 a week (p.166). There is a report about Senator Thomas Eagleton's health (p.168). The next step was to stage break-ins (before Watergate). And so the book continues with so very many pages on the Nixon Presidency. The Note on Sources says there was a glut of information where the difficulty was finding the truth among self-serving and conflicting data. The 45 pages of index to the 569 pages of text make this a reference book on Nixon's Presidency. The Sources list the books, articles, interviews, documents, and remarks used for this book. This is a one-volume book of information this topic. Lukas watched what Nixon did, not what he said. Not much has changed since this 1975 book was published. Lukas' comment that W. Mark Felt, Jr. w