The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11

by Richard Ben-Veniste

Richard Ben-Veniste hates being lied to. He especially hates it when the American people are lied to. Widely respected as a trial lawyer, Ben-Veniste delivers a fascinating insider's tale in his memoir of a career spent fighting hypocrisy and seeking accountability among the highest ranks of government. ? A legal wunderkind, Ben-Veniste was hired at age thirty by Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox to investigate the Watergate cover-up. As chief of the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312357966
• ISBN13: 9780312357962
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11

As the author's trial partner in the Watergate case and tapes hearing, I very much enjoyed his lucid, insightful and accurate telling of that chapter of American history. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories. Even better for me was getting the inside story on the other important chapters of history where Richard also played a significant role. You'll learn from this book--and enjoy it while you are. Rick's personality shines through and will make you smile.

The Emperor was Naked

As an avid pursuer of the truth, I looked forward to reading The Emperor's New Clothes-Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11, which is about some of the most dramatic political dramas of the past forty years from the prospective of one of the nation's most famous attorneys, Richard Ben-Veniste. I was particularly interested in well-known Democratic Party champion Ben-Veniste's in the trenches view of the 9/11 Commission's work and conclusions. I was not disappointed Ben-Veniste's truly brilliant and witty legal mind provided insight to the hardball machinations of Washington politics often called the "Potomac Two-Step." The theme that ran through the book that struck the biggest cord with me was the almost endemic arrogance, hypocrisy and hubris of our elected officials and their appointed minions. The Nixon White House's obvious obstruction of justice and Mr. Nixon's almost ludicrous body-checks in the interest of "national security" to the Watergate probes was most disheartening, but old news. However, Mr. Ben-Veniste's firsthand anecdotes about the personal integrities of Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski restored my faith in America's patriots. I admit I became angry reading about the Bush White House's obvious stonewalling the acknowledgment of the existence and subsequent release to the 9/11 Commission of the June 9, 2001, CIA Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) memo, which warned of a possible Al Qaeda attack by airplane on the US homeland. What was the real eye opener was that this stonewalling was not done in the "interest of national security," but to cover-up the fact that the Administration had been asleep at the wheel. Also, the author reported how, well before 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft scolded the Acting FBI Director trying to brief him about terror threats, that he (Ashcroft) "he was tired hearing about terrorism." To say the least, it demonstrated the arrogance of the man, who was then the country's chief law enforcement officer. By the same token, it was heartening to see how the Commission co-chairs, Tom Keane and Lee Hamilton came across the political aisle - so to speak - to jointly uphold the integrity of the inquiry process. I fully appreciated the author's use of actual transcripts to present irrefutable evidence of his recollections and some of the witnesses' mendacity. Otherwise, some right-wing spin-doctor would surely accuse Ben-Veniste of being a "Democratic Hack," who was misreporting the record as they to former national security director, Richard Clarke, when he tried to tell the truth. All in all, the book was a fair and for the most part unbiased account of some of this country's most recent struggles with our maintaining our moral compass and protecting our national integrity.