That I got.
I assumed, however, that there was more to the story than that. Mssrs. Colodny and Gettlin spend so much time in the early part of the book looking into to the Navy career of Bob Woodward, his job as a briefer for Al Haig, his divorce, his start in the newspaper business, his access to highly-classified information, etc. ... I thought that in the chapters following "Golden Boy," the authors would reveal some even darker secret, some larger plot.
After all, the name of the book, Silent Coup, implies that Nixon's fate resulted from a plot undertaken by shadowy figures who had much to gain by his removal from office.
I too used to listen to G. Gordon Liddy back in the 1990s, and I remember him talking about how he had been sued by Dean and how he had prevailed in that lawsuit. I also remember Mr. Liddy's fulsome disdain for Mr. Dean. Liddy seemed to believe that Dean was the cause of Watergate, that Watergate would never have happened without Dean, and that Dean cynically burned his employer and changed history for the worse in order to save his own skin.
“...would reveal some even darker secret, some larger plot.”
It has been a long time since I read the book, but the darker secret IIRC was that the military thought the State Department had too much say in the policies and wanted Nixon taken out, using Watergate as a pretense. (I think I might be way off on that, but I know the military and State did not agree on things.)
I recall years after reading the book seeing a magazine article (Time? newsweek?) where Admiral Moorer (was Woodward’s superior when he was in the Navy) was investigated for buying used (still operating) military equipment under the pretense for museums, and then selling them to foreign countries.
He replied something like “It is ludicrious and unbelieveable to think that I would buy.....”
That line in the magazine sounded REAL familiar from a few years earlier when I had read the book. I found the book, and there, where he is being accused of spying on the State Department and the president, he replies “It is ludicrous and unbelievable to think that I would spy.....”
I may be off on the “ludicrous” and “unbelievable”, but the exact wording was using in both the book (1980’s?) to the magazine article (2000’s?)
And I always wondered if Haig didn’t have it in somehow for Nixon. There was something in the book about his thirst for power, and then his “I’m in charge” comment when Reagan was shot made me think a bit.
“Liddy seemed to believe that Dean was the cause of Watergate, that Watergate would never have happened without Dean, and that Dean cynically burned his employer and changed history for the worse in order to save his own skin.”
Messrs. Colodny and Gettlin agree. However, the “Coup” was the Democrats, Judge Sirca and the MF-Press transforming the ATTEMPED COVER UP OF THE BREAK-IN ....INTO.... A BREAK-IN PLANNED, DIRECTED AND AUTHORIZED BY NIXON HIMSELF thus an Impeachable Offense.
Most citizens today think the break-in was an idea planned and approved by Nixon.