Friday, February 6, 2009

The Ends of Power by H R Haldemann

Book 1: This Side of the Smoking Gun
Chapter 1
Haldeman said that he thought Colson was in on Watergate but that he and Nixon knew nothing about it. Nixon could have escaped Watergate if Mitchell had been “minding the store” instead of Martha and the ITT scandal. Haldeman thought Jeb Magruder was incompetent but he was too busy to deal with Magruder. Magruder was gung-ho but unrealistic. The Watergate break in was probably authorized by him.

Nixon put on a façade about the Watergate that relaxed Haldeman but in reality Nixon was anxious, talking to Colson continuously. Haldeman suspected something fishy with the Democrats and the swift response to the DNC break-in and all its legal subtleties.

Haldeman and Nixon couldn’t figure out why the burglars would commit that crime since he was so far ahead of McGovern. The missing 18 ½ minutes from the Watergate tape, claims Haldeman, is inconsequential; he took notes and the notes say that Nixon was concerned about PR regarding Watergate. The reason for its erasure could be, Haldeman speculates, because Nixon wanted to erase any WH involvement with Watergate but got bored with that idea after a while and didn’t do anymore censoring.

Chapter 2
Nixon wanted to implicate DNC head Larry O’Brien with illicit funds from Howard Hughes. Haldeman says that the Hughes money that Nixon had was furnished to him through Bebe Rebozo, a Miami Cuban. Hughes also gave money to Nixon’s brothers Edward and Donald which, Nixon claimed, cost him his elections in 1960 and ’62- Jack Anderson having broken the 1st story.

When Haldeman and Ehrlichman resigned, Nixon offered them $200,000 or $300,000 for their legal fees. This money was to come from Rebozo’s tin box. Hughes donated only $100,000. The rest of the money came from Dwayne Andreas.

Chapter 3
Ehrlichman told Haldeman that Colson was clean, that the Watergate caper was part of CRP and CRP alone. Dean had talked to Liddy and Liddy confirmed this. Colson, the Chief of Dirty Tricks (Haldeman quote), had not participated in the one trick that exploded.

Chapter 4
Nixon got the CIA involved in the Watergate caper after the fact. He decided to get involved in financing the defense of the burglars called the Cuban Defense Fund. Because the burglars were Cubans, Nixon told Haldeman to tell Ehrlichman that this group of Cubans was related to the Bay of Pigs.

Helms and Nixon were feuding. Nixon asked for all material related to the Bay of Pigs and Helms refused. Senator Howard Baker said that Helms and Nixon had so much dirt on each other they couldn’t breathe.

The former President of Costa Rica claims that Nixon was the originator of the Bay of Pigs invasion. His hatred of the CIA began during his campaign for president in ’60 when Dulles briefed Kennedy about the invasion. Haldeman believes that the CIA was ready for Nixon’s request concerning Watergate and that Nixon walked into a trap.

Chapter 5
John Dean took over the White House side of the Watergate cover up. Ehrlichman and Colson were content with this. John Dean convinced Haldeman that he had agreed with Dean about a plan that involved Liddy. Haldeman was reminded of this fictitious meeting so often he actually believed it until he consulted his agenda. Haldeman and Ehrlichman saw no danger in Dean handling the Watergate cover up.

Chapter 6
The FBI traced a check from the burglars to CRP through Ken Dahlberg. The check came from a Mexican bank. They took their pictures of the DNC to a commercial photographer in Miami and that photographer talked to the FBI.

The FBI thought the CIA was behind the caper. McCord and the Cubans are all ex-CIA and the Mexican bank sounded like something affiliated with the CIA. Haldeman needed to have the CIA “turn off” the FBI. Coincidently, Nixon said the same thing a few days earlier, stating that this was related to the Bay of Pigs.

Haldeman was going to call Walters at the CIA and get some help but the “Bay of Pigs” reference bothered him so he talked to Nixon first. He says this was his biggest mistake.

Chapter 7
Ehrlichman and Haldeman met with Helms and Walters. Helms said he already talked to the FBI and told them that Watergate was not a CIA operation. This was not true. Martinez was still on the CIA payroll at the time. The others may not have been (?) but the lawyer who defended them was CIA connected. Helms lied to the Watergate commission when he said the FBI investigation into the Mexican bank would only endanger Nixon and not the CIA. A memo he wrote a few days after the break in refutes this.

Chapter 8
Nixon was worried that his brother Don was going to get swindled by foreign business men. He told Ehrlichman to bug and tail Don to make sure this didn’t happen. Haldeman suggested Bob Cushman. Cushman said no, the CIA charter forbids it. This is true but the CIA has and was at that time, violating its charter. The secret service was used instead. Nixon claimed that his brother knew about it but Haldeman and Ehrlichman never told Don.

Chapter 9
During their meeting with the CIA, Haldeman and Ehrlichman told Helms and Walters that this Watergate thing was related to the Bay of Pigs. Helms exploded. Afterwards, Helms agreed to “turn off” the FBI, a mutual agreement they the 2 agencies wouldn’t expose each others “assets”. Haldeman received a book from CBS correspondent Dan Schorr that, when pieced with his own information, led him to the conclusion that the Bay of Pigs references were about the Kennedy assassination. Haldeman was fascinated by the Kennedy assassination and wanted to open it up when he came to the White House but Nixon refused.

Numerous attempts were made on Castro’s life. Castro said in September of 1963 that John and Robert Kennedy could also find themselves the victims of assassinations. There are several instances of the CIA covering up the Kennedy assassination including Oswald’s Cuban connections and Bill Sullivan and James Angleton corroboration of answers before the Warren Commission.

Chapter 10
On June 23, 1972 Nixon said he didn’t give a shit about the Italian lira. This caused great consternation among people when they heard these tapes.

Book 2: The Haldeman Approach
Chapter 1
Haldeman was apolitical in college. He was attracted to Nixon because Nixon was a fighter. Haldeman was not the hardliner that he is made out to be. He became that way when he became Chief of Staff.

Chapter 2
Haldeman saw Nixon as a crystal with many complex facets-both bright and dark. He saw the 3 senior staff members, himself, Ehrlichman and Colson as embodying 3 different aspects of Nixon: Haldeman the direct approach; Ehrlichman the intrigue; and Colson the truly underground.

The staff disliked Colson but Nixon liked him from the beginning because he got a compromising photo of Teddy Kennedy in Paris.

Chapter 3
Nixon’s attitude was that he was good for the country and therefore anything he did to get elected was good for the country. Haldeman believed that Nixon viewed him as a robot, an efficient machine.

When Nixon gave his outrageous concession speech in 1962, he was delighted, not furious.

Book 3: The War and the Wires
Chapter 1
The Vietnam War ended LBJ’s presidency. He was besieged. LBJ blamed Nixon for the failure of the peace summit in late ’68.

Nixon met with Hoover and Hoover told Nixon about the LBJ wiretaps, including Nixon’s campaign jet. LBJ said this was national security. Hoover warned Nixon and his staff to debug the WH before going to work. Haldeman believes that the wire taps are a consequence of the war; this is why both Nixon and LBJ used them. Nixon chose to install his own bugging system in ’71 but unlike LBJ’s, Nixon’s was automatic-he couldn’t omit juicy conversations.

Chapter 2
Nixon wanted peace in Vietnam. The Madman theory was born. He chose Kissinger to be his in-house State Department because no president likes the State Department. Haldeman said that everyone liked and admired Kissinger. Nixon was jealous of Kissinger’s Nobel Peace Prize and Kissinger’s Time Magazine Man of the Year.

Chapter 3
Kissinger told Haldeman about the soccer fields in Cuba. Haldeman’s take on this is different than Hersh’s in The Price of Power. Nixon and his staff were under the impression that Russia was violating the ’62 agreement that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Russians were building a nuclear base for their subs. This would constitute a 1st strike mentality because it would circumvent America’s early warning detection systems that could pick up Russian missiles across the North Pole.

Russia and China were on the brink of a nuclear exchange. Russia would not allow China to go nuclear. Nixon decided to side with China against the vehement protests of Russia. Once China was under the U.S. umbrella of protection, Russia backed down. This opened up China.

Chapter 4
Nixon ordered the secret bombing of Cambodia and Haldeman defended this action. He claims that this would hasten the end of the Viet Nam War. The Nixon-Kissinger plan was to threaten nuclear war/escalation of the war if NVN refused and offer them foreign aid if they accepted. NVN refused because they knew they could wait out until the Americans left. Prince Norodom Sihanouk agreed to the bombing because he was mad that Ho Chi Min was using his country.

Henry’s anger helped initiate the wire-tappings. Haldeman defended the wire taps because of the war. Nixon personally ordered the bugging of Joseph Kraft. The pressure of the student protests also weighed in on the bugging decisions. Haldeman claims that Nixon’s assertion that the communists were influencing the student protests is based on fact. Kent State was the turning point that led to Watergate.

Tom Huston worked in the WH. The Huston Plan was what John Dean released which was to doom the Nixon presidency. Haldeman claims that he illegal activities described in the Huston Plan were not as illicit as the horror they seemed to inspire. The failure to implement the Huston Plan led to the Pentagon Papers. Nixon was not dismayed but Kissinger was. His claims about Ellsberg are not verified. Nixon couldn’t count on the FBI or the CIA to stop the leaks so he got the Plumbers. Colson hired Howard Hunt and unleashed the Plumbers on Ellsberg’s psychiatrist to verify Kissinger’s claims.

Chapter 5
Nixon ordered the Ellsberg break-in but fooled Ehrlichman and Haldeman about it. He ordered Bud Krogh to do the break-in personally. Painting Ellsberg to be a devil was easy, Colson thought. He hired Hunt and Hunt agreed to the task.

Hunt worked at Robert Mullen and Company, a PR firm. Hunt was friends with a Bob Bennett. Bob Bennett was CIA and so was the PR firm though Hunt didn’t know it. Bennett was his handler.

The Plumbers worked for Colson with Liddy, another man brought in by Krogh. On the Ellsberg break in they received orders from Colson in the WH and Bennett from outside. Bennett was financed by Howard Hughes. The CIA was not running an investigation of O’Brien and Hughes but an investigation of Nixon and Hughes.

After the break in, Liddy went to CRP. The Plumbers were on their own. The money to pay them came from Bennett.

Book 4: Who Ordered the Break in?
Chapter 1
Haldeman attempts to answer the 2 central mysteries surrounding the Watergate break in: who ordered the break in and why; and how did it escalate into a president having to resign?

There are 3 theories as to how this happens: the official story, the Democratic Party Trap, and the CIA trap.

The official story states that Mitchell wanted to bug O’Brien. McCord’s wires failed. Mitchell ordered this 2nd break in, in which the burglars were caught. This is a problematic solution. Mitchell knew that the DNC had no worthwhile secrets so he would not have ordered this break in. Furthermore, Mitchell was the most cautious man in the Nixon WH.

The 2nd theory is the Democrats set up a trap for Nixon. McCord was a master bugger in the CIA. But his only bug that didn’t work was the one he put on O’Brien. Did O’Brien know about it? Eugenio Martinez was on the CIA payroll at the time he broke into the Watergate. O’Brien was told ahead of time that the break in would occur. Jack Anderson was warned about the break-in. He reported nothing. He was friends with Frank Sturgis ever since the Bay of Pigs. Haldeman’s problem with this theory is that it doesn’t explain the motive.

The 3rd theory is that this was a CIA trap. Helms told the Watergate Commission that he and his agency were duped by Nixon into a cover up. The CIA directed Woodward towards Colson as the villain and away from the CIA. The CIA had a mountain of involvement in the caper.

Chapter 2
Haldeman believes that Fred Fielding, an aide of John Dean’s, was Deep throat.

Chapter 3
Howard Hunt was on the payroll of Bennett’s firm at the same time he was on the White House’s payroll. Nixon opened up all his documents on the CIA to Colson. This would insulate Colson when the Watergate commission came round. Because Nixon couldn’t get the FBI and the CIA to do his bidding, he created his own intelligence apparatus in the WH. These Plumbers were a threat to the CIA, so the theory says. This is the reason why the CIA allowed the break-in to take place.

Hunt was planted by the CIA and Colson was the patsy. Bennett convinced Colson to hire him on. According to McCord, the CIA feared that a President could use the CIA to affirm its own agenda rather than use it to obtain information.

Nixon was after O’Brien because O’Brien exploited the ITT scandal. The CIA had to protect O’Brien and his Hughes money because the CIA had used Hughes money for the Glomar Challenger project.

Chapter 4
Nixon didn’t want anyone in the Justice Department to create waves and tackle anti-trust breaking corporations. But the bureaucracy was untouchable. Many were civil servants from the Roosevelt administration who could not be fired by a President. If they pursued ITT (which they did), Nixon was powerless to stop them. He had not received funds from ITT but he wanted the trial stopped so he could resume his own domestic agenda. O’Brien saw this differently.

Nixon barely carried California in ’68. Haldeman and Nixon decided the ’72 RNC should be in San Diego. ITT paid $100,000 (or more) to the San Diego Tourist Committee for promotional deals with their new hotel. This made Nixon again look like he had cut a deal with ITT.

O’Brien and Colson hated each other since the days of Kennedy and his time in Massachusetts’ politics. This fueled Nixon to order the break-in.

Chapter 5
Nixon believed that his brothers’ dealings with Howard Hughes had cost him the ’60 and ’62 elections. Now this information might cost him in ’72. This lead to Hunt putting bugs on O’Brien’s and Spencer Oliver’s phones. Oliver’s dad worked for Hughes.

Haldeman’s theory is that Nixon ordered Colson to the goods on O’Brien. The Democrats found out about it and let it happen, possibly even getting the plain clothes cop to arrest them. He believes that the CIA monitored the whole situation and sabotaged it to make it a failure. Haldeman says that the CIA also covered it up.

Colson used Hunt when Nixon wanted to prove Kennedy was behind the assassination of Vietnamese President Diem. Hunt fabricated the wire cables. Colson has become a born-again Christian and has retired to become an evangelist.

Book 5: The Hidden Story of Watergate
Chapter 1
The 2nd great mystery surrounding Watergate is: how did this 3rd rate burglary undo a Presidency? Haldeman says the untold story is that the government needed to be reorganized. The Nixon administration was ruthless in reorganizing. It was not completed. Carter ran on a platform to reorganize it and completed some of the work.

This house cleaning spurned a lot of people who would not be loyal to Nixon later.

Chapter 2
Nixon wanted a Catholic in his cabinet. Claude Brineger was Irish Catholic and was appointed to Secretary of Transportation. Then he said he was German Presbyterian.

During the house cleaning, Bill Rogers was to move out and Kissinger move into the State Department.

Chapter 3
Nixon had reorganized the government making it more concentrated and efficient. This made his detractors recoil in fear.

Chapter 4
There are 4 power blocs in D.C.: the press, the bureaucracy, the intelligence community and Congress. Nixon was hated by the press and they by him. They were the 1st to jump on Watergate. When the Watergate commission was formed it was televised, uniting 2 of the blocs. The bureaucracy cracked and leaked to the commission like crazy. The intelligence community’s relationship with Nixon is described above.

Book 6: The Real Story of the Tapes
The history of U.S. Presidents bugging themselves goes back to FDR. LBJ bugged himself also. RFK carried a scrambler to outmaneuver LBJ, much to Johnson’s dismay. Nixon claims that LBJ scolded Nixon for being foolish in the removal of the taping systems. Nixon didn’t want people to sit in meetings and take notes—guest would be reluctant to be candid. For posterity, Nixon needed the goods in case he came to blows with Kissinger, who, incidentally, was recording his conversations with Nixon.

Nixon didn’t want to destroy the tapes during the hearings because he wanted to use them to prove John Dean was lying.

Haldeman believes that Alexander Butterfield was a CIA plant. Haig put the tapes under SS protection when Nixon was hospitalized. Nixon finally wanted them destroyed by this time but this would be obstruction of justice.
The 18 ½ minute gap was probably the result of Nixon’s clumsiness, not the result of “sinister forces” as Haig claimed. The existence of the taping system should not have provoked the hue and cry it did. Nixon claimed that Kissinger has the most to lose if the tapes become public.

Book 7: The Mysteries of the Cover-up
Chapter 1
Nixon’s motives for ordering the cover-up are that he wanted to remove any connection between himself and Colson, he didn’t want to lose Mitchell (he’d have lost the election if he had lost Mitchell), and to cover-up other hanky-panky, indirectly related to Watergate.

Nixon didn’t want Colson’s activities to be connected to him: the Brookings Institute, the Bremer break-in and the Ellsberg break-in. Nixon wanted the dirt on LBJ but the Pentagon wouldn’t release it; they sent it to the Brookings Institute. This, coupled with Nixon’s inability to get Helms to give him all the “Bay of Pigs” data, made Nixon distrustful of the intelligence community.

Chapter 2
Haldeman says his implications in the Watergate scandal are beforehand: offering to pay for the lawyers for the defendants; and afterwards when he directed $350,000 of unused campaign funds to be sent back to CRP. CRP didn’t want the money because they were in enough hot water already. Dean said that Hunt was blackmailing Nixon for $122,000. But Hunt, according to Haldeman, was swimming in money. His wife died and she was insured for a ton of money. She also was the paymaster of the burglars and she died in a plane crash, carrying the loot. She was heading towards Chicago—the burglars were in Miami. According to Hunt, she was investing the money in real estate. If Hunt had the money for real estate speculation, why did he need more money? Paul O’Brien was a counsel for CRP. He told Dean about the blackmail threat. If O’Brien, (who was ex-CIA) made up the blackmail, then this becomes far more intriguing.

Chapter 3
Nixon discussed clemency for Hunt and the Cubans with Colson. Hunt and Liddy were ideologues. Since Hunt’s wife was dead and his kid had brain damage he could be pardoned, they reasoned. During this time, the Paris Peace Talks began. When the POW’s were released in January 1973, the White House was rocked by 4 things which kept them from being jubilant.

Chapter 4
The 4 events were: 1. The Ellsberg trial, 2. The Watergate investigation; 3. the Evrin Committee and 4. The confirmation of Patrick Gray.

Nixon didn’t worry about these but each exploded with precise timing for maximum effect. The confirmation of Gray was innocuous enough; he was loyal, or so Nixon thought. But then Dean turned on Nixon and became the great informer. Then the existence of the taping system was revealed.

Chapter 5
Dean and Gray’s relationship goes back to the days immediately following Watergate. Dean controlled all information that the FBI was to receive. Once Gray was confirmed as FBI director his relationship with Dean became headline news. No one outside the WH had ever heard of Dean.

Chapter 6
Dean told Haldeman that Haldeman had committed obstruction of justice for offering to pay the legal fees of the Watergate burglars—if this payment was in exchange for their silence. Dean had originally given Haldeman the advice to offer them legal assistance. Donald Segretti was hired by Haldeman to be the Republican answer to Dick Tuck, a political prankster. Haldeman claims that Woodward and Bernstein were wrong in their claim that Segretti was the kingpin in the break-ins and smear campaigns.

Nixon’s goals were to hide any connection between Hunt’s activities against Teddy Kennedy and Ellsberg and the White House. Dean’s goals were self-interest. When Dean told Nixon that Hunt was blackmailing him, Nixon exploded. No one knew how much Nixon had to hide. Dean wanted immunity for himself and Nixon wanted Hunt to be quiet. Dean didn’t understand because he thought Hunt’s target was Ehrlichman.

Chapter 7
McCord and Gray said that Dean lied to the FBI about Watergate. Magruder also was breaking with Dean. Dean then stopped defending the President and became an informer. Many people drew the conclusion that Haldeman “just had to know” because he was chief of staff.

Chapter 8
Senator Ervin said there was no proof of Haldeman’s complicity. Haldeman wanted to go on TV and air his involvement of Watergate to Dan Rather. Nixon vetoed the idea because Haldeman had been on TV in 1969-1970 on Barbara Walters. He had said some unfortunate things about Sen. Muskie and now Nixon didn’t trust him to discuss things with the press. Haldeman believes that the issue of cover-up would have been lessened had Nixon allowed him to do this interview.

Book 8: the Beginning of the End
Chapter 1
Dean wanted immunity but the prosecutors double-crossed him every step of the way. They lied to him about who was talking: Liddy, Magruder etc. And when they weren’t lying, Dean thought they were lying. Then Dean told them about the Ellsberg break-in; everything changed and he became the good guy. Based on Dean and Magruder’s testimony, Haldeman and Ehrlichman were to resign. Gray burned the papers that Ehrlichman had given him on Hunt. This would cause Ehrlichman to resign. Dean refused to resign unless Haldeman and Ehrlichman also quit because he didn’t want to be the scapegoat.

Chapter 2
Nixon could argue “national security” on the Watergate break-in but not on the Ellsberg break-in. The idea of Ehrlichman and Haldeman resigning came up but was dismissed.

Chapter 3
Ehrlichman brought up impeachment. Since there was no other way to handle a President committing a crime, the only action was impeachment. Nixon was stunned. Nixon worried about the March 21 tape where he and Dean discussed the “cancer on the Presidency.” Nixon was obsessed with this day because money was mentioned in connection with the burglars. Haldeman and Ehrlichman were being treated as a “unit” as if they both were in on the Watergate caper together. Ehrlichman was the head of the Ellsberg caper but not Watergate. Nixon offered them money for their legal expenses.

Chapter 4
On the March 21 tape, Nixon mentions that he could get $1,000,000 for Hunt. Nixon dwelled in that day’s conversations and became more anxious.

Chapter 5
Dean told the Watergate prosecutors about the Ellsberg break-in. Nixon was glad to have the tapes because they could prove his case. Nixon then realized he had been trapped by Dean. Dean didn’t know, first hand, about the Ellsberg thing. If Nixon had denied it, Dean wouldn’t be able to come forth about it. But Dean had told Nixon that the CIA knew about it and that the FBI would too, eventually. Nixon then believed that Dean was wired. But Nixon had tape recorded the same conversation, so he was all set.

Chapter 6
There were 2 explosions that rocked Nixon: the surprise ending of the Ellsberg trial and the news of Gray burning the Hunt documents. This led Nixon to give Haldeman and Ehrlichman their leaves of absence.

Chapter 7
Nixon made them resign that weekend. He brought them up to Camp David for an emotional conclusion. Haldeman and Ehrlichman were annoyed that they were being lumped into the same bag as Dean but Nixon was firm.

Book 9: Personal Diary of the Final Days
Chapter 1
Haldeman recommended Haig to be his replacement. Nixon claimed he didn’t need a Chief of Staff. Dean had asked Haldeman to turn off the FBI or they would make the connection between the Mexican bank and the burglars. Haldeman and Ehrlichman got book deals with Reader’s Digest. Ervin rejected the prosecutor’s request for a postponement. He said it’s more important that the nation know the truth than these men go to prison. The Haldeman’s left Washington for good.
Chapter 2
Nixon was obsessed about March 21, 1973. But Dean claimed that the September 15, 1972 conversation was when Nixon first realized about the cover-up. This was an impression, Dean told the commission. What did the President know and when did he know it? Alex Butterfield told the public that Nixon tape records all his conversations. Haldeman had to testify since he had heard these tapes. He was convicted of perjury. Nixon fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor. Elliot Richardson and his assistant at the Justice Department quit in protest. Nixon also wanted to abolish the special prosecutor’s office altogether. All the power blocs were moving against Nixon at this point.

Chapter 3
Nixon cut himself off from more and more of his staff, sacrificing them to the commission but the prosecutors kept coming. Haig warned Haldeman that the Jewish community has an uncanny intelligence group that was out to get Haldeman. Haldeman dismissed this notion.

Chapter 4
Nixon had to battle the Supreme Court for ownership of his tapes. He said if they didn’t vote unanimously, he would reject their verdict. They did vote unanimously.

Chapter 5
Nixon decided to resign. Haldeman asked that all those involved in Watergate be given pardons first. Haldeman got a call that there was going to be an attempt on his life. He didn’t believe the threat but police gave him protection.

Conclusion
Watergate began because Nixon wanted Colson to get dirt on O’Brien. The break-in failed because the Democrats knew it was going to happen and because the CIA sabotaged the plan. The cover-up began because Nixon didn’t want anyone to find out about Hunt and Colson’s activities on the Ellsberg thing. Haldeman believes that if Watergate had been handled properly, it would not have been a scandal. People believe that Watergate proves the failure of Nixon’s staff. Haldeman says it proves the opposite. Had the staff taken care of it like they took care of most issues, it would not have been a scandal. However, they let CRP handle it and then it was doomed to failure. Haldeman admits what he did was wrong. Haldeman believes that if there was no Watergate that: Nixon would have been one of the great Presidents of the U.S.; that Connally would have been made VP and would have won in ’76.

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