The Final Days by Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward

The Final Days by Carl Bernstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a behind the scenes look at the final days of the Nixon Administration. A quick background summary is that in 1972 burglars were caught breaking in into Democratic National Committee located in Washington D.C. . Eventually the the burglars were connected to the White House and Nixon. Much of this is covered in Bernstein and Woodwards more well known book(and movie) All the Presidents Men.

This book picks up in mid 1974 about the time the famous tapes were an issue before the Supreme Court because Nixon had refused to turn them over. These tapes are recordings of conversations and phone calls Nixon had started recording in 1971. Nixon tried various tactics like releasing only transcripts of tapes and then only certain tapes. Finally after a fruitless battle in the Supreme Court he was ordered to release them all. It was with this final tape release the now famous "smoking gun" tape that showed he had been lying since nearly the beginning about a cover-up. It was after that his support in Congress crumbled and impeachment proceedings were being started. Rather than going thru a certain impeachment and removal from office that could take months of turmoil and distraction he resigned in August 1974.

The book has a slow pace at first as it builds up to the impending finally. It does pick up towards the end as the drama builds. Nixon spends a lot of time fluctuating whether to resign or fight until the end the last few days.

The book still feels relevant today given current political climate and talk of impeachment. This kind of gives an idea of what it may take for it to happen again. It's not quite as easy as some may think. I recommend this for political junkies and 20th century U.S. history buffs.

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