Before I read Mallon’s book, I was thinking why Nixon’s campaign people would break-in to the office. For Mallon, I felt like even Nixon himself was so clueless in this whole event, “He was unsure, even now, what Watergate really was. He remained as baffled as he’d been when talking to Haldeman on June 23, 1972. He would forever be able to hear himself on the tape: confused; groping; taking the first approach that came to mind, dooming himself. ” After reading through this part of the novel, I actually doubted that whether it was true that everyone was clueless in the story, or Mallon was just afraid of saying the truth out。 If Nixon was truly clueless as described in the book, there would be no need to command John Dean to cover up this whole thing. Speaking of John Dean, I was surprised that he confessed so easily and quickly. As a member of the break-in group, I thought John Dean should be one of the guys that Nixon trusted the most, and I was not ready for his confession at all.
Only a few characters were fictional in this book, and Garahan and Lander did most of the story-telling through the event. However, even from their words I did not see a strong tone in this, and Watergate seems like not such a serious scandal–most people were clueless, and there was no harsh criticisms even from the fictional figures. I think Mallon’s book did a great job in describing the whole Watergate incident, but it did not solve some of my questions such as John Dean”s quick “”betrayal”.
In looking back at the scandal, it is difficult not to dramatize or romanticize the events that took place because if the place the scandal holds in American history. As you point out most of the people involved were in fact clueless but Watergate represents the absolute failure of the American democratic system. Because of this, it has become difficult to see Watergates events through an impartial light.
Although it may not seem serious, the Watergate scandal was a scary moment in American history. The Watergate scandal is important because it reveals corruption behind the democratic system. The president of the United States is suppose to be the symbol of all the people and look out for the greater good of the nation. Nixon shattered this romanticized image of the president by committing unethical actions.
If Watergate crushed the romanticized image of the president then it also ruined many positive views of other government officials. If the President could be involved in something so wrong, it makes me think that any government official could have a part in a corrupt scandal at one point or another.
I see the fact that Nixon had unethical actions, but I also felt like there was dirt in all types of politics,too. I remember he said that he was doing it for the “good” of the nation, so he basically prioritized other stuff over his ethnicity. I am just surprised about the fact that Nixon looked so confused in this whole thing, as he should be super clear about what was going on.
John Dean confessed so easily because he thought that Nixon was going to make him the lone scapegoat. I don’t think Mallon made this very clear in the novel, but in real life Dean realized that Nixon was trying to make him look guilty when he asked him for his resignation. I agree that Mallon made Nixon seem more clueless than he actually was.
I see, I was confused so much by Dean’s quick confession in the novel. I felt like if Dean did not confess everything, then the public would not able to know what really happened as much as we do now. I agree that Nixon was never clueless, he just wanted to cover up this whole thing and failed.
I think that Watergate was such a serious scandal because of how clueless people were. The President of the United States is the most powerful man in the free world, so when there are things he seems clueless about, it is very scary to the nation.
I too found John Dean to be peculiar and especially regarding to how quick and effortless it was for him to confess. Political loyalty was a huge part of the culture back then, no matter how screwed over you were, you were never supposed to sell out your party. Take the case of John Sears, a political adviser to Richard Nixon who was suspected to be Deepthroat at one point. Shortly before Nixon’s reelection he decided to resign from his position due to conflicting views with predominantly John Mitchell as well as other men working for Nixon. If news of this drama were to reach the presses it could have very serious effects on Nixon’s campaign so instead Sears and Nixon’s team all agreed it was best to basically fire him. Sears agreed to this because he respected the Republican Party for giving him his political start and refused to bad mouth the party. It was just the climate of the time to not sell out your party like John Dean did.