The Nixon Tapes: 1973
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
This “revealing” transcription captures a dark and dramatic year in presidential history—and the words of Richard Nixon himself (The New York Times Book Review).
Between 1971 and 1973, President Richard Nixon’s voice-activated tape recorders captured 3,700 hours of conversations. Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter’s intrepid two-volume transcription and annotation of the highlights of this essential archive provides an unprecedented and fascinating window into the inner workings of a momentous presidency.
The Nixon Tapes: 1973 tells the concluding chapter of the story, the final year of taping, covering such events as the Vietnam cease-fire, the Wounded Knee standoff, and, of course, the Watergate investigation. Once again, there are revelations on every page. With Nixon’s landslide 1972 reelection victory receding into the background and the scandal that would scuttle the administration looming, The Nixon Tapes: 1973 reveals the inside story of the tragedy that followed the triumph.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this conclusion to their two volume transcription of President Richard Nixon's secret White House recordings, following 2014's The Nixon Tapes: 1971 1972, historians Brinkley and Nichter skillfully abridge and comment on over 3,000 hours of conversation: a priceless, if largely unreadable, historical document. The book opens with Nixon still glowing from his 1972 re-election yet irritated by fallout from the Watergate burglary six months earlier. Nixon had no direct role in the break-in, but he worried that an investigation might uncover his pervasive program of domestic intelligence and harassment of political enemies. The transcriptions make dismally clear that his clumsy, cynical, and often illegal efforts to keep the burglars quiet led to his downfall. Though Watergate dominates the proceedings, many sections recount Nixon's achievements: opening relations with China, easing tensions with the U.S.S.R., and creating the modern financial system. Unlike Hollywood-style representations of crystal-clear secret recordings, these real-life conversations are rambling, turgid, choppy, garbled, and often incomprehensible. Jewels turn up, but searching for them is a job only scholars could love. Readers will enjoy the editors' insightful introductions to each section, but may want to skim the actual transcript.
