Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency

In this kaleidoscopic oral history, one of the 90 interviewees, Howard Phillips, chair of the Conservative Caucus, observes that Nixon's love-hate relationship with his father, mostly hate, and his exaggerated exaltation of his mother are keys to understanding his personality and presidency. Peppered with valuable nuggets of psychological insight and fresh details on Nixon's administration, this montage of reminiscences and opinions ranges across the political spectrum, with Daniel Ellsberg, George Shultz, Robert Bork, George McGovern and Gerald Ford among those interviewed. Bob Woodward, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichmann and others air their mutually contradictory theories on who ordered the 1972 break-ins of the Democratic National Committee's Watergate headquarters and why. The Strobers, authors of Let Us Begin Anew, an oral history of Kennedy's presidency, present a smorgasbord of views on Nixon's domestic and foreign achievements and his rehabilitation prior to his death earlier this year. (Nov.)