Bob Woodward. The Last of the President’s Men. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015. 304 pp.
$28.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-5011-1644-5.
Reviewed by Samuel Rushay (Harry S. Truman Library and Museum)
Published on H-1960s (June, 2016)
Commissioned by Zachary J. Lechner
Back to the Watergate Well
title for this book. How he entered the smoke underscored an important theme here: the importance of personal relationships at the highest levels of government.
Shortly after the 1968 election, Butterfield reached out
to UCLA classmate H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman, presidentelect Nixon’s soon-to-be assistant to the president (chief
of staff), who interviewed Butterfield and offered him a
position as deputy assistant to the president.
In The Last of the President’s Men, author Bob Woodward relates the experiences of Alexander Butterfield in
the Nixon administration. Butterfield, who served as
deputy assistant to the president from 1969 until early
1973, was one of a handful of people with knowledge
of Richard Nixon’s secret taping system. Butterfield is
known to history as the man who publicly revealed the
existence of the tapes during testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee, chaired by Sam Ervin, in July
1973. Butterfield’s revelation set off a year-long battle
for control of the tapes, culminating in President Nixon’s
resignation in August 1974.
In the Nixon White House, Butterfield worked closely
with Haldeman and with the president himself on daily
scheduling matters and the flow of paperwork and orders. He “shadowed” the president and gained insights
into Nixon’s management style, personality, and marriage. His rapid entrance into Nixon’s inner circle is directly attributable to the high degree of trust and power
that Nixon extended to Haldeman in making personnel
choices for the White House staff.
In his research for this book, Woodward interviewed
Butterfield for forty hours in 2014-15. He also relied
on Butterfield’s unpublished manuscript and documents
that Butterfield took with him when he left the Nixon
White House. What emerges from this source material is a “deeper, more disturbing and baffling portrait of
Nixon,” a figure who is at the same time “both smaller
and larger” than is known from previous accounts about
him (pp. 2, 3).
The Last of the President’s Men contains a number
of previously unpublished anecdotes about President
Nixon. While they do not reveal any new character traits
of the president, they deepen our understanding of the
Prior to his service in the Nixon administration, But- extent of his loneliness, emotional isolation, and detachterfield was an air force pilot and colonel, who aspired to ment from others. Butterfield vividly illustrates Nixon’s
become a general officer and air force chief of staff. But well-known awkwardness in social situations in his depromotion depended on his first being in the “smoke,” in scription of a birthday party held at the White House
the thick of things in a “highly visible job” in Washington, in March 1969 for Paul Keyes, writer and producer of
DC, or in Vietnam, where he had already flown combat the television show Laugh-In. Upon entering the room,
missions (pp. 5-6). In short order, Butterfield found his where guests already had gathered, Nixon said nothing
way “into the smoke,” which would have been a fitting for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, after stam-
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mering and struggling for words, Nixon pointed down at
the maroon carpet, and with reference to Keyes’s green
blazer, said “green coat … red rug … Christmas colors,” and left the room (p. 44). Elsewhere, Butterfield described witnessing Nixon repeatedly patting a secretary’s
bare legs in an avuncular way aboard a helicopter. Butterfield’s reaction combined shock with pity for Nixon,
whose actions, while completely inappropriate, manifested his deep loneliness.
(p. 106). This is an example of Butterfield making admissions to Woodward that were against his own interest,
although he was at a safe remove from events that occurred almost forty-five years earlier.
One of the more interesting aspects of The Last of
the President’s Men is Woodward’s use of information
from documents in Butterfield’s possession concerning
national security and foreign policy matters. In some
cases, the documents, many of which were reprinted in
The Last of the President’s Men is unique among the the book’s appendix, still bear classified markings. It is
hundreds of books that have been written about Nixon unclear if appropriate federal agencies reviewed and deand Watergate. Most first-person memoirs and accounts classified them. The documents, which Woodward was
by the other “president’s men”—Haldeman, John Ehrlich- not able to find at the Nixon Library or anywhere else,
man, John Dean, Jeb Magruder, and Charles Colson— contain important new information. For example, in
were written thirty to forty years ago, during a period of January 1972, Nixon admitted in a handwritten note on
great public interest in Watergate. These individuals also a memorandum from National Security Advisor Henry
wrote books because they needed money to pay legal ex- Kissinger that despite ten years of total control of the
penses as defendants in cases concerning Watergate and air in Laos and Vietnam, the result has been “Zilch” (p.
related abuses of power. Others, such as John Mitchell 114). Just a day before he wrote his note, Nixon had told
and Butterfield—until now—left no first-person accounts. CBS reporter Dan Rather that the results of bombing of
One wonders how the “Woodward filter” affected But- North Vietnam had been “very, very effective” (p. 113).
terfield’s telling of his story. Might Butterfield have In future months during 1972, the “Zilch” memorandum
been more—or less—forthcoming without Woodward’s notwithstanding, Nixon actually intensified the bombing
involvement in this book? It is noteworthy that Butter- (p. 115).
field is not the book’s coauthor, that he did not write its
Other documents in Butterfield’s possession underforeword or introduction, and that he relinquished editoscore the Nixon administration’s obsession with secrecy
rial control to Woodward. Butterfield’s voice is clearly
present, however, in the words that Woodward lifted and its suspicion of its own allies. One document confrom documents and interviews with him. The story of cerns American spying on Israel’s ballistic missile proButterfield, who was not paid to tell it, will likely receive gram. Another involves Kissinger’s argument to Nixon
more attention simply due to the fact that Woodward, that the United States should be willing to agree to a bilateral peace treaty with North Vietnam, if South Vietnam
author of ten previous best sellers, including All the Presrefused to sign a settlement. In his memoirs, Kissinger
ident’s Men (1974), which he coauthored with Carl Bernstein, is the author. Perhaps Butterfield will publish his omitted mention of his preferred course, and he and
own memoir someday; one suspects that it, along with Nixon reassured South Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Van
the boxes of documents in his possession and recordings Thieu, that the United States would deal only with him.
of his interviews with Woodward, will be donated to the The Nixon White House tapes contain conversations between Nixon and Kissinger concerning the possibility
Nixon Library.
of a bilateral agreement, which Nixon was reluctant to
Butterfield does not shed new light on Watergate. pursue, however, for political reasons. The tapes even
He does, however, reveal deep regret over his role in include a conversation with South Vietnamese officials
an abuse of governmental power: domestic intelligence about the possibility of a bilateral deal![1] The selective
gathering targeting Nixon’s enemies—reporter Seymour use of documents described by Butterfield offers an imHersh and presidential candidate Ted Kennedy—for po- portant lesson for students of diplomacy of the Nixon—
litical purposes. Butterfield told Woodward that he “re- and any—era.
mains appalled at his behavior and weakness” (p. 108).
Butterfield’s account of Nixon’s White House is useWoodward noted that Butterfield “kept bringing it up”
ful
less for what we learn about Nixon’s character
in their discussions (p. 136). He was well aware that he
and
personality—there is little new here—and more for
bore moral—and legal—culpability for his actions. “If his
what
we learn about the importance of personal relarole in the Kennedy spying had been discovered,” Woodtionships
with respect to the presidency, at least durward writes, “he was certain he would have gone to jail”
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ing the Nixon era. Butterfield’s stories show a man
who was deeply conflicted—and surprisingly emotional—
about Nixon, a man whom he simultaneously admired
and reviled. There is an immediacy to Butterfield’s account. He describes with affection his appreciation that
Nixon sent flowers and met with Butterfield’s daughter
after a car accident. “I loved Nixon for that” (p. 67). Despite the passage of many decades, though, Butterfield’s
wounds are still fresh from slights that he felt Nixon inflicted on him and others, especially Nixon’s wife, Pat.
During Butterfield’s first meeting with Nixon, the president was unable to utter a single intelligible word of
greeting. Butterfield described this and other personal
slights in emotional terms—“he felt lost” (p. 31). “I was
mad.” “I wanted to say, ‘Fuck you’ ” (p. 36). He reserved his harshest words for Nixon’s treatment of Pat
Nixon, whom Butterfield concluded was a “ ‘borderline
abused’ wife” (p. 66). Butterfield admitted that he tended
to take “snubs very personally” (p. 141). His sensitivity
is a bit surprising considering his many years of previous military service, during which one thinks he would
have encountered abusive or disrespectful superior officers, whose treatment of him might have caused him to
develop a thicker skin.
about China is immediately followed by an account of a
prank that Bebe Rebozo played on Nixon. As in any book,
there are errors and incomplete statements. President
Nixon created an opening to China, but he did not “establish relations with the Chinese Communists” (p. 92).
As for Vietnam, the Nixon tapes make clear that the intense bombing of North Vietnam in December 1972 was
intended to force North Vietnam to sign a peace settlement and to reassure Thieu that the United States would
stand with him even if—as it was expected—North Vietnam continued its attacks on South Vietnam after the
signing of a peace settlement.[3] Younger readers probably should be told that South Vietnam fell to North Vietnam in April 1975.
In sum, however, Butterfield’s account of his years in
the Nixon administration is an important one that is finally on the record. Until this point, his voice had mostly
been silent and the extensive historiography about Nixon
and Watergate rarely contains Butterfield’s perspective.
Woodward has provided a valuable contribution to our
understanding of the Nixon era. He deserves credit for
gaining Butterfield’s trust and permission to publish his
recollections of his White House years. One wonders
why Butterfield waited so long to share publicly his memIn the end, despite Butterfield’s almost four years of ories; doing so sooner would have given him earlier in his
service in the Nixon White House, he developed no deep life the catharsis this book probably provided him. As for
personal loyalty to President Nixon. Therefore, after he Woodward, he has not lost the instinct that any good releft the administration to become administrator of the porter has for an interesting story, which he tells in a
Federal Aviation Administration, he decided he would very engaging, accessible way. The Last of the President’s
confirm the existence of the Nixon White House taping Men is a quick read that Nixon scholars and casual readsystem, if the Senate Watergate Committee asked him ers will find interesting.
about it. Woodward goes into depth with Butterfield
Notes
about his possible motives for revealing the tapes. Butterfield admitted that his dislike for Nixon may have been
[1]. Nixon White House Tapes, 153-28 (November 15,
a motive for him to do this. He did not volunteer the 1972), 34-114 (December 17, 1972), and 817-16 (Noveminformation, but he was determined not to lie about it. ber 30, 1972). Digitized audio of the Nixon White House
That direct question finally came on July 13, 1973, during Tapes can be found on the Richard Nixon Presidenclosed-door questioning by Donald Sanders, deputy Re- tial Library’s website at https://www.nixonlibrary.
publican counsel on the Senate Watergate Committee. In gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/finding_aids/
response, Butterfield confirmed the existence of the tap- november1972.php.
ing system. In a 1993 interview, Butterfield commented,
[2]. Quoted in Gerald S. Strober and Deborah Hart
“I knew that Haldeman would never tell about the tapes.
It doesn’t mean that I was that [sic] less loyal; maybe it Strober, Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency (New
York: HarperCollins, 1994), 388, 540.
does.”[2]
[3]. Nixon White House Tapes, 34-114 (DecemThe Last of the President’s Men would have benefited
ber
17, 1972) and 816-3 (November 29, 1972), https:
from the inclusion of photographs, particularly never//www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/
before-seen ones in Butterfield’s possession. Transitions
within chapters are sometimes lacking, as when a section tapes/finding_aids/november1972.php.
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Citation: Samuel Rushay. Review of Woodward, Bob, The Last of the President’s Men. H-1960s, H-Net Reviews. June,
2016.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=45652
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