CHECK IT OUT:Memories of Nixon’s downfall

“Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.”

It’s been 32 years this week since President Richard M. Nixon made this speech. For all intents and purposes, this act ended the Watergate scandal and the constitutional crisis that has been called the most harrowing this country has undergone since the Civil War.

The country was already viciously divided on Vietnam and civil rights. That we got through this crisis that involved illegal acts by government officials, dirty political tricks, unauthorized surveillances, illegal use of campaign funds, hush money, cover ups and so on and so forth, is a miracle.

Nixon is the only U.S. president to resign from his position. And this occurred after two years of investigations and shenanigans on all sides, leading to the threat of impeachment. Once the long sought-after tapes were revealed, it was clear that Congress would pass the impeachment vote, placing the president on trial by the Senate. (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were the only two presidents impeached, but neither was tried.)

Nixon departed from the White House with two and a half years left on his second term. In all, 25 members of his administration, including four cabinet members, would be convicted and would serve time for their crimes.

But enough time has passed from that disturbing and turbulent time that it is worth a look back. In 1976, after a little time had passed and a prison sentence served, two of the most popular books about Watergate ? then and now ? were published.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s “The Final Days” and John Dean’s “Blind Ambition: The White House Years” are still gripping reads today.

Two young journalists trying to rise to the top by doing the right thing and a young attorney, who scaled the heights until doing the wrong thing became untenable, wrote some fascinating living history. Along with “All the President’s Men” these two books are still in print in one format or another. Of course, you can get them at the library.

For a contemporary and succinct overview of the scandal and Nixon’s final decisions, Keith Olson’s “Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America” is a quick but illuminating read that, written 30 years after the events, offers a non-partisan view of all those involved.

Even in a brief overview, Olson has managed to flesh out all the characters who played in this epic drama.

But if politics are your passion, there are two Watergate books that go in-depth into the story and personalities with great insight.

Stanley I. Kutler is a constitutional historian and his “The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon” is a thorough discussion of the scandal, in light of his expertise.

In contrast to this, Gerald and Deborah Strober’s “Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency” gives the immediacy of personal experience.

Not theirs, though. The Strobers specialize in oral history, collecting testimony from people who were there, as it were, and arranging their recollections into a cohesive format.

They have done the same with Reagan, Kennedy, Billy Graham, the Dalai Lama, Rudy Giuliani and England’s Queen Elizabeth II. This format makes for immensely interesting study, because the reader feels all these witnesses ? or participants ? in history are talking to the reader.

This, in turn, creates a deep sense of authenticity and the burden of creating the whole picture is left up to the person holding the book.