All the President's Men

 
All The President’s Men tracks the investigation of Watergate by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein from its measly beginnings to turning the government upside down. Their persistence and good journalism skills allowed them to uncover that the Watergate break-in was not a singular incident, but rather a small piece of a great puzzle of political corruption.

Some of the most interesting parts of the book come from Woodward and Bernstein’s details of life in the newsroom. The reporters had to be dedicated to printing the truth but still remaining up to date in the world of daily newspapers. As the story grew, more and more news outlets such as The New York Times and Newsweek began to do investigative work of their own. Despite their suspicions, they had to remain ethical in printing just the facts. Fortunately, the layout of the daily newspaper afforded them the time to do the job properly. This book highlights the competition in the world of print journalism, which is starkly different from our world of instant, 24-hour news today.
It is a bit disappointing that Bernstein and Woodward did not take advantage of the opportunity to share their own feelings within the book. In numerous occasions, from deciding to take a bribe, telephone grand jury members, or uncover their sources, the pair of reporters are faced with huge moral decisions. They must weight finding the truth with their own journalistic ethics. As mentioned by Doris Kearnes in The New York Times, “the same passionate language which keeps the story moving keeps the reader at the threshold of moral choice; rarely does it permit looking at the decision making process.” With this book, Bernstein and Woodward truly had the chance to offer their own introspection into these moral crossroads, but they simply did not take it.
At the time of publication in 1974, the Republican Party was highly unhappy with the book. Even during the investigation, they attempted to accuse Bernstein, Woodward, and The Washington Post of being McGovern sympathizers trying to throw the election in favor of the Democrats. Ben Stein of The American Spectator panned Bernstein and Woodward, attempting to discredit their work by noting that they “got what they wrote from sources, not from original research.” In their mind, the reporters overdid their articles, creating a “false image” of Nixon’s White House. 
This response is to be expected, however. Until Watergate, Nixon had been an overwhelmingly popular president. At his reelection in 1972, he boasted a 68% approval rating. By September of 1974, 58% of Americans wanted him tried for possible criminal charges, according to the Pew Research Center (Kozlowska). Republicans saw this as a liberal attack, rather than a partyless, catastrophic abuse of power.
It’s a fair assessment that Bernstein and Woodward did get the majority of their information from sources, but the contacting of these sources was original research in its own right. Not to mention, the two reporters were among the few who kept digging. They easily could have reported the simple fact of the burglary, but their perseverance ended up tying these facts together to expose the larger picture.
The impact of Watergate is something that we still feel today. Before, Americans had an admiration for politicians and the office of the President in particular. However, Watergate exposed the ugly, dirty side to politics.
Ultimately, Watergate shattered a generation. It destroyed the trust between the American people and their President. According to a CNN Poll cited on NPR, 53% of Americans felt that the government could be trusted all or most of the time in 1972. By 1974, following the Watergate scandal, that percentage dropped to 36%. It has remained under 50% ever since, except for a brief spark following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. When one looks at the sort of bashing that President Barack Obama has faced while in office, from people refusing to believe that he was born in the United States to calls for impeachment, it is easy to see how this attitude has impacted American politics. Will American politicians ever be able to regain that trust from their populace?
Finally, it is revealed that Nixon has been bugging his own office. The tapes reveal that he knew of his men’s involvement and actively covered up the Watergate scandal, thus setting the process of impeachment into motion. In the final paragraphs of the book, President Nixon delivers his Oath of Office for his second term. He reassures the public that everything will be fine, and that the Watergate scandal will not destroy his government. It is an abrupt ending, without the full answers (as they were not available at the time) but a fitting conclusion to the whirlwind story of how two reporters uncovered the greatest scandal in American political history.


Kozlowska, Hanna. "Watergate's Emotional Legacy." Op Talk. NPR, 8 Aug. 2014. Web.