Word: ehrlichmans
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...John Ehrlichman's latest effort, Witness to Power, fits right into the pattern established by previous "Nixon years" memoirs. The book's very title reflects Ehrlichman's notion of his own historical importance. In his mind, he is no mere former White House side and political back, but a "witness to power," a man privileged by history to share the secrets of national leadership. Unfortunately for Ehrlichman, there really isn't very much in the book to support his inflated self-image. To begin with, he is obliged to admit that Nixon--like most of the American public--never stopped...
...result, the sections concerning Nixon's pre-1968 career consist of a turgid rehash of Ehrlichman's activities of a campaign advance man--events that made Ehrlichman a witness to press-plane partying but not to power. Even in his account of the Nixon presidency. Ehrlichman can't help giving the impression that he was a relatively peripheral figure For example, the first eight pages of a chapter supposedly about Nixon's political style is taken up by a story about Ehrlichman's trip to Sweden in 1972 and by the transcript of an utterly unremarkable press conference. As domestic...
...surprising, then, that Ehrlichman has to fill his pages with mere gossip from the Nixon years, items which he seems to think are "inside information." Do you know that Bebe Rebozo was "Nixon's source of undemanding mental relaxation"? Do you know that "Pat Nixon grew in her role as First Lady"? Do you know that Tricia Nixon once stuck Ehrlichman with the tab for lunch"? Do you care? And when Ehrlichman's narrative does occasionally touch on an illuminating point--like when he mentions that Nixon and Colson attempted to coerce network television executives to procure more favorable coverage...
...Witness to Power: The Nixon Years, Ehrlichman...
...Ehrlichman somewhat melodramatically recalls how the long Watergate ordeal affected him. Standing in the pilot's cabin aboard Air Force One on a trip with Nixon, Ehrlichman momentarily considered a quick solution: "I could end everyone's troubles by throwing myself against the controls, wedging myself between the pilot's control yoke and the pilot. We'd all be gone in about a minute and a half." Some of the unfortunate former officials portrayed in Witness to Power may wish that Ehrlichman had not dismissed the idea. -By Ed Magnuson