Word: sirica
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...drama was a profound affirmation of the faith that the Declaration of Independence places in ordinary citizens. For him, "the most moving scene" occurred when Watergate grand jurors-"a fair cross section of men and women, black and white"-were polled one at a time by Judge John J. Sirica about whether they wished to subpoena the taped conversations of President Nixon. "I wondered whether they would stand firm. Each one did. Now suppose Roger Sherman had walked into that courtroom at that time. Would he not have said, 'This is just the way it should happen. Here...
...narrative focuses on how he and the other top advisers, aided and abetted by speechwriters and lawyers, handled the special prosecuters, the House Judiciary Committee, Judge Sirica, and the press. The Congressional leadership, Kissinger, the Nixon family, and, yes, Bebe Rebozo, all have their parts, but since the book is mostly written from the perspective of the inner circle they are treated most often as "problems." As it turns out, no one--not even Haig--knew from one minute to the next what to do. Nixon, with his boundless capacity for self-delusion, was in no position to direct...
...spectacle of Watergate unfolded before our eyes two years ago--in court appearances, press conferences and Congressional committee investigations--it was gripping enough to require no dramatization. With the cynicism of hindsight, we may realize now that Sam Erwin was a bucket of North Carolina hogwash and John Sirica less than a man on a white horse and Sam Dash far from the best lawyer around. But at the time, events needed neither the sugaring of attractive personalities like Dustin Hoffman's nor the spicing of palace corrider gossip such as we taste in The Final Days...
...kept insisting, right to the end. At one point, at the request of the special prosecutor, Federal Judge John J. Sirica had ordered the White House to produce a Dictabelt that Nixon claimed to have made to summarize a meeting with his estranged counsel, John Dean, on April 15, 1973. Nixon, who apparently had never made the recording, asked one of his lawyers: "Why can't we make a new Dictabelt?" The lawyer was understandably appalled that Nixon, himself an attorney, would consider concocting evidence for the court...
...everyone to learn a lesson, to understand that this was not just two young reporters from the Post, but that it took tremendous drive from a lot of people to bring it into the open--and that the investigation still would have fallen on its tail without John Sirica. I like to think that this book is something beyond just today, because I've tried to put a current topic into the perspective of American history and government...