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In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate
The last untold story of Watergate--by the FBI director who maintained his silence for more than thirty years L.Patrick Gray III was the man caught in the middle of the Watergate scandal. He was a lifelong Republican, but Richard Nixon considered him a threat. Closing in on the conspiracy, Gray became the target of one of Watergate's most shocking acts--Nixon's "smoking gun" attempt to have the CIA stop the FBI investigation. And when the U.S. Senate focused its attention on Gray in April 1973, the White House threw him to the wolves; John Ehrlichman famously advised that he be left to "twist slowly, slowly in the wind."
This book is Gray's firsthand account of what really happened during his crucial year as acting director of the FBI, based on a never-before-published first-person account and previously secret documents. He reveals the witches' brew of intrigue and perfidy that permeated Washington, and he tells the unknown story of his complex relationship with his top deputy, Mark Felt, raising disturbing questions about the methods and motives of the man purported to be Deep Throat.
Gray's book was completed and expanded by his son, the journalist Ed Gray, who has supplemented the text with revelatory excerpts from documents, tape transcripts, and third-party accounts. Every other major figure has told his story, and now Patrick Gray's unique inside account will change the way we think about the crisis that destroyed the Nixon presidency.
This book is Gray's firsthand account of what really happened during his crucial year as acting director of the FBI, based on a never-before-published first-person account and previously secret documents. He reveals the witches' brew of intrigue and perfidy that permeated Washington, and he tells the unknown story of his complex relationship with his top deputy, Mark Felt, raising disturbing questions about the methods and motives of the man purported to be Deep Throat.
Gray's book was completed and expanded by his son, the journalist Ed Gray, who has supplemented the text with revelatory excerpts from documents, tape transcripts, and third-party accounts. Every other major figure has told his story, and now Patrick Gray's unique inside account will change the way we think about the crisis that destroyed the Nixon presidency.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2008
11 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Ed Gray
43 books43 followersEd Gray is a writer and editor of books, magazines, and screenplays. With his wife Rebecca Gray he has been the founder of Gray’s Sporting Journal, GrayBooks Publishers, Aisle Seat Books and Tales2Film.
He lives in Lyme, New Hampshire, just a few miles north of Dartmouth College which, as he says, “has twice claimed to have educated me.”
He lives in Lyme, New Hampshire, just a few miles north of Dartmouth College which, as he says, “has twice claimed to have educated me.”
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 28, 2025
An extraordinary book, and probably the most accurate insider account. Patrick Gray is a remarkable man and he gives a serious, detailed and corroborated account. We now know more than ever about Watergate, so my personal investigation has only begun. Stay tuned…
December 16, 2016
If nobody has done this yet, it should be done:
A cross-reference of books written by and about Richard Milhous Nixon, also tied in with official records, transcripts, notes on the bathroom wall, etc., indicating which claims in the various sources are true, false, in dispute, or otherwise occupied. Throw in films and documentaries, oral histories, etc. Everything Richard Milhous Nixon.
Creating such a database would be a massive undertaking. I’m not near smart enough to accomplish such a thing.
But it would be neat.
Why is this coming up now? Because of a number of factors:
1. I’m a rather naïve soul who typically believes anything he is told or reads. I’d like some help filtering the truth from the truthiness.
2. I’m reading L. Patrick Gray II’s “In Nixon’s Web” right now, and he takes Woodward, Bernstein, Jack Anderson, and TIME magazine to task for their inaccuracies (he’s yet to mention Seymour Hirsch* of the New York Times).
3. Mark Felt, aka “Deep Throat” comes out not as a hero, but as a skunk who tried to sink Gray for his own purposes. Don’t know whether that’s factual or not, but it’s certainly interesting to read.
4. Who trusts the CIA on ANYTHING? Not me, after reading this book.
5. It would be neat.
I could also keep track of the players, and how each source brings new dimension to their character. (Pat Gray’s book certainly adds to the deflowering, for example, of John Dean, and certainly to a diminution of my opinions of AP columnist Jack Anderson and Mark "Deep Throat" Felt.)
If anyone out there is aware of something like this, please point me in its direction. I’d love to see it.
Thinking about this also makes me want to finish editing Doleful Creatures so I can get back to The Hermit of Iapetus, which features Nixon as a hallucinatory character.
*Gray never does mention Hirsch. Whether that means he was correct all along or Gray had bigger axes to grind with other characters involved isn’t clear.
A cross-reference of books written by and about Richard Milhous Nixon, also tied in with official records, transcripts, notes on the bathroom wall, etc., indicating which claims in the various sources are true, false, in dispute, or otherwise occupied. Throw in films and documentaries, oral histories, etc. Everything Richard Milhous Nixon.
Creating such a database would be a massive undertaking. I’m not near smart enough to accomplish such a thing.
But it would be neat.
Why is this coming up now? Because of a number of factors:
1. I’m a rather naïve soul who typically believes anything he is told or reads. I’d like some help filtering the truth from the truthiness.
2. I’m reading L. Patrick Gray II’s “In Nixon’s Web” right now, and he takes Woodward, Bernstein, Jack Anderson, and TIME magazine to task for their inaccuracies (he’s yet to mention Seymour Hirsch* of the New York Times).
3. Mark Felt, aka “Deep Throat” comes out not as a hero, but as a skunk who tried to sink Gray for his own purposes. Don’t know whether that’s factual or not, but it’s certainly interesting to read.
4. Who trusts the CIA on ANYTHING? Not me, after reading this book.
5. It would be neat.
I could also keep track of the players, and how each source brings new dimension to their character. (Pat Gray’s book certainly adds to the deflowering, for example, of John Dean, and certainly to a diminution of my opinions of AP columnist Jack Anderson and Mark "Deep Throat" Felt.)
If anyone out there is aware of something like this, please point me in its direction. I’d love to see it.
Thinking about this also makes me want to finish editing Doleful Creatures so I can get back to The Hermit of Iapetus, which features Nixon as a hallucinatory character.
*Gray never does mention Hirsch. Whether that means he was correct all along or Gray had bigger axes to grind with other characters involved isn’t clear.
June 26, 2019
I had recently read A Higher Loyalty by James Comey, the true account of the Director of the FBI who was forced out of his position by a corrupt administration. I decided to read In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate by L. Patrick Gray to compare how Gray’s story compared with Comey’s story. Both were pushed out of their positions at the FBI by corrupt administrations, but the similarities end there. Comey’s book is a fascinating read, full of facts and an explanation of why he acted as he did. Gray’s book, written by his son from Gray’s notes and is not a good read. Gray was as paranoid as Nixon. He was caught in a web but was not an innocent bystander. He made critical errors which led to his downfall including burning files. Gray claims he never read then but also claims the files had nothing to do with Watergate. His paranoia exceeds belief. There are some fascinating parts of the book. But it does little to explain Watergate. There are too many good books about the subject to waste your time on this book,
June 21, 2012
In Nixon’s Web, by the late L. Patrick Gray III, with Ed Gray (his son), is another memoir by a Watergate Era figure. I hesitate to call Gray (all uses of that name will refer to the elder) a “participant,” as he was never convicted of any wrongdoing. Of course, neither was Nixon..
Many of the major figures in Watergate have written memoirs, including G. Gordon Liddy, John Dean, Jeb Magruder, Bob Haldeman, John Erlichman, Maurice Stans, Nixon himself, and quite a few others. And there are plenty of books by journalists, experts, hacks, et al. Gray has come off poorly in most accounts and set out to ‘set the record straight’ (the name of Judge John J. Sirica’s book on Watergate).
To summarize, Gray was a successful naval man, actually commanding a submarine. He went to work for Nixon, was on a successful path at the Department of Justice and was selected by the President as acting director of the FBI upon the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972. It did not turn out to be the career move that he hoped for.
It’s no surprise to find that Gray was viewed as an outsider. Several inside the Bureau hoped to take over: especially Mark Felt. Gray relied heavily upon Felt and refused to believe White House accusations that the career FBI man was actually ‘Deep Throat,’ Woodward and Bernstein’s secret informant. In fact, Felt’s revelation that he was Deep Throat came only a few weeks before Gray’s death from pancreatic cancer. The book offers “proof” that Felt could not have been the source, which is worth looking at, but not conclusive.
I believe that Felt quite likely was providing information to Woodward, and that information that the reporter received from other sources was included under the Deep Throat moniker, in addition to Felt’s stuff. Which would address Gray’s objection.
Presidential Counsel John Dean gave two files to Gray, in front of John Erlichman in the latter’s office. The files were from E. Watergate burglar’s E. Howard Hunt’s White House office safe and Dean told Gray that they contained national security information, had nothing to do with Watergate and should “never see the light of day.” Gray kept them for several months and then burned them. He felt that he had been ordered to do so with the President’s tacit approval, via Erlichman’s presence.
Gray also provided FBI files on the Watergate investigation to Dean, which he felt obligated to do since the FBI was an executive office. Dean was “the desk manager” for the cover up. Uh oh.
Unlike many of the memoirs I’ve read, Gray comes across as a man of integrity. Like other Watergate figures, he was used and tossed aside by Nixon. He was under extreme fire during his Senate Confirmation hearings to become permanent FBI director. While being told to his face that the White House supported him, behind the scenes they were stabbing him in the back. Erlichman was speaking of Gray when he said, “Well, I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind. “ In typical Nixon fashion, one of his people would be sacrificed for the White House’s own purposes.
Gray was an outsider at the FBI, dealing with the after-effects of Hoover’s reign of intimidation. And he was an outsider among Nixon’s Palace Guard, sacrificed for self-preservation. Both the Watergate Special Prosecution Force and the Department of Justice investigated Gray, but all charges were dropped and he was exonerated of any wrongdoing. But Gray’s legacy is tarnished by the accusations of John Dean and Woodward and Bernstein. He did destroy the Hunt files, which certainly appears naïve, if not an obstruction of justice. But I would believe Gray’s account of events before that of just about any other Watergate actor.
Many of the major figures in Watergate have written memoirs, including G. Gordon Liddy, John Dean, Jeb Magruder, Bob Haldeman, John Erlichman, Maurice Stans, Nixon himself, and quite a few others. And there are plenty of books by journalists, experts, hacks, et al. Gray has come off poorly in most accounts and set out to ‘set the record straight’ (the name of Judge John J. Sirica’s book on Watergate).
To summarize, Gray was a successful naval man, actually commanding a submarine. He went to work for Nixon, was on a successful path at the Department of Justice and was selected by the President as acting director of the FBI upon the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972. It did not turn out to be the career move that he hoped for.
It’s no surprise to find that Gray was viewed as an outsider. Several inside the Bureau hoped to take over: especially Mark Felt. Gray relied heavily upon Felt and refused to believe White House accusations that the career FBI man was actually ‘Deep Throat,’ Woodward and Bernstein’s secret informant. In fact, Felt’s revelation that he was Deep Throat came only a few weeks before Gray’s death from pancreatic cancer. The book offers “proof” that Felt could not have been the source, which is worth looking at, but not conclusive.
I believe that Felt quite likely was providing information to Woodward, and that information that the reporter received from other sources was included under the Deep Throat moniker, in addition to Felt’s stuff. Which would address Gray’s objection.
Presidential Counsel John Dean gave two files to Gray, in front of John Erlichman in the latter’s office. The files were from E. Watergate burglar’s E. Howard Hunt’s White House office safe and Dean told Gray that they contained national security information, had nothing to do with Watergate and should “never see the light of day.” Gray kept them for several months and then burned them. He felt that he had been ordered to do so with the President’s tacit approval, via Erlichman’s presence.
Gray also provided FBI files on the Watergate investigation to Dean, which he felt obligated to do since the FBI was an executive office. Dean was “the desk manager” for the cover up. Uh oh.
Unlike many of the memoirs I’ve read, Gray comes across as a man of integrity. Like other Watergate figures, he was used and tossed aside by Nixon. He was under extreme fire during his Senate Confirmation hearings to become permanent FBI director. While being told to his face that the White House supported him, behind the scenes they were stabbing him in the back. Erlichman was speaking of Gray when he said, “Well, I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind. “ In typical Nixon fashion, one of his people would be sacrificed for the White House’s own purposes.
Gray was an outsider at the FBI, dealing with the after-effects of Hoover’s reign of intimidation. And he was an outsider among Nixon’s Palace Guard, sacrificed for self-preservation. Both the Watergate Special Prosecution Force and the Department of Justice investigated Gray, but all charges were dropped and he was exonerated of any wrongdoing. But Gray’s legacy is tarnished by the accusations of John Dean and Woodward and Bernstein. He did destroy the Hunt files, which certainly appears naïve, if not an obstruction of justice. But I would believe Gray’s account of events before that of just about any other Watergate actor.
July 15, 2012
Yes, I have a weakness when it comes to books written by those who were involved with President Nixon generally and Watergate specifically. I find it fascinating to see how they justify their behaviour and what they think of Nixon afterward. Patrick Gray was acting director of the FBI for less than a year in 71/72 and although he is widely believed to have been part of the government's cover-up, he was never found guilty of any crime. He is one of the few that I can think of who lost complete respect for Nixon as a result of the former president's actions. He also has an interesting theory about the identity of "Deep Throat" that I had never considered.
Interesting but I get tired of the "poor me" attitude that this book has in common with all the other biographies.
Interesting but I get tired of the "poor me" attitude that this book has in common with all the other biographies.
January 28, 2022
This is a good book, a little dry but still good for anybody who enjoys learning about the Nixon years.
Having said that, I would add that Gray makes a poor case for himself. At best, he seems like an inactive, naive conspirator. He helped criminals without intending to; unfortunately. His son makes a poor case, as well, to clears his father's name. Nevertheless, this is another account from a different point of view which adds more information to the big picture.
Having said that, I would add that Gray makes a poor case for himself. At best, he seems like an inactive, naive conspirator. He helped criminals without intending to; unfortunately. His son makes a poor case, as well, to clears his father's name. Nevertheless, this is another account from a different point of view which adds more information to the big picture.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2025
In Nixon's Web gave me the most thorough understanding of Watergate and associated events that I ever had. Being 10 years old as the story unfolded, I obviously did not gave a grasp on what it all meant. The names of the players were familiar to me, now I can associate people with their significance. Mr. Gray performed a valuable service to our government, I hope there are currently those serving who are as committed to honesty.
July 26, 2017
Pretty good book. It was told by the acting FBI director at the time. Very interesting.
January 11, 2022
A little dry. But he did what he had to do. He knew who was leaking.
June 1, 2017
An interesting book to read about the acting director of the FBI at the time during the Watergate investigation. At times, the book discussed various other topics (about 15%) that weren't directly tied to Watergate. For those chapters, I tended to pay less attention since I was interested in only about Watergate.
The son wrote a couple of chapters of the book and most interesting was his analysis/opinion that Deep Throat was not real and a composite of other people. In addition, it is clear that Pat Gray and his son has true disdain for Woodward and Bernstein. It also seemed to be that Bernstein shared the same feelings towards Pat.
It seems to me that Pat Gray was an upstanding person. He never was convicted of any crime and seemed to be an honest person backed up by documents. However, it also gave me a bad impression of Mark Felt. There were some facts in the book that made Felt to be an untrustworthy person who had other motives than upholding the constitution.
This did continue to keep my interest in Watergate alive and it's always interesting to ready from a different person's perspective of their experience during Watergate.
The son wrote a couple of chapters of the book and most interesting was his analysis/opinion that Deep Throat was not real and a composite of other people. In addition, it is clear that Pat Gray and his son has true disdain for Woodward and Bernstein. It also seemed to be that Bernstein shared the same feelings towards Pat.
It seems to me that Pat Gray was an upstanding person. He never was convicted of any crime and seemed to be an honest person backed up by documents. However, it also gave me a bad impression of Mark Felt. There were some facts in the book that made Felt to be an untrustworthy person who had other motives than upholding the constitution.
This did continue to keep my interest in Watergate alive and it's always interesting to ready from a different person's perspective of their experience during Watergate.
April 26, 2008
Ed Gray, L. Patrick Gray III's son, assembled the material after his father's death. It is an extremely well documented account of 361 days from the time of J. Edgar Hoover's death and the appointment of L. Patrick Gray as Acting Director of the FBI until his resignation and withdrawal of his name from consideration for permenant director of FBI. 6 weeks after Hoover's death, the Watergate break in occurred. the 361 days saw the beginning of the end for Richard Nixon. It is astonishing and embarassing that leaders of our country are such flagrant violaters of the national trust. This book is a fine account for those of us who lived through that period. Unlikely to be of major interest to others, except historians.
Also documents that Deep Throat was probably a compliation of 2 or more sources, rather than just one. Which mean's some of "All the King's Men" mmight have been fiction.
Also documents that Deep Throat was probably a compliation of 2 or more sources, rather than just one. Which mean's some of "All the King's Men" mmight have been fiction.
July 2, 2014
This was an interesting perspective on Watergate. However, I usually do not enjoy autobiographies as the authors tend to "toot their own horns" or "grind their own ax". This book supported my opinion.
Read
February 21, 2015A different POV. Worth a read for those who can't get enough
March 31, 2017
Very sad tale of the FBI director who was thrown under the bus by some of the president's men. It seems so obvious in hindsight that he was being set up, but in life we often don't see what a mess we're in.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews