The President's Man: The Memoirs of Nixon's Trusted Aide

by Dwight Chapin

In time for the 50 th anniversary of President Nixon’s epic trips to China and Russia, as well as his incredible Watergate downfall, the man who was at his side for a decade as his aide and White House Deputy takes readers inside the life and administration of Richard Nixon. From Richard Nixon’s “You-won’t-have-Nixon-to-kick-around-anymore” 1962 gubernatorial campaign through his world-changing trips to China and the Soviet Union and epic downfall, Dwight Chapin was by his side. As his personal aide and then Deputy Assistant in the White House Chapin was with him in his most private and most public moments. He traveled with him, assisted, advised, strategized, campaigned and learned from America’s most controversial president. As Bob Haldeman’s protege, Chapin worked with Henry Kissinger in opening China—then eventually went to prison for Watergate although he had no involvement in it. In this memoir Chapin takes readers on an extraordinary historic journey; presenting an insider’s view of America’s most enigmatic President. Chapin will relate his memorable experiences with the people who shaped the Henry Kissinger, his close friend Bob Haldeman, Choi En-lai, Pat Nixon, the embittered Spiro Agnew, J. Edgar Hoover, Frank Sinatra, Mark "Deep Throat" Felt, young and ambitious Roger Ailes, and John Dean. It’s a story that ranges from Coretta Scott King to Elvis Presley, from the wonder of entering a closed Chinese society to the Oval Office, and concludes with startling new insights and conclusions about the break-in that brought down Nixon’s presidency.

Genres: History, Politics, Biography, Nonfiction, Historical, Memoir, Presidents

480 pages, Hardcover

Published February 15, 2022

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing remarkable about Dwight Chapin's The President's Man, the latest in an endless line of self-exculpating Nixon memoirs, is that it was written in 2022. Chapin served as Nixon's appointments secretary and played a supporting role in Watergate; it was he who hired Donald Segretti, his USC fraternity brother, to run "ratfucking" operations against the Democrats in the 1972 primaries. Chapin served a brief prison sentence for lying to a grand jury about his involvement in such. These bare facts are all most people need to know about Chapin, yet he burdens us with a 400+ page book that retreads familiar grievances and adds a few new ones. The book isn't completely without merit, as Chapin provides some insight into Nixon's détente initiatives, though his descriptions of the China and Moscow visits don't add a great deal to Kissinger's memoirs or other, secondhand accounts. Unsurprisingly, though, the tone is one of defiance and circuslike contortions, more cordial than Pat Buchanan or Gordon Liddy but largely the same in substance. Here, we learn that Nixon was a brilliant statesman and improbably "softhearted" in private; that Henry Kissinger was a genius who ate duck brains and groped his secretaries, which Chapin considers part of his roguish charm; that Bob Haldeman, Nixon's crewcut chief of staff, was the nicest man you'd ever meet; and so on. No doubt this is Chapin's honest assessment, but it's hard to credit against the mountain of Nixon/Watergate literature, including the White House tapes he bizarrely views as vindicating rather than damning his boss.

Unsurprisingly, Chapin is persistently blind assessing the President's flaws; just about the worst thing he can say about the Old Man is that outfitting White House police in gaudy uniforms was a mistake. Sure Nixon hated the media, but the media had a vendetta against him, Chapin dutifully parrots (like his boss, he assumes repeating this ad nauseum makes it true). Antiwar demonstrators were anti-American traitors who deserved to be roughed up by the ultra-patriotic hardhats. Nixon was hardly antisemitic, he asserts, because after all the Jews actually were out to get his boss. And bemoaning his own trial, Chapin asserts that he couldn't expect a fair verdict from a jury that was mostly Black. His comments on Watergate predictably blame some combination of John Dean, Al Haig and the CIA for framing his boss, because he just read Silent Coup last week and thinks its decades-old conspiracy theories are fresh insights. Segretti's shenanigans were no worse than Democratic prankster Dick Tuck, even though Chapin's own account makes clear that Tuck's pranks hardly matched Segretti's lawbreaking and character assassination. And so on, until we're tired of Chapin and wish he'd kept his silence. This is a book destined to be adored by Tricky Dick's remaining defenders, endured by Nixon scholars and ignored by everyone else.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book for free via Goodreads giveaway. Some elements may have changed in final publication. All opinions are my own.

I am not generally a memoir reader. I do enjoy reading about American history, especially American scandals, so when I came across a giveaway for an ARC of The President's Man last year, I entered more out of curiosity than anything else. I did not intend to win this book, and if I hadn't, it probably would have eventually gone out of my mind. It had very little fanfare - at least in my literary circles - upon publication.

I think it's important to state my credentials here, not something I usually feel necessary in reviews. But this one is a bit of a special case. I was born over 20 years after the Watergate scandal and two years after Nixon died. In high school, I did a paper in a journalism class on All the President's Men and have watched the movie three or four times since. I took AP US history and AP US government. And in college, I studied writing and worked on the editing board of school's lit magazine (which is important when we get further on in this review).
My review is two fold: on the writing and on the contents. The writing is perhaps more difficult to critique because I don't have access to a finished copy. However, I did only receive my copy the day before final publication, so I'm not confident that there were significant grammatical and stylistic edits - to the point of overhauling some chapters - before the final publication.

Coming into this book, I had no idea who Dwight Chapin is. I may have heard the name once or twice, but it never made an impression on me. While I would certainly never consider myself ignorant of US history, I can't say I am quick with names of government officials from the 1960s and 1970s without a little prompting.
My first criticism is that I did not find this book to be beginner friendly. There were a number of names dropped throughout without much context provided. To get the most out of this book, I needed to frequently Google names or ask my parents for prompting as to who any given person might be. For example, a "Senator Muskie" was name dropped around page 300. I had no context who that was, not even a first name. I needed to do some research on my own and asked my father for his input before I could understand what Chapin was talking about.
Chapin tried to use a friendly tone in his writing, more friendly in that he was telling the reader his story, I felt like I was being penalized for not knowing politicians who died ten or twenty years before I was born, let alone interested in US politics. In keeping with this tone, I felt like I was presented with several important pieces of White House policy and achievement out of order. The readers weren't given dates or time periods when many of Nixon's achievements were accomplished, so I couldn't quite figure out how every piece of history fit together.
There were a number of sentences with unclear subjects and I found them quite difficult to follow. While I can't cite specifics, I would be surprised if all of them had been changed by final pub date. The paragraph organization was also slightly erratic. Many paragraphs began with what I considered non-sequiturs, losing the initial subject after a few sentences and picking up a new idea.

In bridging between writing and content, I didn't feel there was a successful balance between Chapin discussing his personal life and role within the White House and his defense of Nixon. I felt I learned much more about Nixon than Chapin - which in its way was more interesting to me personally, but not necessarily what this book was billed as.
I also felt at times there were gaps in the story. This is partly due to the strange order of presented information, but also I think due to Chapin's goals in writing the book, which was to exonerate Nixon, rather than share his intimate personal life with readers.

As unbiased as I attempted to be when reading this book, I have to admit I am a person with my own (very strong) opinions and life experiences that led me in my reactions to this writing. And those reactions were that I found Dwight Chapin to be highly disingenuous. He had a clear agenda when writing this book and, admittedly, admirably stuck to it.
While reading, I had a difficult time understanding exactly what Chapin thought was the cause of general dislike towards Richard Nixon. From what I gathered, he believed Nixon was a man who was misunderstood and made a few vital mistakes in his life. However, I had very much trouble believing Chapin after the passages on antisemitism.
He went on to describe Nixon as a man who was very much antisemitic. Did Nixon have Jewish friends? Certainly. Did Nixon hire Jewish people to be members of his cabinet and staff? Absolutely. But having "Jewish friends" does not a not-antisemite make. (Does having gay friends or Black friends make one not homophobic or racist?) Unequivocally, Nixon spouted the most genuinely harmful, deepest held antisemitic words that any human being can speak. While I can't cite Chapin's words, I can quote the words United States President Richard Nixon himself spoke on tapes that he personally had installed in his office and used to record his own voice:
"The Jews are all over our government" - a version of both replacement theory (that Jews will replace white people) and the One World Government/Jews run the world/banks conspiracy
"Most Jews are disloyal...generally speaking, you can't trust the bastards. They turn on you." - this is a reference to the "dual loyalty" of Jews (to their home country and to Israel) which is used to keep Jewish people as "Other," as in never true citizens. It was used historically to refuse citizenship to Jews and is often used as a statement of untrustworthiness.

Richard Nixon was an antisemite. I don't know how much clearer I can make it - or, frankly, how much clearer Chapin could with his very strange and poorly chosen quotes from the Oval Office tapes.
After that, I found it very difficult to trust Chapin's judgement of situations. The holes in the narrative also became suspect. Were they the product of poor writing or deliberate withholding of facts? Did he really believe that hiring Don Segretti without directly informing the president of his hiring was entirely aboveboard or is he continuing to protect his back? More importantly, my burning question is - Why did no one know how much Segretti was being paid? Not even the man signing the cheques?! While I previously believed Watergate to be a genuine piece of election of sabotage and espionage against an opposing party, Chapin did successfully make me wonder if they were, in fact, just a bunch of bumbling fools who had no communication and accidentally committed federal crimes.
(I'm joking. They purposefully committed these acts. But Chapin's defense was less convincing and made it seem more likely they were all entirely unwitting to accidental federal crimes. Unlikely.)
Chapin also very happily admitted to crimes he was party to in prison, after his sentencing for perjury in the Watergate grand jury investigation.

Overall, I found Chapin to be a less than sympathetic character. He somewhat obviously obscures the amount of money he made after the White House - including during his nine months in prison - and tries to rest heavily on his pathos. (Another example, one grandfather dying shortly before he was brought in for initial questioning by the FBI while the second died of a heart attack the week after he was indicted.) But then he would go on to ruin it by borrowing a house from a friend in Palm Springs, being invited to dinner by Frank Sinatra and getting drunk enough to spout information to Spiro Agnew at a party, and by finding a job that paid him enough money for the entirety of his prison sentence to keep his family living in their house and afterwards keep him employed with a guaranteed income for a minimum of five years. Very pathetic, right?
(Also, what did he say to Agnew to get him to resign? I would love to have read that in the book!)
Chapin also undermined sympathy for his (very short) prison sentence by describing his extensive leisure time, robust correspondence, and frequent visits from his family. Also, how he was driven to the prison by a friend and they stopped for pancakes on the way to jail. Or how the first week he was in prison, he was able to have a picnic lunch with his wife and daughters.
He was never remorseful, questionably honest, and incredibly arrogant. Another review I read referenced his "boy's club" and I have to agree. Not only were many of his coworkers in the White House fellow members of fraternities and university organizations, so were most of the people found guilty or who pled in relation to the Watergate case.

Whatever his goal with this book, I hope Chapin feels he achieved it.
Is this book the "final word" on Watergate, so to speak? From a member of the administration, more than likely. However, I cannot help but think on Watergate: A New History which was released, I am certain not coincidentally, on the exact same date.
Do I feel Nixon was redeemed? No. Not in the slightest. Chapin spends time worrying over the explicit language on the tapes and not nearly enough considering the deeply hurtful antisemitic rhetoric Nixon is happy to shout about any Jewish person who did not vote for him. If that's not antisemitism, I don't know what is. I couldn't care less how much he swears, but if he, as the president of the country I live in, would care less for my well-being as a Jew if I didn't vote for him than I did, then I cannot foresee a world where I could be convinced.
Do I think Chapin was guilty of the crimes he was convicted of? Yes. He can spout all he wants, but on at least one count, in a roundabout way, Chapin did admit to lying on the stand. His definition and mine of lying may be different, but I have a feeling my idea is more aligned with the courts than his.
And, finally, would I recommend this book? To that, I say, it really depends on who asks. It took me months of reading and researching and note-taking to finish this book and write this review. I'm interested in Watergate, but it's not something I have an encyclopedic knowledge of. That would certainly be useful when reading this book. If you know more than me and want a further view of Watergate? Sure. But this is not the book for beginners. This is for die-hard Watergaters who just want to read everything about it.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about Dwight Chapin who served Richard Nixon in many capacities over a period of many years. In President Nixon's White House years, Dwight served as his personal aid and Deputy Assistant. This book gives a great behind the scenes look at the political and personal events during those years.The helped me to learn a lot I did not know and remembered things that had been pushed to the back of my memory. It helped me to remembered the number of incredible things President Nixon accomplish in his Presidency. This is a wonderful book. I won this book in a GoodReaads Giveaway.

[Steve Peifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s almost hard to believe that this book is this bad; he had half a century to learn what happened and grow up. Instead, we get lots of the ‘demonstrators made the war go longer because they thwarted the secret plan. The left did that because they hated America and hated Nixon.’

It’s such nonsense but it was almost worth it to hear his anguish at being fired and telling his readers ‘I did nothing wrong’ seemingly dozens of times.

He had the chance to give us a nuanced look at Nixon. What we got was a toady doing what he does best.

It’s full of lies and a cluelessness that is almost believable because of the utter stupidity of the author.

[Pamela Beckford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really mixed feelings about this memoir. It is quite obvious that Chapin is more than a devoted follower of Nixon - he evidently thought Nixon was the greatest man to walk the earth. And it becomes evident that he has little regard for some of the others in the White House at the time, particularly John Dean. He took the fall for Watergate and went to prison. He acts as if he isn't bitter, but I think he is still today. The stories he tells about going to China and other duties are fascinating though. The book is told well, but his finger pointing about Watergate just didn't sit well with me.

[Xenophon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dwight Chapin's book is the latest and maybe prove to be the last consequential Nixon Whitehouse memoir to drop. This makes the book historically significant in its own right as it's a sincere memoir instead of a tell-all cash grab, feeding off the carcass of waning fame.

The book is, above all else, immersive. Chapin was a "Field Man" in Nixon's '62 bid for California Governor. That term has warped into "Field Director" and later "Field Organizer," but the principles remain the same. He then graduated from field to advance, from advance to advertisement, from advertisement to Nixon's '68 campaign from the '68 campaign to White House staff (personal assistant, scheduler, advance, TV ops, etc). A bright, DC career path was thrown off the rails by Watergate and a stay in Lompoc penitentiary. He then spent most of his professional life in business, culminating in taking a leading role in restoring the Nixon library.

Chapin takes you through every step and gives an amazingly detailed and straightforward account relying on copious documents, pictures, and recollections of other staffers. There are, no doubt, a lot of things Chapin has forgotten in the last half-century, so this book is a testimony not only to his memory but also his research ability and honesty.

This is not a Nixon biography. You won't come away knowing a whole lot about the man, but the details as observed from a junior staffer are unique and priceless to anybody reasonably well-read in the administration.

Which brings me to the true protagonist of the book- the Nixon admin and its dramatis personae. Read this and you'll get a really cool understanding of how his staff operated. How their operation enabled his Presidential accomplishments (some of them I wouldn't call successes) and famous failure at Watergate.

This book is a page-turner with history pulsing throughout and a great window into how the Silent Generation saw things. The one odd thing keeping this really good book from being a great book is how Chapin provides a warts-and-all picture of Nixon and his staff, but hardly takes a page or two to speculate on the policies and their implications. You get to see a part of how the sausages were made, but don't get to taste the final product. Perhaps those accomplishments had implications on how things operated (they often do).

If Goodreads allowed me to give this 4.5 stars I would. The President's Man is an important book and deserves to be read by anybody interested in American history. It's essential for those who want to understand the Nixon administration.

I'm going to respond to some other reviewers- Dwight Chapin protests his innocence a number of times in the book, but not obnoxiously so. He makes a VERY good case for himself. He's also pretty open about his flaws and what he did wrong. If only we all could age so gracefully.

This is also clearly not a Nixon hagiography. Yes, he looms large, but Chapin is very critical of him at certain points. Nixon was a tragic titan of a man who possessed great ability, an unrelenting work ethic, and a sincere desire to serve others. That is what makes his fall fascinating and somewhat mystifying half a century later. Chapin relished his front row seat looking back. Who can blame him?

[Erin Matson · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for a song of praise for Richard Nixon, with glowing reviews from Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich on the back cover, then right-hand man Dwight Chapin’s memoir might be for you. (Why the allegedly progressive Morning Joe program features Mr. Chapin as a commentator, where I first learned of this book, offers its own abyss of disappointment.)

Dwight Chapin was the first to go to prison for Watergate, and still claims he’s innocent. He says he had no idea. Throughout The President’s Man, he minimizes the “dirty tricks” he hired out for and oversaw, always naming them after a Democratic operative to rebrand his enemy when discussing the subject of his Republican dirty tricks. See what he did there?

In the acknowledgements section, he for the first time acknowledges his ghostwriter, David Fisher. Mr. Fisher, however, is not listed as an author on the book jacket or title page.

Mr. Fisher’s pen is most evident during this bit about a trip to China, with a sudden departure from the largely introspective-less voice through much of the rest of the book. I think this was Mr. Fisher’s gift to all of us readers who see through Mr. Chapin’s know-nothing bullshit about Watergate:

“Peking duck was served, the entire Peking duck. The head had been split in half, exposing the duck’s brain. In China this was considered a delicacy, so sharing it was a gesture of friendship and respect. Chou put the right side of the split head on Henry’s plate and the left side on my plate. I stared at it, trying to figure out how to avoid eating it without insulting our host. There are psychologists who will tell you people blank out when faced with a stressful situation. That’s the only excuse I have for not remembering what I did. I literally have never been able to remember how I got out of that situation without embarrassing anyone. I may have eaten the duck brain. I don’t know. Nor do I know how Henry survived it.”

The embellishments served aside the Peking duck may be how the ghostwriter survived writing down the evasions voiced by Dwight Chapin. They were certainly how I survived reading them.

[WM D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The president’s man was a good book. The book examines the relationship between Dwight Chapin and President Nixon and how he became the person he is now. A must read for anyone who likes non fiction

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find this a very strange book. It's easy-to-read, and the sections on the trip to China and the Soviet Union are first class work, told from a unique point of view. But the unquestioning loyalty to Nixon, and the strange, dissonant look back at Watergate and its consequences feel so out of synch that I can't decide if I was reading an archetype of cognitive dissonance. It was certainly never boring, but the experience of Dwight Chapin and his times feels positively alien: a world of super-masculine, super-hetero WASPy frat boys that seems like ancient history. This is definitely not a book in my wheelhouse, but I'll always cherish the travelogue sections.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that this was a fun and fascinating read. With that being said, Dwight Chapin is full of crap. You obviously go into the book expecting it to be self-aggrandizing; however, nothing is ever Chapin’s fault. He was simply an innocent bystander in one of the most complicated modern political scandals. In some ways this almost made it more fun to read.

The information about his pre-Watergate life and political involvement was very interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the read. Just go into the book expecting it to be biased and you will be good.

[Julie-Anne Borgias · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting, especially re opening doors to China at time etc.

[Joseph Kinsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is primarily valuable for its behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Richard Nixon. There's not much in the way of genuine insights, but the picture Chapin paints of Nixon is an intriguing part of the puzzle.

Of course, Chapin is a self-admitted Nixon loyalist, so his book is definitely biased in favor of Nixon. Still, Chapin does give an honest portrait of the Nixon White House, and offers some minor criticisms of all the major players along the way, including Nixon himself.

The structure and organization of the book are a bit haphazard, with lots of chronological and thematic jumps within chapters, where a new subject is picked up with no real transition. I suspect this originates in the indexing method employed by the ghostwriter, in which Chapin's interviews are polished and reorganized into thematic chunks. The other byproduct of this method is the repetition of certain sentences and quotations in two different places, often verbatim. However, one quote from Chapin's ex-wife about John Dean is repeated in two places, with slightly different wording. This makes the book seem a little sloppy, which is par for the course with these type of ghostwritten books.

In the end, the book offers a fascinating glimpse into the Nixon White House, with lots of great stories and some great pictures too, many of which I've never seen before. A must read for any fan of the era, although be warned that Chapin's political insights are not too deep (for example, his comments on the Vietnam War essentially parrot the Nixon administration's position from 1969-1970).

[Janecope · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the title, you can tell this will be a "pro-Nixon" book. So, if you're looking for juicy scandal or political dirt, you won't find it here. Instead you'll find a story of being on the inside, but not knowing all of what was inside.

History is rarely black and white. Most of history is varying shades of gray. To understand Watergate or the Richard Nixon presidency, if that is at all possible, it's important to read different viewpoints. Chapin's memoirs are obviously different from most of the books about Nixon. Chapin tells his story of becoming involved in politics at an early age, being mentored by Haldeman, and being swept up in Nixon's political career. It's a story of someone who drank the Kool-Aid, if that's your perspective. Or the cautionary tale of a young man caught up in a political, media storm that spiraled out of control, if that's your perspective.

Much of the book is not about Watergate. Chapin spends much of the book describing his role in Nixon's political campaigns, as well as life in the White House. Familiar names are mentioned. To Chapin's credit, he does not trash anyone. Disagree with, have less respect for, yes. But rage against, no.

To me, the book's highlight was the description of the trip to China, "The week that changed the world."

Whatever you think of Nixon or Watergate or Vietnam, for that matter, it's worth reading.

[David Allen Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read over 100 books on the mysterious dark man who was Congresssman, Senator, Vice President, and President Richard Nixon, a man unable to conquer his own demons, yet who made more consequential impact on foreign, domestic, national security and economic policy than any president in history. In many ways the world America lives in today-- an economy of fiat currency not based on the gold standard; a defeated Soviet Union; an adversary whom we yet have diplomatic and economic relations with in China; defense of Israel central to our Middle East foreign policy; Cabinet seceretaries second place to White House Staff and Advisors; a federal Environmental Protection Agency-- these are all policies of Richard Nixon that continue to serve as the basis of American government and politics today, a half-century later. And yet Nixon would ultimately be forced to resign or face certain impeachment and removal over trivial--and unnecessary--political spying and a botched attempt to safeguard the illegal release and publication of the "Pentagon Papers" about the origins of the Vietnam War--as diplomats were trying to end the war and Americans were still dying every day. In the end he made it easy for his liberal elite adversaries in the media, State Department and Democrat Party to destroy him, aided and abetted by a political FBI that we continue today to struggle to control. How a man so brilliant in policy so ineptly poltically destroyed himself is a mystery no one may ever really come to understand.

Most of the books on Richard Nixon try to explain Nixon's biography; try to explain his policies, foreign, domestic and economic, or focus relentlessly on the overblown yet ultimately politically fatal Watergate scandal. Or are by his aides or staff trying to show how important they were or trying to avoid blame for the Watergate scandal that ended in him resigning the presidency. This important new memoir by one of Nixon's young personal aides, Dwight Chapin, is different, and an important and vital contribution to understanding Nixon, because Chapin was a personal political aide rather than a public, economic, or foreign policy manager. So Chapin's account provides almost unique insight into Nixon the man.

Unlike most of the others around Nixon who sought policy influence or raw political power for themselves, Dwight Chapin was devoted to serving Nixon as a personal political aide. It seems policies little interested Chapin; what interested Chapin was helping Nixon to succeed in what Nixon wanted to accomplish. And so instead of discussion and debate about policy or promoting or defending themselves, Chapin relates a tale simply of how he tried to help Mr. Nixon suceed as a politician and political leader.

Because Nixon was so introverted and private, few people got to see him up close and come to undertand him as a person the way Chapin did. Chapin relates personal tales and tidbits that reek of truth and sincerity and don't always promote Chapin or Nixon in the best light, which I think makes them very authentic. I've read so many books on Nixon and still learned a lot reading Chapin, things I didn't read anywhere else, but which seemed true. To this end, The Presidents Man makes an important contribution to a better understanding of Nixon the man.

Sadly though as the Nixon Administration goes on, Chapin becomes more emeshed like most of the other young aides. Nixon becomes so removed from his own staff, spending hours each day in a private office, alone and isolated, writing and "thinking" that the ambitious young aides, not kept in check, begin to over-reach and consume themselves, and ultimately, Nixon. That is the true story of "Watergate."

We see Nixon's over-reaching Chief of Staff and other chief aide, John Erlichman and Bob Hadleman, bullying Chapin, evidently jealous of his access to their more and more isolated president. While Chapin clearly has nothing at all to do with the "Watergate" affair, where out of control aides hired burglars to break into the Democratic Party headquarters, who were caught red-handed, then Nixon and his staff were implicated in trying to cover up the crime, Chapin nonetheless went wrong.

A man named Don Segretti had been hired by the 1972 Nixon reelection campaign to play "dirty tricks" on the opposing campaign. Chapin claims in this book he hired Segretti then ignored the reports Segretti sent Chapin about his work. The Watergate Special Prosecutor later convicted Chapin for perjury and he spent a few months in jail. In general, Chapin comes across honest in his book except for this part. I didn't believe his account of the Segretti matter for 2 reasons: he says he alone hired Segretti, yet no where else, at no other time, does Chapin play a role in hiring anyone for the administration or the campaign. And if he hired Segretti during a campaign to do the dirty tricks on the Democrats, at a time when Chapin was trying to move up in the Nixon organization, does it really make sense he would ignore the reports Segretti sent him? In the end, Chapin paid the price for his involvement, and I am sorry but his explantion of his role in the Segretti matter just doesn't make any sense here.

What is reinforced here is that while Nixon himself made many mistakes with Watergate, the self-serving White House attorney John Dean was a key part, if not the key part, of the errors of Watergate; there was a conspiracy against Nixon by the liberal DC media and establishment elites who wanted to fight his changes at all costs; and they were aided and abetted by Mark Felt, the infamous "Deep Throat" source who unethically and illegally leaked investigative information to the Washington Post and other sources during the on-going investigation after Nixon did not appoint him FBI Director, but who was never prosecuted for his misconduct.

After prison, Chapin continued a long career as a political and communications advisor though he never returned to the same kind of work he did for Richard Nixon.

Among the hundreds of books on Richard Nixon, this one by Chapin makes an important and somewhat unique contribution to a better understanding of how Nixon personally operated, and gives insight into how that introverted conduct helped lead to his downfall.

[Sol · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The President's Man" was, in all honesty, a hardly believable book in both its cluelessness, its justification of any and all events related to Nixon, and its unimaginative and bland view of Nixon. Dwight Chapin instead of giving a new or even personal view of Nixon instead spends most of the book promoting and praising Nixon in a worshipful way that's more creepy and cultish than believable. Ranting about his innocence and conspiratorial ravings about thwarting these dire threats upon the government via communism. Chapin also went through pains to defend every single decision made by Nixon's presidency by ignoring or waving away anything even slightly contradictory to the great image of Nixon.
Summing it up, I was sorely disappointed, for die heart supporters of Nixon this is your book. For anyone else, it is not worth the read, you would get better and less biased information reading a Wikipedia article.

[Jason Neff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts at 5 stars for the inside look at the Nixon administration from one of his top aides.

Loses a star for mediocre quality of writing (it was ghostwritten, and not exceptionally well).

Another star lost for two key story weaknesses:

First, the obfuscation surrounding his personal life. With around 100 pages left (if I remember), he casually mentions that he divorced...a fact that is somewhat shocking because up to that point the reader is led to believe he has somewhat of a "storybook" marriage with his high school sweetheart, with two daughters and no mention of any friction. With something like 50 pages left, he spends less than half a page discussing his divorce after 30 years of marriage. Perhaps 20 pages later, he makes this cryptic reference to a former secretary "re-entering his life" in 1990...and even though he won't directly say it, it seems he marries this woman and has kids with her (to whom he is still married). A careful reader can discern this former secretary "re-enters his life" (presumably romantically)...3 years prior to his divorce...since he married his first wife in 1963 (per the date in the caption below his wedding picture in the photos at the center of the book). One might then reasonably wonder whether his marriage ends because...he had an affair with his former secretary? The reader has to guess at this since the author doesn't discuss it and uses all kinds of vague language surrounding these events. Again, this is a surprising and whitewashed aspect of the story... given a marriage that survived 100-hour on-call workweeks with the administration and later a 9-month prison sentence and associated press barrage but couldn't survive the following 15 years of what would seem relative peace and quiet. The [sudden] opacity of his personal life near the end of the book is somewhat ironic given he is trying to sell the reader a story, at least in part, that Nixon and his team got a raw deal with regard to a political scandal involving an alleged cover-up (a view to which I am sympathetic).

Second, Chapin's relationship with his mentor Haldeman (Nixon chief of staff) is overwrought and just a bit weird.

My guess is that there are better "insider" books on Nixon out there. Although I was entertained and somewhat informed, I'd skip this one and find the others. Another book I'm just finishing, Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Nixon and Reagan (Ken Khachigian) is far, far better - more forthright and mature - although that one straddles two administrations and spends more time on Reagan.

[Robert K · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1998 to 2006, I had the privilege of representing for Questar Gas, a member of the American gas Association AGA. During that period, I came to know Dwight Chapin, who worked for a New York State natural gas utility, Niagara Mohawk during our weekly meetings at The Hall of the States the AGA headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Of course I knew who Dwight Chapin was from the Watergate Scandal; from his involvement with President Nixon as his appointment secretary, The same high-level job held later by Dave Fisher during the Reagan administration.

Dwight was a delightful man & fun to be around. When I heard he had written a book about his days with Richard Nixon, I immediately bought it.

As a man whose teen age years were immersed in the Nixon Presidency, I relished gaining Dwight’s perspective. The book did not disappoint. From the time he was hired by H.R. Bob Haldeman in 1962 through the first Nixon campaign, his presidency, including Vietnam, opening up China, Detente with the Russians & Watergate, Chapin’s book is one I could not put down. As a supporter of President Nixon who has never fully understood why this scandal was not crushed early on by Nixon & instead was allowed to fester & bring him down, Dwight does a great job of answering many of my questions. I was grateful that he finally exposed John Dean for the phony, I always suspected he was & is.

I highly recommend this book for a clean perspective on Dwight Chapin.

[Chad Manske · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible and fascinating insider’s view of the Nixon White House. Dwight Chapin was Deputy Advisor and by his side for a decade to Nixon, beginning well before his presidency through the early hard years when most considered Nixon’s political clout expired. Chapin was loyal and hard working; a protege under Bob Haldeman, we read how hard driving the mentor was amidst heavies like Henry Kissinger, Erlichman, John Dean, J Edgar Hoover, and the spurned Spiro Agnew. Chapin planned (or at least tried to because the other side was always changing the itinerary), the historic trips to both China and the Soviet Union 50 years ago. We also read of an enigmatic President that, despite close advisors, often kept details close to his chest. Chapin would be indicted by the Watergate Grand Jury, despite not being guilty or complicit in the details regarding the break in, and eventually serve 9 months at minimum security Lompoc in California. Nixon, ever the teacher, was a master of politics imparting lessons to the young staffer (Chapin was in his late 20s when he started), and learned to never repeat a mistake twice. Intriguing and page turning, numerous stories include the likes of Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Coretta Scott King. This will go down as among the best of the Nixon Presidency memoirs.

[Mariah Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting in many spots and I learned quite a bit about Nixon and his administration. I felt this book could have used one more good edit because there were many parts that were mentioned in multiple spots and could have been taken out. It was easy to see the authors reverence for the White House and the President but his inability to see anything negative in the presidents actions was hard to fathom. Also his naïveté in the amount of legal trouble he was facing at the time was hard to understand. I also felt bad for his wife and children throughout the book because until the last few chapters they were rarely mentioned and he spent so little time at home.
It was interesting seeing the documents at the end and I think it is important to note that little of this pertains to Watergate and the fall of the administration and what is there is not well researched. There were so many names during that part it was easy to get lost.

I won the book in a giveaway from goodreads.

[Mike Medeiros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Mr Chapin admittedly didn't "write" the book I do (as a Nixon obsessive) enjoy reading and hearing from those that were on the inside. Of course his high praise for the 37th President in his biased position is understandable. But he still has plenty of insight and details of crucial events like both the China and Russia trips.
The only issue I had was with his theory that the anti-Vietnam protestors prolonged the war. I won't go on a rant about it here but trust that I was talking back to the book on those occasions.
There are only a handful of Nixon administration members who are still alive since they were mostly in their 20's when they worked in the White House. And though I disagree with his take on things then ( and now through his Twitter feed) I still appreciate his addition to the historical record.

[Earl Ecklund III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dwight Chapin's memoir is a wonderful addition to the literature on Richard Nixon and his presidency. Chapin served as Nixon's appointments secretary and later headed up the advance planning on Nixon's historic trip to China as well as the 1972 US/USSR Moscow summit. Chapin gives great insight into how Nixon's presidency was run and into Bob Haldeman who was Chapin's close friend and boss.
The chapters on the China trip are some of the most fascinating in the book, filling in great detail about the planning that led up to the trip as well as how the trip itself unfolded. Chapin doesn't spent as much time on Watergate largely because he was not directly involved in it, however he does make a strong case that John Dean's role in the scandal was much bigger than Dean himself has admitted to. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Nixon's presidency.

[Danny Theurer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly, this book left me quite sad. The promise of this book (a special look at both the life of a presidential aide and a fresh set of eyes on historical events) was offered by Chapin in what should've carried the entire book...but one just cannot overlook the painful pro-Nixon spinning (I found the attempt to wallpaper over Nixon's comments on "the Jews" quite the feat of linguistic acrobatics) and the insistence that the consequences related to his own involvement in the "dirty tricks" launched from the Nixon sphere as undeserved and purely political. Have some remarkable accomplishments by Nixon been overlooked because of Watergate? Absolutely, and I felt like Chapin did shed some helpful light on those feats. However, this reader found Chapin's attempts at validation and justification a bridge too far.

[Ricky · Rating 5 out of 5]

What incredible insight to a fascinating president, Richard Nixon, by one of his my closest aids. Staffers see the real person in a candidate/elected official, this book give a whole new dimension of President Nixon as a human being and not just “Watergate”. If you want to read behind the scenes of politics, a campaign, and then the inner workings of working at the White House, this book is it.

I have always been a fan of President Nixon, but the media has tried to remove all of his accomplishments and make him the big bad villain of American politics. This book will show Nixon’s political savy, his true nature among family and friends, and his work ethic. Many historians will look upon this work and have to rethink how history will eventually judge Richard M. Nixon.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Surprisingly interesting portrayal of Nixon by his aide Dwight Chapin who while clearly a Republican, is frank, and describes the good and bad. He highlights Nixon’s political acumen and pragmatism. For instance, the opening up of China — Nixon recognizes with a billion people, “we simply cannot afford to leave China forever outside the family of nations… in angry isolation” and that he is changing the geopolitical balance of the world. In short, they need to figure out a way to work together. V prescient— “we are going to China because in 50 years we will be adversaries and we must be able to talk to one another.”

Watergate and the Vietnam War—all fascinating.

Distortions of his record (7% of tapes condensed), personality, press hostility

[Asuka · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The President's Man: The Memoirs of Nixon's Trusted Aide" by Dwight Chapin offers a captivating and insightful glimpse into the inner workings of the Nixon administration. Chapin, as a close confidant of the President, provides a unique perspective on key events and decisions during a pivotal period in American history. His memoir is written with a clear and engaging style, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at the political maneuvering and challenges faced by the President's team. While the book reflects Chapin's loyalty to Nixon, it also presents a nuanced portrayal of the complexities within the administration. Overall, "The President's Man" is a worthwhile read for those interested in political history and the intricacies of presidential leadership.

[Sharon Shirlen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dwight Chapin gives an intriguing account of his years working with President Richard Nixon. Chapin makes us see how brilliant Nixon was...Nixon's trips to opening relations with China, and
the SALT agreement with the Soviet Union were two of the historic events that made me realize that Nixon indeed was a great president. Watergate was an unfortunate event that derailed this presidency--I was also surprised to read Chapin's account of who really was guilty in the cover-up and who was innocent.

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an apology for Nixon and his administration, making the case that they were all good people doing the best they could for the country, caught up in a political witchhunt. It also makes the case that Nixon would have ended the Vietnam War earlier if only the anti-war protesters would have shut up and gone away. Its revisionist history at its most revisionist and while I am not someone who paints Nixon as completely evil, this takes the case too far. There is no remorse or acceptance of responsibility by the author. It's a frustrating read.

[Jon Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

For awhile I considered giving this book 3 stars. However, it has a strong ending. With little knowledge of watergate I was expecting that to be the crux of the book. Yet, Dwight goes more broad and shares his overview of Nixon and his life lessons from being a Nixon man. It turned into a good honest review of Nixon that is contrary to how the media portray watergate.
I liked hearing the other side of the story.
4 Stars

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any memoir from the Nixon administration, it is written entirely to downplay the role the author served. They found you guilty of perjury, man. Still maintains that Nixon and Haldeman did nothing wrong. Nevertheless, a decent read. I honestly still can't really describe his role in the White House (it had to be more than just making the daily schedule and planning big trips, right?) but now I know a bit more about him other than "the guy who hired Segretti".

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed this book. As someone who is intrigued by the Nixon White House, the book was well written by Chapin.

I did think it was interesting how devoted Chapin still is to President Nixon, even after taking the two and going to prison for Watergate.