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Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years
In July 1973, for the first time in its history, the New York Times Magazine devoted a full issue to a single Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist J. Anthony Lukas’s account of the Watergate story to date. Six months later, a second installment ran in another full issue. Later the Times asked him to write a third issue, on the impeachment, which never appeared because of Nixon’s intervening resignation. But all of Lukas’s painstaking reporting on Nixon’s last months in office appears here, along with added information on every aspect of Watergate.
Widely acclaimed as a major text of the Watergate saga, J. Anthony Lukas’s Nightmare is a masterwork of investigation, highlighted by in-depth character sketches of the key players. For students of history coming to these events for the first time, this book reveals in depth the particular trauma of a nation in turmoil; for those who remember, the upheaval and what was at stake are once more brought to life.
Widely acclaimed as a major text of the Watergate saga, J. Anthony Lukas’s Nightmare is a masterwork of investigation, highlighted by in-depth character sketches of the key players. For students of history coming to these events for the first time, this book reveals in depth the particular trauma of a nation in turmoil; for those who remember, the upheaval and what was at stake are once more brought to life.
648 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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About the author
J. Anthony Lukas
16 books26 followersJay Anthony Lukas was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, probably best known for his 1985 book Common Ground : A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families a study of race relations and school busing in Boston, Massachusetts in the mid - 1970's.
Lukas began his professional journalism career at the Baltimore Sun, then moved to The New York Times. He stayed at the ''Times'' for nine years, working as a roving reporter, and serving at the Washington, New York, and United Nations bureaus, and overseas in Ceylon, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa, and Zaire. After working at the New York Times Magazine for a short time in the 1970s, Lukas quit reporting to pursue a career in book and magazine writing,
In 1997, while his final book, Big Trouble, was undergoing final revisions, Lukas committed suicide by hanging himself with a bathrobe sash.He had been diagnosed with depression approximately ten years earlier,
Bibliography information from Wikipedia.
Lukas began his professional journalism career at the Baltimore Sun, then moved to The New York Times. He stayed at the ''Times'' for nine years, working as a roving reporter, and serving at the Washington, New York, and United Nations bureaus, and overseas in Ceylon, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa, and Zaire. After working at the New York Times Magazine for a short time in the 1970s, Lukas quit reporting to pursue a career in book and magazine writing,
In 1997, while his final book, Big Trouble, was undergoing final revisions, Lukas committed suicide by hanging himself with a bathrobe sash.He had been diagnosed with depression approximately ten years earlier,
Bibliography information from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 5, 2021
For my money, the definitive chronicle of the Watergate scandal. Lukas (best-known for his Pulitzer-winning Common Ground) reworked a series of long-form articles, written as the scandal unfolded, into a comprehensive, penetrating and commendably readable narrative of Richard Nixon's downfall. Lukas avoids the psychoanalysis which often mars books on Nixon, preferring instead to sketch the atmosphere of paranoia and lust for control that animated the President long before the break-in. Hence he spends significant time probing largely forgotten addenda to the scandal (the ITT and milk price fixing cases, Jack Caulfield's surveillance of Ted Kennedy, the campaign against Daniel Ellsberg which spawned the Plumbers) to show Nixon's regime as rotten to the core. Lukas also offers deft mini-portraits of nearly every player in the drama, from the obvious (Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt, Haldeman and Ehrlichman, etc.) to lesser-known players like L. Patrick Gray, Bart Porter and Tom Charles Huston, showing the variety of personalities which enabled, abetted and amplified Nixon's misdeeds. He's as adept chronicling White House strategy and cover-ups as the machinations of Senate and House Committees, the maneuverings of special prosecutors and the press's alternately dogged and fumbling efforts to cover the scandals. Without making grandiloquent pronouncements about the State of Democracy like a Teddy White or Woodward and Bernstein, Nightmare offers an utterly damning portrait of one of America's darkest epochs, presided over by its most Machiavellian president.
February 19, 2014
During a recent current events/political conversation at a barbecue I was asked whether I had read this book. I am embarrassed to say I had never heard of it, which is odd – not the embarrassment - but my ignorance of this volume. Although not a Nixon or Watergate “expert” I have read many books on both the man and the scandal, yet somehow Nightmare slipped through the proverbial cracks. But better late than never, for this monumental work, at least in my humble opinion, is “the book” to read on Watergate – a statement I do not make lightly.
First a note on the genesis of this book. Lukas was assigned the Watergate story as it was happening and two installments appeared in the Sunday New York Times magazine. As the author was preparing the third installment – and as Congress was weighing impeachment - Nixon resigned. The author completed the final installment, combined it with the first two, and published Nightmare in 1975. Sadly Lukas committed suicide in 1997 - and Nightmare was re-released in 1999.
This is a big, dense, detailed book - yet still a page turner - even though we know the ending. The central act of Nightmare is of course the “third-rate burglary” of the Democratic National Headquarters in 1972 – and just the rehash of the incompetence and ineptitude of that little fiasco is well worth the read. Yet Lukas does not start there, but rather with Nixon’s assuming office and the environment/psychology/plans and actions which led to the break-in, i.e. the release of The Pentagon Papers, the FBI wiretaps, the “dirty tricks” and Gemstone. The narrative then follows the cover-up, the investigations, trials, hearings and finally Nixon’s resignation, i.e. the “whole story” and it’s a complicated one.
What separates this book from the others on this topic - the key to Nightmare - is its coherency. Lukas does an outstanding job in both documenting and tying together all the threads of the complicated web we now know as “Watergate” – by no means an easy task. A couple of examples for this reader include placing John Dean and his actions in the proper perspective/context as well as separating the multiple Watergate investigations.
That Nightmare was written virtually as the events chronicled were happening is amazing. Add to that very few sources in the book are unnamed. And if you are concerned that this narrative may be dated – Lukas more or less names Mark Felt as “Deep-Throat”.
Truly an outstanding book – Highly recommended.
First a note on the genesis of this book. Lukas was assigned the Watergate story as it was happening and two installments appeared in the Sunday New York Times magazine. As the author was preparing the third installment – and as Congress was weighing impeachment - Nixon resigned. The author completed the final installment, combined it with the first two, and published Nightmare in 1975. Sadly Lukas committed suicide in 1997 - and Nightmare was re-released in 1999.
This is a big, dense, detailed book - yet still a page turner - even though we know the ending. The central act of Nightmare is of course the “third-rate burglary” of the Democratic National Headquarters in 1972 – and just the rehash of the incompetence and ineptitude of that little fiasco is well worth the read. Yet Lukas does not start there, but rather with Nixon’s assuming office and the environment/psychology/plans and actions which led to the break-in, i.e. the release of The Pentagon Papers, the FBI wiretaps, the “dirty tricks” and Gemstone. The narrative then follows the cover-up, the investigations, trials, hearings and finally Nixon’s resignation, i.e. the “whole story” and it’s a complicated one.
What separates this book from the others on this topic - the key to Nightmare - is its coherency. Lukas does an outstanding job in both documenting and tying together all the threads of the complicated web we now know as “Watergate” – by no means an easy task. A couple of examples for this reader include placing John Dean and his actions in the proper perspective/context as well as separating the multiple Watergate investigations.
That Nightmare was written virtually as the events chronicled were happening is amazing. Add to that very few sources in the book are unnamed. And if you are concerned that this narrative may be dated – Lukas more or less names Mark Felt as “Deep-Throat”.
Truly an outstanding book – Highly recommended.
July 3, 2012
I first read J. Anthony Lukas’ Nightmare: The Underside of the Nixon Years, a couple of decades ago. Though details faded as I aged, I retained the impression that it was just about the best book on Watergate I had come across. With my collection now inching towards a hundred volumes, I decided to revisit Lukas’s tome and see how it actually stands up.
This book from the two time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author grew out of articles which he wrote for the New York Times Magazine (two full issues consisted of only his writings on Watergate): plus a third that was commissioned but scotched when Nixon resigned the Presidency.
Lukas sets the stage with the unsuccessful (for the Republicans) 1970 midterm elections and the state of civil unrest in Washington in 1971. Then he leads us into, and out of, Watergate.
Lukas’ comprehensive but not overwhelming look at his subject matter is well laid out, as evidenced by the chapter titles: Fear of Losing, State of Siege, Leaks and Traps, Plumbers, Dirty Money, Dirty Tricks, Break-in, Cover-up, Uncover, Houses in the Sun, Tapes, Agnew, Firestorm, Operation Candor, Impeachment and Resignation. Watergate was not simply a ‘third rate burglary.’ It was an event that grew out of the Nixon administration’s increasing combativeness and declining respect for the law.
Some books use Nixon’s flawed character development to show how the operating culture of his White House evolved. And certainly, other Watergate volumes provide information and theories not included in this book. But Lukas takes a direct path approach, from point A to point B (or to Z) and it works. By the middle of Chapter 3 (Leaks and Taps, which is about the wiretapping of employees and enemies, both real and perceived), you recognize that the Nixon White House viewed governing as one hundred percent “us against everybody who is not with us” and that the end (getting our enemies) justified the means (whatever possibly or blatantly illegal methods we used). While this is serious stuff, there are some Keystone Kops type moments: such as discovering that the Secret Service (presumably at the direction of Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman) wire tapped the President’s brother, Donald Nixon because he was a cause of embarrassment.
But things got less amusing as the paranoia and arrogance of power grew. Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh Jr. (who did jail time related to the Plumbers’ activities) is quoted in 1971 as saying, “Anyone who opposes us, we’ll destroy. As a matter of fact, anyone who doesn’t support us, we’ll destroy.” As Lukas explores the Plumbers unit and campaign finance shenanigans (that’s a soft word for unethical, illegal actions), it’s clear that the Nixon Administration has lost both perspective and any kind of moral compass (you can argue Nixon lost that years before).
Lukas’ narrative leaves the reader wondering if things would have reached such critical proportions if Henry Kissinger hadn’t convinced Nixon that the leaking of The Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg was devastating to national security; for Early on, Nixon realized that it was the prior administration of Lyndon Johnson which would look bad on Vietnam, not his. It is in the response to Ellsberg’s actions that we see the seeds of Nixon’s downfall sprout into towering trees. Though, as you dig deeper into the book, you realize Nixon’s flawed personality was as fatal as Achilles’ own heel.
The President, the Attorney General, the White House Chief of Staff, special counsels, the Domestic Policy Advisor, staffers at all levels; all the president’s men broke the law and/or acted unethically time and time again. It’s shocking to read, decades later. Lukas paints a picture of all the president’s men doing everything they could to make sure the truth of the Watergate break in did not come to light. And this was in large part due to all the other illicit and embarrassing activities that would be exposed to the light of day. And that includes his lack of ethics regarding his personal taxes and willingness to spend public money on his private properties.
Richard Nixon had three priorities, from least to greatest: the American public, the presidency and himself. Nightmare paints a vivid picture of an administration that believed it could do anything it wanted, however it wanted. After his resignation, Nixon famously said, “Well, if the president does it, then it’s not illegal.” That’s a pretty good epithet for his presidency. Nixon did not have a disdain for the law: he had an utter contempt for it. And he was willing to betray his oath of office and sacrifice the office of the President for his own interests.
If you buy into the misleading mantra, “it wasn’t so much the crime, it was the cover-up,” you need to read this book. It was a staggering combination of both. Thirty-nine years after its first publication, Anthony Lukas’ Nightmare remains perhaps the finest account of Watergate and the events surrounding it.
This book from the two time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author grew out of articles which he wrote for the New York Times Magazine (two full issues consisted of only his writings on Watergate): plus a third that was commissioned but scotched when Nixon resigned the Presidency.
Lukas sets the stage with the unsuccessful (for the Republicans) 1970 midterm elections and the state of civil unrest in Washington in 1971. Then he leads us into, and out of, Watergate.
Lukas’ comprehensive but not overwhelming look at his subject matter is well laid out, as evidenced by the chapter titles: Fear of Losing, State of Siege, Leaks and Traps, Plumbers, Dirty Money, Dirty Tricks, Break-in, Cover-up, Uncover, Houses in the Sun, Tapes, Agnew, Firestorm, Operation Candor, Impeachment and Resignation. Watergate was not simply a ‘third rate burglary.’ It was an event that grew out of the Nixon administration’s increasing combativeness and declining respect for the law.
Some books use Nixon’s flawed character development to show how the operating culture of his White House evolved. And certainly, other Watergate volumes provide information and theories not included in this book. But Lukas takes a direct path approach, from point A to point B (or to Z) and it works. By the middle of Chapter 3 (Leaks and Taps, which is about the wiretapping of employees and enemies, both real and perceived), you recognize that the Nixon White House viewed governing as one hundred percent “us against everybody who is not with us” and that the end (getting our enemies) justified the means (whatever possibly or blatantly illegal methods we used). While this is serious stuff, there are some Keystone Kops type moments: such as discovering that the Secret Service (presumably at the direction of Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman) wire tapped the President’s brother, Donald Nixon because he was a cause of embarrassment.
But things got less amusing as the paranoia and arrogance of power grew. Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh Jr. (who did jail time related to the Plumbers’ activities) is quoted in 1971 as saying, “Anyone who opposes us, we’ll destroy. As a matter of fact, anyone who doesn’t support us, we’ll destroy.” As Lukas explores the Plumbers unit and campaign finance shenanigans (that’s a soft word for unethical, illegal actions), it’s clear that the Nixon Administration has lost both perspective and any kind of moral compass (you can argue Nixon lost that years before).
Lukas’ narrative leaves the reader wondering if things would have reached such critical proportions if Henry Kissinger hadn’t convinced Nixon that the leaking of The Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg was devastating to national security; for Early on, Nixon realized that it was the prior administration of Lyndon Johnson which would look bad on Vietnam, not his. It is in the response to Ellsberg’s actions that we see the seeds of Nixon’s downfall sprout into towering trees. Though, as you dig deeper into the book, you realize Nixon’s flawed personality was as fatal as Achilles’ own heel.
The President, the Attorney General, the White House Chief of Staff, special counsels, the Domestic Policy Advisor, staffers at all levels; all the president’s men broke the law and/or acted unethically time and time again. It’s shocking to read, decades later. Lukas paints a picture of all the president’s men doing everything they could to make sure the truth of the Watergate break in did not come to light. And this was in large part due to all the other illicit and embarrassing activities that would be exposed to the light of day. And that includes his lack of ethics regarding his personal taxes and willingness to spend public money on his private properties.
Richard Nixon had three priorities, from least to greatest: the American public, the presidency and himself. Nightmare paints a vivid picture of an administration that believed it could do anything it wanted, however it wanted. After his resignation, Nixon famously said, “Well, if the president does it, then it’s not illegal.” That’s a pretty good epithet for his presidency. Nixon did not have a disdain for the law: he had an utter contempt for it. And he was willing to betray his oath of office and sacrifice the office of the President for his own interests.
If you buy into the misleading mantra, “it wasn’t so much the crime, it was the cover-up,” you need to read this book. It was a staggering combination of both. Thirty-nine years after its first publication, Anthony Lukas’ Nightmare remains perhaps the finest account of Watergate and the events surrounding it.
June 26, 2018
Of the small handful of books I've read about Richard Nixon this is the best of a good bunch. The writing is well organized, intelligent and insightful and the book thoroughly and comprehensively covers the Nixon scandals. The first several chapters are very good and the book gets better and better as the Watergate scandal heats up. Many passages felt relevant today.
It's not the easiest book to find but it's well worth the effort to get your hands on it. I borrowed the physical book from my state library system, I don't think it's available on kindle, and liked it so much I bought a copy for my home library.
I wish the book had photos, a timeline and a list of names with brief summaries of who did what. There's a lot of information packed into its 626 pages of text.
Other very good books relating to Nixon I'd recommend are All the President's Men (Woodward & Bernstein); The Final Days (Woodward & Bernstein); The Blood Telegram (Gary Bass); and Most Dangerous (Steve Sheinkin). I tried to read Nixonland (Rick Perlstein) but stopped after four chapters due to the author's overbearing and obnoxious writing style.
It's not the easiest book to find but it's well worth the effort to get your hands on it. I borrowed the physical book from my state library system, I don't think it's available on kindle, and liked it so much I bought a copy for my home library.
I wish the book had photos, a timeline and a list of names with brief summaries of who did what. There's a lot of information packed into its 626 pages of text.
Other very good books relating to Nixon I'd recommend are All the President's Men (Woodward & Bernstein); The Final Days (Woodward & Bernstein); The Blood Telegram (Gary Bass); and Most Dangerous (Steve Sheinkin). I tried to read Nixonland (Rick Perlstein) but stopped after four chapters due to the author's overbearing and obnoxious writing style.
December 29, 2020
One of the many interesting things about reading this book, 45 years after it was written, is seeing familiar names pop up (George Bush, Bob Dole, Pat Buchanan, Roger Stone, George Steinbrenner, Bob Packwood, Trent Lott, Ross Perot, Fred Thompson, Nora Ephron!) and knowing where they all end up.
But of course the actual details and timeline of everything is fascinating and still unbelievable. Even besides the Watergate bugging and burglary, there’s tax evasion, money laundering, kickbacks, misuse of taxpayer funds. Oh and kidnapping plots. And spying on a rival candidate via a double agent chauffeur.
There are a lot of names to keep track of and the timeline can be a little confusing (for me, at least). But that’s minor compared to a fascinating, comprehensive account of a paranoid, obsessed, self-deluding president and the people that enabled him.
But of course the actual details and timeline of everything is fascinating and still unbelievable. Even besides the Watergate bugging and burglary, there’s tax evasion, money laundering, kickbacks, misuse of taxpayer funds. Oh and kidnapping plots. And spying on a rival candidate via a double agent chauffeur.
There are a lot of names to keep track of and the timeline can be a little confusing (for me, at least). But that’s minor compared to a fascinating, comprehensive account of a paranoid, obsessed, self-deluding president and the people that enabled him.
July 6, 2021
This book, written shortly after Nixon's resignation, stands up so well. The author tells the story clearly, he presents mini biographies of the main characters, and he keeps his opinions to himself and just tells the story. He is an exceptional writer and I cannot think of any better book on Watergate.
It is also interesting that he comes quite close to unequivocally declaring that Deep Throat was Mark Feldt.
As with other books, there did not seem to be any way that Nixon could have survived the scandal because, as Lukas points out, there were so many horror stories that would come to light and that would imperil Nixon's presidency.
It is also interesting that he comes quite close to unequivocally declaring that Deep Throat was Mark Feldt.
As with other books, there did not seem to be any way that Nixon could have survived the scandal because, as Lukas points out, there were so many horror stories that would come to light and that would imperil Nixon's presidency.
February 11, 2019
Dense and fascinating. Parallels to today's administration abound, but the Nixon White House had its own flavor. Recommend if you're interested in the inner workings of government and want to see how the sausage is made. Not pretty.
November 12, 2010
Superb journalism. On Watergate. Written just after Nixon's resignation. Among other things, Lukas correctly identified (in 1973)) Mark Felt as being the most likely candidate for 'Deep Throat'.
May 21, 2020
Best book on Watergate, and I’ve read most of them. If you’re going to read only one, pick this one. Not too many things here are difficult to understand.
July 31, 2021
A thorough, contemporary, highly readable examination of the Nixon Administration’s misdeeds and criminal activities.
June 3, 2008
This is one of several books I read or attempted on Watergate shortly after the pardon. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to recall most of the titles or authors.
I recall this as being one of the better ones.
I recall this as being one of the better ones.
February 6, 2013
Woodward and Bernstein get all the attention nowadays, but there were other reporters working the Watergate beat, and Lukas was one of them. This book is a must-read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews