''Silent Coup'' is a book written by Len Colodny
938 - 2021and Robert Gettlin that proposed an alternate explanation for the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
that led to the 1974 resignation of US President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
. The first edition was published in 1991, followed by an expanded second edition in January 1992.
The prevailing narrative is that Nixon and his high-ranking associates covered up a 1972 break-in at the
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
(DNC) headquarters in the Watergate Hotel which had been undertaken to obtain information to be used against Nixon's political rivals. In contrast, Colodny and Gettlin contend that former
White House counsel
The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...
John Dean
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...
orchestrated the 1972 Watergate burglary. His motive was argued to have been to protect his future wife Maureen Biner by removing information linking her to a
call-girl ring that worked for the DNC. The authors also lay out a case that Nixon's Chief of Staff
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; December 2, 1924February 20, 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these c ...
was the identity of "
Deep Throat", the nickname for an important and then-unidentified source for reporter
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor.
While a young reporter for ''The Washingto ...
. Woodward, a Naval officer before becoming a reporter, had briefed Haig at the White House in 1969 and 1970 and the authors suggest that Haig was a source for the reporters. In 2005 it was revealed that FBI deputy director
Mark Felt
William Mark Felt Sr. (August 17, 1913 – December 18, 2008) was an American law enforcement officer who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1942 to 1973 and was known for his role in the Watergate scandal. Felt wa ...
was the "Deep Throat" informant who had become Woodward's key source after his partner
Carl Bernstein
Carl Milton Bernstein ( ; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for ''The Washington Post'' in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original new ...
was able to locate
hush money
Hush money is a term for an arrangement in which one person or party offers another an attractive sum of money or other enticement, in exchange for remaining silent about some illegal, stigmatized, or shameful behavior, action, or other fact abo ...
paid to the DNC burglars in Miami, Florida.
Lawsuits
In 1992 John and Maureen Dean sued
Nixon "plumber" G. Gordon Liddy
George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer, FBI agent, talk show host, actor, and convicted felon in the Watergate scandal as the chief operative in the White House Plumbers unit during the Nixon admi ...
for
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
, after Liddy sought to support the core claims in ''Silent Coup''. Liddy's testimony was the first time he spoke publicly in detail about the Watergate break-in, as he had refused to cooperate with investigators during the Watergate scandal. The libel case was dismissed without prejudice and was later refiled. In 2001 a federal judge declared a
mistrial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
after the jury was
deadlocked, and dismissed the $5.1 million defamation lawsuit.
The Deans also sued St. Martin's Press, publisher of Silent Coup. St. Martin's settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
Len Colodny also settled with John Dean, and explained that “Dean agreed to accept a settlement and sign an agreement not to sue the author again on the same grounds because he wanted to avoid a public courtroom drama.”
Although, “Colodny said he wanted the court to hear the case because he was confident that a public trial would validate his reporting.”
For his part, Dean has gone on record in the preface to his 2006 book, ''
Conservatives Without Conscience
''Conservatives without Conscience'' is a book written by John Dean, who served as White House Counsel under U.S. President Richard Nixon and then helped to break the Watergate scandal with his testimony before the United States Senate. The book ...
'', that he is "pleased" with the outcome.
In 2001, former
DNC secretary Ida Wells sued Liddy in the U. S. Federal District Court in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
on bases similar to those used by Dean. The court declared a mistrial, with judge
J. Frederick Motz stating no "
reasonable jury" could find in Wells’ favor.
[Civil Case No. JFM-97-946, "Memorandum" by District Judge J. Frederick Motz, March 19, 2001, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.]
References
External links
''Silent Coup'' website''Silent Coup'' online book''Booknotes'' interview with Colodny and Gettlin on ''Silent Coup'', August 11, 1991{{Authority control
1991 non-fiction books
1992 non-fiction books
Books about the Watergate scandal
Non-fiction crime books
Defamation