The Final Days
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''The Final Days'' is a 1976
non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
book written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about 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 ...
. A follow-up to their 1974 book '' All the President's Men'', ''The Final Days'' concerns itself with the final months of the
Presidency of Richard Nixon Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
including battles over the Nixon White House tapes and the
impeachment process against Richard Nixon The impeachment process against Richard Nixon began in the United States House of Representatives on October 30, 1973, following the series of high-level resignations and firings widely called the "Saturday Night Massacre" during the course o ...
.


Background and writing

Not long after the
resignation of Richard Nixon Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
in August 1974, Woodward and Bernstein took a leave of absence from ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' in order to begin work on the book. They originally intended to cover just the last hundred days of the Nixon presidency but then expanded it further back. They hired two research assistants, Scott Armstrong and
Al Kamen AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...
, and among them they interviewed 394 people involved in the tale. People were anxious to talk in an effort to get their (sometimes self-serving) perspective on the events included in the narrative, and almost all of the sources were promised anonymity in return. In this way, Woodward and Bernstein constructed a fly on the wall type narrative of the events in question.Marshall, ''Watergate's Legacy and the Press'', p. 114. While the book was being written, there were some intimations that it was going to be a "blockbuster" in terms of content, but Woodward demurred, saying instead that it would be "a book of a hundred small surprises." According to Jon Marshall's 2011 retrospective look at Watergate and the press, although Bernstein got co-equal credit on the cover, he in fact did relatively few interviews and not only less of the writing than Woodward, but also less than either Armstrong or Kamen. (It could also be noted that Woodward wrote the foreword to Marshall's book.) As noted in the book's foreword, all the information and scenarios depicted were taken from interviews with 394 people who were involved. The content of the interviews was considered on the record, but the identity of the sources remained confidential. Every detail was thoroughly checked, and any information that could not be confirmed by two separate accounts was left out of the book. In an example of the book's approach,
J. Fred Buzhardt Joseph Fred Buzhardt Jr (February 21, 1924 – December 16, 1978) was an American attorney and public servant. He is best known for serving as special White House Counsel to Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Previously he had served as Ge ...
co-operated with Woodward and Bernstein during the research for the book, by sitting for eight "extensive" interviews. One person was interviewed as many as 17 times.


Promotion and the ''Newsweek'' excerpts

Release of the book was preceded by the publishing of excerpts in ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' magazine, which included a number of the authors' more vivid narrations. (At the time, ''Newsweek'' was owned by The Washington Post Company.) At the same time, revelations from these excerpts appeared in many newspaper stories. Two revelations that caught the most attention regarded Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
. One was the disparaging comments about Nixon that Kissinger supposedly made to his staff, such as a reference to "our meatball President." The other, which received even more attention, was a memorable August 7, night-before-resignation-announcement scene with the president, in which a sobbing Nixon asked Kissinger to kneel and pray with him in the
Lincoln Sitting Room The Lincoln Sitting Room is a small sitting room located next to the Lincoln Bedroom on the second floor of the White House. It was used as the White House telegraph room from 1865 to 1902 (until the West Wing was built). It is furnished in Vi ...
, with Nixon ending up curled on the floor, beating the carpet with his fist whilst bemoaning his fate. The sensational nature of some of the excerpts brought significant criticism. Other items revealed by the excerpts included Nixon's deteriorating mental state, fears among his sons-in-law that he posed a possible danger to himself, Nixon's strong strain of anti-Semitism, and that the president and First Lady
Pat Nixon Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (''née'' Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as Second Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 wh ...
were estranged and had been for some time. The promotion was effective: this issue of ''Newsweek'' became the fastest selling one in the magazine's history. The debate over these particular incidents colored much of the subsequent reaction to the book.


Content

The book contains two parts, with twenty chapters. The first carries on from where ''All the President's Men'' leaves off, in particular from April 30, 1973, when John Dean, the
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 ...
, was fired, and brings the narrative through developments of later in 1973 and then up to late July 1974. Part II consists of a day-by-day account of the title-referenced final days, beginning with "Wednesday, July 24" and continuing through "Friday, August 9". There is also a Cast of Characters at the beginning, starting at Robert Abplanalp and finishing with
Ronald L. Ziegler Ronald Louis Ziegler (May 12, 1939 – February 10, 2003) was the 13th White House Press Secretary and Assistant to the President, serving during United States President Richard Nixon's administration. Early life Ziegler was born to Louis Danie ...
, and a Chronology at the end, running from November 5, 1968 through August 9, 1974. Both are intended to help the reader keep the complex chain of events and people in mind. As published by
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
, the book contained some photographic illustrations and cost $10.95. After it became the fastest selling book in the publisher's history, the price was raised to $11.95, supposedly to defray paper costs and, in the publisher's words, as part of "maintaining priority press time so that tcan get on press before other books."


Critical response

Reviews of the book focused both on the disclosures within it and the methods by which it was written. Regarding the first, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' said the book was "Fascinating, macabre, mordant, melancholy, frightening...." ''Newsweek'', which ran the excerpts, described it as "An extraordinary work of reportage on the epic political story of our time." The book as a whole gave a more balanced, at times sympathetic, portrait of Nixon. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' daily review by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt said that the book was "Unprecedented... ixonemerges from the book as a tragic figure weathering a catastrophic ordeal (of his own making, to be sure, but that is the nature of truly tragic ordeals), and weathering it with considerable courage and dignity." This fuller depiction did much to ameliorate the initial denunciations of the book. Making reference to the debate swirling around the book, the ''Times'' wrote: In a perspective from ''
The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'', author Richard Reeves said that the book "is a spectacular piece of reporting, with all the delights and limitations of journalism." Reeves also expressed concern over the sourcing matter, saying that they should have gotten some of their sources to go on record. All the same he concluded, "Hell, I trust Woodward and Bernstein," saying "not only are they great reporters," but that some of his own findings in researching the first days of the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford had confirmed some of their reporting regarding the last days of the Nixon one. In a look back from three decades later, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' called the book "a meticulous recreation of the last hundred days of the Nixon presidency." In a 2018 retrospective ranking by
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
of all of Woodward's 20 books, including his newly released ''
Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
'', the ranking of ''The Final Days'' was second best, trailing only ''All the President's Men''."I Read Every Bob Woodward Book. Here’s How They Stack Up"
Chris Suellentrop, Politico, September 7, 2018
The Politico writer said of ''The Final Days'' that "This book ... is fantastic, the model for all
y Woodward Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or seventh ...
that came after."


Commercial response

The book was a major commercial success. It became Simon & Schuster's fastest selling book, surpassing by half again the rate of the publisher's previous fastest, 1960's '' The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich''. It debuted atop The New York Times best seller list for the week of April 25, 1976. It stayed in the top spot for 18 weeks, and on the full list for 29 weeks total. Altogether ''The Final Days'' sold some 630,000 copies in hardcover. Paperback rights to the book were in April 1976 sold to Avon Books in a record-setting deal for $1.55 million, eclipsing a previous mark for any publisher for non-fiction works held by '' The Joy of Cooking''. At the same time, the paperback edition of '' All the President's Men'' was atop that bestseller list and the film ''All the President's Men'' was the biggest box-office success in the land.Jon Marshall, ''Watergate's Legacy and the Press: The Investigative Impulse'' (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2011), p. 115. All of these successes made both authors wealthy.


Legacy

The book was the last collaboration between Woodward and Bernstein; quite dissimilar in personality, and with different approaches towards their newfound wealth, they soon went their separate ways, although they have remained close friends. In 2005, Bernstein wrote an afterword for Woodward's book ''The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat'', which detailed Woodward's relationship with FBI Associate 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 ...
, the notorious anonymous source known as " Deep Throat" who provided critical information to Woodward during their investigation of Watergate. The pair reunited in 2012 for a ''Washington Post'' op-ed column. In it they said that subsequent archival evidence and other historical accounts indicated that in the words of the column's title, "Nixon was far worse than we thought." Making reference to ''The Final Days'', the pair said that their inclusion of anti-Semitic remarks and attitudes by Nixon in the book had been borne out by later revelations. The pair also sat for a joint retrospective '40 years later' interview on their Watergate reporting with CBS in 2014. In his 1978 memoir ''RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon'', the former president gave an account of the famous night-before-resignation-announcement scene that presents it as shorter and more business-like, but allows that his sense of "agony" and "loss" became "most acute" for him that night.Nixon, Richard. ''RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon'' (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978), pp. 1076–1077. Kissinger's 1982 memoir ''Years of Upheaval'' calls the Woodward and Bernstein narrative "an unfeeling account" but presents a description of the encounter that is not that far away from theirs.Kissinger, Henry. ''Years of Upheaval'' (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1982), pp. 1207–1210, 1255n. Both Nixon and Kissinger have the encounter starting in the
Lincoln Sitting Room The Lincoln Sitting Room is a small sitting room located next to the Lincoln Bedroom on the second floor of the White House. It was used as the White House telegraph room from 1865 to 1902 (until the West Wing was built). It is furnished in Vi ...
but ending in the
Lincoln Bedroom The Lincoln Bedroom is a bedroom which is part of a guest suite located in the southeast corner of the second floor of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Lincoln Sitting Room makes up the other part of the suite. The room is named for Presid ...
.


In other media

In 1989, a television adaptation of the book, also named ''The Final Days'', aired. It starred
Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Walter Warner in ''Son in Law'', coll ...
as Nixon. It was nominated for five
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
s and one
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
. In the late 1970s, ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' featured a recurring sketch parodying some of the scenes described in the book with
Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...
as Nixon, John Belushi as Kissinger,
Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
as
David Eisenhower Dwight David Eisenhower II (born March 31, 1948) is an American author, public policy fellow, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and eponym of the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. He is the grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhow ...
and
Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In he ...
as Julie Nixon Eisenhower.


References


External links


Woodward & Bernstein Papers at the University of Texas – The Final Days

Woodward's website's page on book

Bernstein's website's page on book

Simon & Schuster page on book

Newspaper excerpt featuring famous Nixon-Kissinger sobbing scene

''Nixon's Nixon'' – play by Russell Lees based on that scene
{{DEFAULTSORT:Final Days Books about the Watergate scandal Non-fiction books adapted into films Books by Bob Woodward Books by Carl Bernstein 1976 non-fiction books Collaborative non-fiction books