Books : The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate
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by: James Rosen
List Price: $35.00Amazon.com's Price: $23.10 You Save: $11.90 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.924092
EAN: 9780385508643
ISBN: 0385508646
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 640
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Sales Rank: 31369
Studio: Doubleday
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The Strong Man is the first full-scale biography of John N. Mitchell, the central figure in the rise and ruin of Richard Nixon and the highest-ranking American official ever convicted on criminal charges.
As U.S. attorney general from 1969 to 1972, John Mitchell stood at the center of the upheavals of the late sixties. The most powerful man in the Nixon cabinet, a confident troubleshooter, Mitchell championed law and order against the bomb-throwers of the antiwar movement, desegregated the South’s public schools, restored calm after the killings at Kent State, and steered the commander-in-chief through the Pentagon Papers and Joint Chiefs spying crises. After leaving office, Mitchell survived the ITT and Vesco scandals—but was ultimately destroyed by Watergate.
With a novelist’s skill, James Rosen traces Mitchell’s early life and career from his Long Island boyhood to his mastery of Wall Street, where Mitchell's innovations in municipal finance made him a power broker to the Rockefellers and mayors and governors in all fifty states. After merging law firms with Richard Nixon, Mitchell brilliantly managed Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign and, at his urging, reluctantly agreed to serve as attorney general. With his steely demeanor and trademark pipe, Mitchell commanded awe throughout the government as Nixon’s most trusted adviser, the only man in Washington who could say no to the president.
Chronicling the collapse of the Nixon presidency, The Strong Man follows America’s former top cop on his singular odyssey through the criminal justice system—a tortuous maze of camera crews, congressional hearings, special prosecutors, and federal trials. The path led, ultimately, to a prison cell in Montgomery, Alabama, where Mitchell was welcomed into federal custody by the same men he had appointed to office. Rosen also reveals the dark truth about Mitchell’s marriage to the flamboyant and volatile Martha Mitchell: her slide into alcoholism and madness, their bitter divorce, and the toll it all took on their daughter, Marty.
Based on 250 original interviews and hundreds of thousands of previously unpublished documents and tapes, The Strong Man resolves definitively the central mysteries of the Nixon era: the true purpose of the Watergate break-in, who ordered it, the hidden role played by the Central Intelligence Agency, and those behind the cover-up.
A landmark of history and biography, The Strong Man is that rarest of books: both a model of scholarly research and savvy analysis and a masterful literary achievement.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Excellent overview of a dark period
Outside of his better balancing my opinion of the man I and 98% of the country saw as evil incarnate in 1973 (myself at the tender age of 16), I think Rosen's biggest contribution here is the clear descriptions of the the Watergate scandal itself and its cousins the ITT/Dita Beard, and Robert Vesco scandals. Good historic information, not really covered as well by other authors.
Rating:  - The Strong Man - Strong Stuff
In the Strong Man, James Rosen attempts to weave the biography of John Mitchell around the Byzantine elements of the Watergate. At the same time he visits the other incidents, misbehavior, and misadventures that make up much of this mans life. One must give credit to Mr. Rosen for a balanced and fairly honest portrait. He has avoided a hagiography as well as a hit piece to try to ascertain who John Mitchell really was and exactly what did he do.
This is far more difficult than one might think. ... Read More
Rating:  - New material but needed an editor
James Rosen has tackled an interesting subject. John Mitchell's role in the Nixon administration ordinarily is glossed over. He's characterized (or caricatured) as a hard-line conservative, law and order guy. Rosen brings him to life. His descriptions of Mitchell's softer side and of his relationship with his second wife, Martha, are illuminating.
Rosen could have used a tougher editor, however. He repeatedly de-emphasizes Mitchell's role in the abuses of the Nixon administration. He ... Read More
Rating: - john mitchell
I am still reading the book and I find it fascinating. I like the way James Rosen writes.
Rating: - Magnificent Contribution to Watergate Literature
'The Strong Man: John Mitchell & The Secrets of Watergate'
With, `The Strong Man', James Rosen makes a remarkable contribution to Watergate literature. This one and only in depth look at John Mitchell, perhaps the most important figure of the Watergate-era, succeeds not only in it's deep historical insights, but demystification of long held assumptions of this turbulent time in America.
This book organizes, with great skill, the several scandals surrounding the Nixon presidency, ... Read More
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