The Last of the President's Men

December 1, 2015

This brief biography of Alexander Butterfield (b. 1926), deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973, begins with Butterfield installing a secret taping system in the Oval Office, and then revealing this secret before the televised Watergate Committee, which ultimately led to Nixon's resignation. Washington Post investigative reporter and prolific author Woodward (The Price of Politics), best known for his original reporting on the Watergate Scandal with Carl Bernstein, fully discloses his sources in this work, which is based primarily on Butterfield's unpublished memoir and interviews with Butterfield himself. This account sheds light on this former U.S. Air Force officer who was ambitious for military promotion even if it meant reaching out to his fraternity brother-turned-White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, who hired Butterfield to be his "staff clone." Woodward proves that Nixon and Butterfield shared some characteristics; still, Butterfield was not expecting such a vindictive president. VERDICT This beneficial capsule of the Watergate era illustrates the dynamics among kings and courtiers as well as the idiom, "be careful what you wish for." It turns an accidental bureaucrat into a person facing unexpected ethical dilemmas. Recommended for both a new generation of readers and ones who remember vividly the Nixon presidency.--William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

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