All the President's Men

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Average Rating 9/10 (1 Review)

It began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC, on 17 June 1972. Bob Woodward, a journalist for the Washington Post, was called into the office on a Saturday morning to cover the story. Carl Bernstein, a political reporter on the Post, was also assigned. They soon learned this was no ordinary burglary. Following lead after lead, Woodward and Bernstein picked up a trail of money, conspiracy and high-level pressure that ultimately led to the doors of the Oval Office. Men very close to the President were implicated, and then Richard Nixon himself. Over a period of months, Woodward met secretly with Deep Throat, for decades the most famous anonymous source in the history of journalism. As he and Bernstein pieced the jigsaw together, they produced a series of explosive stories that would not only win the Post a Pulitzer Prize, they would bring about the President's scandalous downfall. All The President's Men documents this amazing story. Taut, gripping and fascinating, it is a classic of its kind - the true story of the events that changed the American presidency.

Review by Rebecca Campbell (040109) Rating (9/10)

Review by Rebecca Campbell
Rating 9/10
'June 17th, 1972. Nine o'clock. Saturday morning. Early for the telephone. Woodward fumbled for the receiver and snapped awake. The city editor of the Washington Post was on the line. Five men had been arrested earlier that morning in a burglary at the Democratic headquarters, carrying photographic equipment and electronic gear. Could he come in?' So began the chain of events that would shake Washington for the next two years, lead to the first resignation of a U.S President and change American politics forever.

What should have started out as a routine crime story, soon developed into the biggest political scandal linked to conspiracy and high-level pressure which escalated and ultimately led to the Oval Office, leading to the resignation of the most powerful man on earth, President Richard Nixon.

The 1970's were a time where social progressive values that had began in the 1960's, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow. The fading out of the hippy culture, the opposition towards the Vietnam War, opposition to nuclear weapons, the advocacy of world peace and the hostility to the authority of Government, weren't the only things that reached newspaper headlines. There were two other key areas during the 1970's that caused a political scandal; the release of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate burglary.

In 1972, the Washington Post had two very able and dedicated reporters on their team, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who would commit the next two years of their lives to uncovering the truth behind Watergate. Investigative reporters Woodward and Bernstein were both in their late 20's when they started reporting on Watergate. As each listened to the office rumours about the other, there was an equal amount of mutual distrust in the early stages of the investigation. As the two reporters followed lead after lead, they soon pick up trail of an enormous amount of money, suffered abuse from Nixon supporters and officials, pursued false leads, published mistakes and encountered cryptic sources, giving them as little information as possible for fear of being found out from the White House. But through it all, it was with the unrelenting and painstaking research that they were able to uncover acts of espionage, sabotage and slush fund money that saw Woodward and Bernstein show a healthy obsession towards finding out the real truth behind Watergate.

The book introduces us to Woodward's secret meetings with 'Deep Throat', a former No. 2 official at the FBI, for decades the most famous anonymous source in the history of journalism, as both reporters rely on his confirmation of what they had discovered from other sources.

The book may be a bit heavy with all the names and details, but it gives an excellent description of the circumstances involving the Watergate scandal in the 1970's. Many people will have heard about Watergate and know that it ended with President Richard Nixon being the first U.S President to resign from his office in 1974. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg of what was an incredible series of events connected to the Committee to Re-elect the President in the 1970's (CRP). Thankfully at the start of the book, we are given a full list of all the main team players, should we become confused along the way, as to who did what when.

All the President's Men, is a great book for all to read. It shows what it takes for an investigative reporter to get to the bottom of those never-ending questions, leading to explosive stories. It shows the dedication and how a small detail can finally make sense and become clear at the end. After two years of investigative reporting, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were able to finally piece together a complex and puzzling picture that would win the Post a Pulitzer Prize.

Pursuing leads that often led them nowhere they dug deep without giving up on what they knew was right and what they knew the public had a right to know. Both reporters showed throughout the highest level of investigative journalism, as they demonstrated the persistence that is required and what it takes to get the facts during interviews, as well as getting sources to open up without fear of reprisals. It successfully tells the story of two investigative reporter’s search for the truth. A real page turner of a book!
Rebecca Campbell (4th January 2009)