I believe Watergate shows that the system did work. Particularly the Judiciary and the Congress, and ultimately an independent prosecutor working in the Executive Branch.
If information is true, if it can be verified, and if it’s really important, the newspaper needs to be willing to take the risk associated with using unidentified sources.
When you practice reporting for as long as I have, you keep yourself at a distance from True Believers. Either conservatives or liberals or Democrats or Republicans.
Nixon’s grand mistake was his failure to understand that Americans are forgiving, and if he had admitted error early and apologized to the country, he would have escaped.
The biggest rap on me is that I don’t find a Watergate every couple of years. Well, Watergate was unique. It’s not something Carl Bernstein, I, or the Washington Post caused.
The Washington Times wrote a story questioning the authenticity of some of the suggestions made about me in Silent Coup. But as a believer in the First Amendment, I believe they have more than a right to air their views.
I recently did the David Letterman Show about my book. He was very serious and made no jokes and it caught me off guard a little bit. He was much more serious than some of the joke shows that journalists get on.
I’m not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn’t know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.
Watergate provides a model case study of the interaction and powers of each of the branches of government. It also is a morality play with a sad and dramatic ending.
