Photo credit: Creative Commons
Elizabeth Drew is back in the news. A look back at the 40th-anniversary edition of her 1974 book, “Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon’s Downfall.” This article was originally posted in 2014.
“Forty years after the greatest scandal of the American presidency, Elizabeth Drew’s account in Washington Journal remains fresh and riveting, instructive and evocative. Her afterword on Nixon’s post-Watergate life is equally compelling.” Tom Brokaw
“Originally published soon after Richard Nixon’s resignation, Elizabeth Drew’s Washington Journal is a landmark of political journalism. Keenly observed and hugely insightful, Washington Journal opens in 1973 and follows the deterioration of Nixon’s presidency as it happens.” Overlook Press
“I have a certain amount of empathy for the man,” Drew told Hollywood on the Potomac. He was trapped in his own personality and by that I mean he had grown up resentful. He was a kind of scrawny kid and not at all athletic but bookish and that was not the thing in Whittier, California, so he was a loner.”
Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon’s Downfall with Elizabeth Drew:
“Pat Nixon, it’s interesting,” Elizabeth reminisced. “The theory was that they had a non, not much of a marriage. We know they slept in separate rooms. She didn’t talk much. She always kind of looked unhappy. She hated politics. But the evidence now is that they were a lot closer than we knew.”
“Poor woman. Rosemary Woods was very loyal and very faithful to the President as secretary. The 18 1/2 minuter gap, they tried to pin it on Rose, so she took the fall.”
Slider photo credits: Ollie Atkins
