All The President's Men

Chapter Notes

Chapter 1

June 1972

Introduction to burglary (June 17, 1972); introduction to Woodward/Bernstein; court hearing/arraignment for 5 burglars; James McCord; E. Howard Hunt (Woodward calling him at Robert Mullen Company, Hunt saying "Good God!", Bennett; Hunt-CIA connection); DNC lawsuit for $1 million against CRP; Hunt-Colson connection (connecting Hunt to White House)

Chapter 2

July, August 1972

Woodward investigating Hunt-Colson connection; question of WH involvement arises; Nixon public comment: WH is not involved in Watergate; Bennett: organizer of 100 dummy campaign committees to funnel money into CRP; Mitchell began in-house investigation, resigned shortly after; contact in Colson's office knew Hunt; Hunt research into Ted Kennedy; story about this in July; Hunt disappeared after call from Woodward; story in Newsweek about Liddy being fired by Mitchell in July for not answering questions abt Watergate; phone records for Hunt subpoenaed by Miami prosecutor; Bernstein met with him in Miami, got info on $89k in checks deposited into Barker's (a burglar) bank acct, plus additional $25k check; checks were money deposited into Barker's acct in Miami, $89k were from Mexican lawyer, $25k was from Dahlberg; Dahlberg was Midwest campaign head, said money was raised for Nixon campaign, handed money off to Sloan or Stans in April

Chapter 3

July (?), August 1972

Woodward got denial from Michell's successor (as campaign manager), MacGregor; Woodward confirmed that Dahlberg had given check to Stans; no report of this from Stans to the Federal Elections Division of General Accounting Office (GAO); investigation by GAO initiated; Sloan (resigned CRP treasurer) not available; GAO found big slush fund, ~$100k, overseen by Liddy; MacGregor publicly shifted responsibility to Liddy; during Republican National Convention (August), GAO report was scheduled to be released same day Nixon was nominated as candidate; Stans managed to delay report release date; Judge Richey (judge in civil suit, Democrats vs. CRP) reversed a decision and made all testimony sealed (it couldn't be opened until after the election); Stans told GAO the Mexican money came from Texas; Bernstein tried to track down Texas Committee chairman Robert Allen (also president of Gulf Resources nad Chemical Co.), went to Miami again, found out from Dardis (Miami prosecutor) that Allen's lawyer described Nixon campaign money laundering technique; Stans would cover the map asking for money, before the date of the new campaign finance law; money was laundered through Meixco to protect identities of Democrats contributing to Republican campaign, allow corporations to contribute to campaign (forbidden by law), and to allow for money from underground organizations (like the Mob); converted checks/money into cash in Mexico, transferred cash to Washington to CRP; Allen's lawyer estimated amount laundered thru Mexico $750k; GAO report released, estimated slush fund amt at $350k; Nixon held press conf. from CA, claimed violations on BOTH sides, claimed Dean's Watergate investigation found no one presently employed in WH was involved in Watergate; Woodward/Bernstein started to knock on doors of CRP personnel at night to interview them; found out key people who would know about Watergate bugging operation were not interviewed by FBI; Bernstein met with The Bookkeeper; she was accountant, kept track of money in/out of slush fund kept in Stans' safe; indictment of 7 (Hunt, Liddy, and 5 burglars) handed down; FBI contact claimed case was closed

Chapter 4

August, September 1972

Deep Throat introduced; he revealed that Stans' safe slush fund paid the Watergate burglars, that several assistants of Mitchell controlled the fund; Liddy received money from the fund; records of accounts destroyed; Sloan resigned due to his suspicions about Watergate; Post story published about Mitchell's assistants controlling fund; Woodward and Bernstein met with The Bookkeeper (September); confirmed that Liddy, McGruder, and Porter received money from fund; Deep Throat told Woodward that WH was angry about Mitchell story, wanted to track down Post's sources; confirmed that Liddy and McGruder both got > $50k; Post article with that info; no conclusive connection between secret slush fund and Watergate burglary; Bernstein met with Sloan; Liddy and McGruder got $300k from fund; connection between WH and CRP very close (same people, CRP takes its orders from the WH); Post article that Mitchell's assistants Mardian and LaRue directed a massive house cleaning after Watergate, destroyed documents, records, wiretaps, fund ledgers/books, incriminating evidence before FBI investigation began; Mardian and LaRue also directed committee's response to FBI investigators; Attorney General Kleindienst said in interview that if documents were destroyed, an obstruction of justice might have taken place

Chapter 5

September, October 1972

Woodward, Bernstein believed signs pointed to Mitchell; he was involved with CRP even after firings; reporters met with Sloan, found out 5 people had authorization over fund; Mitchell, Stans (Stans would call Mitchell, AG at the time, for disbursement permission), and MacGruder; of the remaining 2, 1 was WH staff, 1 was outsider, not Washingtonian; suspected Colson, Erlichman, Haldemann; since Colson was too careful and Erlichman not involved in campaign, Haldemann was logical choice; Sloan did not confirm Haldemann; Berstein guessed last person was Kalmbach, Nixon's personal lawyer in CA; called FBI source, would not confirm Haldemann; Post article published about Mitchell's control of secret fund, and his approval of fund withdraws as AG, fingering Stans and MacGruder as the two others able to authorize withdraws; unusual phone call between Berstein and Mitchell (JEEEEEEEESUS); the Post was making Grad Jury testimony public, calling Mitchell a crook, stakes for Post were being raised; Bernstein got permission to run Mitchell's comments from Bradlee; Powell (CRP press director) tried to talk Bernstein out of publishing Mitchell's comments, called Bradlee and tried to talk Bradlee out of publishing Mitchell's comments; LA Times published interview with Alfred Baldwin, firsthand account of Watergate bugging operation (October 4th)

Chapter 6

September, October 1972

(September 28) Bernstein received anonymous tip that a friend Alex Shipley (assistant Attorney General in TN) had been approached to join the Nixon campaign by someone - a "ratfucker"; Bernstein called Shipley, who described the proposed activities in detail; gave name of Donald Segretti; Segretti visited Shipley when Segretti had come to DC to interview with Treasury Department; Shipley didn't accept offer; Segretti had big spender[s] financing him to travel around the country, tried to get Shipley to recruit others; Berstein tried (failed) to confirm Segretti-Liddy connection (Liddy worked in Treasury Department around same time); Bernstein got CC records for Segretti (crossed country 10+ times); Meyers (West Coast Post correspondent) tracked down Segretti, confronted him, but Segretti refused to answer questions; Berstein found out Segretti was part of an ongoing DoJ investigation, as was Kalmbach, but couldn't get Segretti-Kalmbach connection confirmed; then "USC Mafia" information revealed by another Post reporter; same DoJ official (October 7th) pointed toward Dwight Chapin as individual who hired Segretti; DoJ attorney confirmed info on "USC Mafia" pointed toward higher levels than Mitchell, meaning Erlichman, Haldemann, or the President; possibility of President being the head "ratfucker"; Post article written about sabotage/espionage campaign for which Segretti was recruiting; Bernstein wanted to run it, Woodward didn't; met with Deep Throat, D.T. said the way to untie the whole knot was "offensive security"; >50 people hired by the WH: false info leaked to press, political sbotage, ratfucking, spying, following, document-planting, theft, bugging, etc.; 4 personell groupings: advertising for CRP, intelligence-gathering and sabotage-planning (for Republican and Democratic primaries), intelligence-gathering and sabotage-planning (for Republican and Democrat conventions), and Howard Hunt group (really heavy operations team); Mitchell was involved, and Nixon was aware of Mitchell's involvement; all "games"/"offensive security"/activities were sponsored by WH; FBI/DoJ knew from Grand Jury testimony but didn't follow up on it

Chapter 7

September, October 1972

Berinstein discovers from another reporter that Clawson (deputy Communications Director at WH) wrote Canuck Letter; when he found out about the Post writing story about it he panicked and said he would deny it; claimed it was a misunderstanding; Post story on FBI establishing that there was massive campaign of sabotage/bugging, that it represented a basic Nixon strategy, that hundreds of thousands of dollars set aside to pay for activities, activities listed (following people, assembling dossiers, sabotaging events, forging letters, leaking false info to press, stealing files, investigating personal lives of campaign workers); Ziegler refused to answer 29 questions about Post article during a press conference; Post published follow-up on charges by Democratic campaign; Bernstein investigated charges by Muskie about his campaign and published story about it; Woodward talked to Larry Young, friend of Segretti, who told them about Segretti-Hunt connection (Hunt would give the orders), and Segretti-Dwight Chapin connection (Chapin was deputy assistant to Pres. Nixon, and later WH scheduler); Segretti was paid by Kalmbach; found by FBI because of calls to/from Hunt; there was interest in Watergate investigation from the top, which was why investigation was strictly limited to bugging only; Sunday story was begun; Nixon administration official said that if Chapin was involved, Haldeman was involved too; Post story about Chapin serving as contact in the spying and sabotage operation; no connection to Kalmbach was mentioned; October (early)

Chapter 8

October 1972

Time magazine story on Sunday quoting Post story, and adding that Chapman had hired Segretti (not just serving as contact), and mentioning Kalmbach; Woodward talked to Sloan, confirmed Kalmbach had control over Stans' secret fund; Dwight Chapin brought the story "to the steps of the White House"; Dole (RNC chair) attacked Post in 3 pages of a speech he gave; MacGregor (new CRP director) held press conf., read prepared statement, did not answer any questions; Bradlee's response was that no charges had been addressed; NY Times published phone records showing Segretti-Chapin phone connection; (October 17); Ziegler held press conf., danced around questions, used "directed" instead of "involved", vague language, etc.

Chapter 9

Late October 1972

Suspicion that 5th person to control Stans' secret fund was Haldeman; he was creator of CRP; he was liason between President and others (Kalmbach, Stans, Colson, others); the President's "son-of-a-bitch"; insulated himself from CRP (deniability); meeting with Deep Throat signaled to ask about Haldeman's involvement, Deep Throat said they would have to get confirmation on their own; Woodward tried to get confirmation from Sloan, he also did not confirm except in very roundabout way; called an FBI agent, who confirmed "John Haldeman" was involved; Bernstein called him back and he confirmed "Bob Haldeman", not "John Haldeman", saying he confused Ehrlichman and Haldeman; B&W prepared to write story naming Haldeman as 5th controller of secret fund, referencing Sloan's Grand Jury testimony as source; wrote story on October 24th, decided to get a 4th source, DoJ lawyer was called, refused to name haldeman, Bernstein did the countdown 10...1 for confirmation; Dole attacked Post for 20 minutes in a speech; the next day, story was published, Sloan's attorney denied that Sloan named Haldeman in Grand Jury testimony; Ziegler denounced the Post during press conference; B&W couldn't work, very upset, contemplated resigning from paper; Sloan's lawyer told Woodward the denial was limited to the story; refused to comment on whether story's essential facts were true, refused to comment on whether the Post should apologize to Sloan, refused to comment on whether Post should apologize to Haldeman, said he would not recommend it; FBI agent was tracked down in person, got nervous, tried to run away, said he would deny everything when the said they would talk to his boss; they talked to his boss, showed the telephone conversation transcript; he ordered them to stay in the building; they left the building, called Bradlee from a payphone, went back inside, determined they would not get any info from FBI; considered publishing source's name, if he had misled them, but decided against it; they called Sloan and confirmed Haldeman's name never came up in the G.J.; B&W made a number of mistakes in how they dealt with their sources, leading to confusion and mix-up; October 26th, MacGregor went on TV nd confirmed existence of Stans' fund, denied it was secret and that it was (knowingly) spent on illegal activities; October 27th, Woodward signaled meeting with Deep Throat, fell asleep, almost missed meeting, D.T. said Haldeman had almost slipped away, admonished B&W, said they had to be absolutely sure with someone like Haldeman, confirmed essential facts were right; next day, B&W wanted to publish story retracting G.J. fact but reasserting Haldeman connection; editors disagreed, but VP Agnew and McGovern (Democratic candidate for Pres.) were both on TV and both commented on Post story, so they decided they had to publish something; published story asserting Haldeman's control of fund and clarifying G.J. was not source of information

Chapter 10

November 1972

Frustration in lead-up to November 7th election; people were less talkative; election Nov 7th; Bernstein went to LA to meet with Meyers (Post reporter on West Coast) and Segretti (who had disappeared after the October 10th story about him); Segretti confirmed being hired by Chapin, paid by Kalmbach; confirmed (wihtout evidence) that Chapin was taking orders from Haldeman; met with Howard Hunt, was asked to do illegal activities to embarrass McGovern; refused to discuss John Dean; Bernstein spent 5 days trying to convince Segretti to go on the record, but did not succeed; Colson attacked Bradlee personally in speech (~1 week after election); no conclusive stories in the 4 weeks following the election; fellow reporter told Woodward (late November, a Sunday) that he knew someone on a G.J., possibly the Watergate G.J.; they interviewed her and found she wasn't on Watergate G.J., went to courthouse to find a list of more people to interview; Judge John Sirica found out, was angry, considered throwing the reporters in jail, but didn't in the end since no jurors gave any information; Bernstein contacted another anonymous source (Z) , she revealed suspicions about how shallow official Watergate investigation was; said to consider Haldeman, Erlichman, Colson, Mardian as group; were organizing better; indicated that the Plumbers did much more than wiretaps and Pentagon Papers; B&W met with Sloan, who revelaed more about Haldeman structure; he was insulated from Sloan/payment requests to Stans' fund; Berinstein got in touch with Plumbers secretary; she named all of the Plumbers, revealed their office location in West Wing, their origins (to find leak originating Pentagon Papers in NY Times), listed other leaks they were investigating; Hunt-Barker connection revealed; Plumbers-Mitchell connection revealed; phone in Plumbers office installed in her name so there would be no WH connection; once FBI investigation started, she was in England (stopped working for Plumbers in March 1972); Dean found her, flew her back to US, briefed her on the situation; she confirmed that G.J. never asked about Haldeman; (December 7th, next day) Bernstein had 2k-word story written on phone installation and Plumbers; B&W traveled to CA to talk to Segretti, look into Liddy and Hunt travels; no leads; Segretti still refused to go on record; FCC challenged Post's ownership of 2 TV stations; Post barred from social functions at WH

Chapter 11

December 1972, January 1973

Judge Sirica ordered reporters to courtroom (December 19), warned G.J. of legal consequences of talking to press, let the reporters off the hook; that afternoon he jailed LA Times correspondent for refusing to turn over tapes of interview with Baldwin; W called another person connected to Hunt, turns out she was a witness, notified prosecutors, Judge Sirica told them to stop, reporters were called off for two days; new rules put into place about talking to witnesses; Post story on Dec. 3 about McCord paying for bugging equipment in cash, information about company that McCord went through came from letterhead of a letter sitting on Judge Sirica's desk, Judge found out, got angry at reporters and refused to talk to them anymore; Watergate trial began (Jan 8th); Judge was John Sirica (assigned case to himself); Silbert (public prosecutor) contended Liddy was leader of operation, worked independently of CRP, basically the CRP's cover story, which was backed up by 60 witnesses, but which didn't make any sense; the CRP spent $235,000 for Liddy, so common sense said CRP would want more for their money than routine intelligence available from FBI/local police; Silbert stressed there was no evidence to charge/indict anyone outside the 7 (5 burglars, Hunt, Liddy); Bernstein followed Miami defendants to airport, got on plane, had conversation with one, found out Hunt told them to plead guilty, that their families would be financially taken care of (Hunt in his old role as their case officer...); Hunt'er lawyer denied it; story on it was held out of concern about Judge Sirica's reaction; Time and NY Times both had stories on defendants, Time's story was that burglars were being paid $1k for each month spent in jail, money funneled through Hunt to Barker; Post ran their Hunt story the next day on the theory that Judge Sirica would have to throw 5+ reporters in jail; Judge questioned 4 burglars about stories (burglars, sans Barker); asked about the money payments, they all denied that they were being payed to plead guilty (said money showed up in unmarked envelopes); denied that they knowingly worked for CIA at any point in past; Barker claimed that he didn't knowwhere the $114k ($89k from Mexican checks + $25k from Dahlberg check) in his bank account came from; Woodward called numbers in burglars' address books, found out FBI hadn't interviewed them; then, he called a witness, who told him what he would say, but Silbert wouldn't ask about: Erlichman controlled Hunt, and Colson also controlled Hunt; Hunt (while in hiding) went to John Dean so that Dean could find Hunt a lawyer; (Jan. 23rd) Nixon committee witnesses (Magruder, Porter, Odle, Sloan) tistified; Sloan testified to Silbert (after jury was ordered to leave courtroom) that he wanted to verify that $199k should be paid to Liddy; he verified it with Maurice Stans, who verified it with John Mitchell; Sirica didn't believe Sloan's testimony; when trial ended, Post article by B&W published on questions that were not asked, answers that were not given, key witnesses who were not called, and lapses of memory of other witnesses; Sirica expressed disappointment with Silbert's case, insisted that Sloan was not being truthful; expressed hope that Congressional investigation would reveal real story

Chapter 12

January, February (?) 1973

(Jan. 24th) Woodward met with Deep Throat, he only verified information, would not give new information; Woodward asked about Colson-Mitchell connection to Watergate; DT said they were behind Watergate; Colson had active role, Mitchell had less active "nod"/approval role; gave 4 factors that would tie them into Watergate (personalities, key meetings/phone calls, tight $ control, and assurance of the 7 defendants that they would be taken care of, which had to come from higher up); Post story next day reporting Mitchell and Colson had knowledge of overall espionage operation conducted by men indicted in Watergate case; Woodward didn't think there was enough proof; sotry didn't run; Woodward met with Senator Ervin, found out he was planning to call everyone up to the President to testify, whhatever it took; wrote Post article on this fact; Ervin introduced a resolution to allocate $500k to Senate Select Committee on presidential Campaign Activities, Republicans/WH tried to add ammendments to expand it to include 64 and 68, all ammendments failed, resolution passed with 77-0 vote; B&W decided to go back to Hunt and Liddy; W interviewed Hunt's friend, and a contact from that interview; Post published story that Hunt was investigating Ted Kennedy's personal life when WH feared a Kennedy campaign; they began to look into Ditta Beard/ITT memo and Hunt's involvement; wrote column based on the new information they found; started to look into the Plumbers, starting with Ergil Krough; found out from calling people that Hunt and Liddy were receiving national security wiretaps from David Young, an assistant secretary to Henry Kissinger and who was also a Plumber; Wh did not flatly deny the story; 2 weeks later, Time published an account of the Nixon adminisstration's wiretaps of news reporters and government officials to trace leaks; started in 1969; CRP issued subpoenas on B&W and 3 others; B told Bradlee where his files were located; Woodward was out of town; custody of documents/notes was transferred from Bernstein to (temporarily) Post ownder Katharine Graham, so that judge would have to throw her in jail to get to the notes

Chapter 13

(?) 1973