CONSPIRACY

An indisputably timely account of the last time an American president thought the Constitution didn’t apply to him.

Pearson only mentions Trump’s name once, toward the end, but it’s hard to miss the parallels in her portrayal of President Richard M. Nixon as a man who won election through tactics many “would call unfair or underhanded, even criminal” and who used his office to go after perceived enemies, valued personal loyalty above legality, and stubbornly stonewalled both the legal and congressional investigations that proliferated in the wake of Watergate. Pausing to fill in necessary background, such as the ins and outs of the federal court system or what investigative journalists do, she strings together events, from the 1970 election’s “dirty tricks” through the climactic “Saturday Night Massacre” to Nixon’s resignation (and pardon)—detailing in a suspenseful way the chains of increasingly disturbing revelations that just kept coming to light in newspapers and on national TV and casting the crisis in ethical terms by damning Nixon and his associates as oath breakers as well as crooks. In line with that stance, she commends those who stood fast in their loyalty to their country and its Constitution as heroes and concludes by stressing that, as citizens, we the people are likewise obliged to inform ourselves and to act and vote responsibly. Smooth, clear writing makes this an appealing and accessible read.

A cautionary episode from a half-century ago that ends up sounding eerily relevant.