Bob Woodward

Citation metadata

Date: Jan. 22, 2019
From: Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors
Publisher: Gale
Document Type: Biography
Length: 4,683 words

Document controls

Main content

Article Preview :

"Sidelights"

Journalist Bob Woodward had been with the Washington Post nine months on the night police beat when he was called upon to cover the arraignment of five men who had been arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee's offices in the Watergate complex. The astonished young reporter learned the burglars had CIA connections and that one of them, James McCord, was an employee of the Committee to Reelect the President. Woodward teamed with Carl Bernstein, and the two followed the story from a Washington courtroom through a complicated tangle of clandestine political activity into the highest offices of the White House. The affair eventually led, in part due to Woodward and Bernstein's persistent efforts, to the resignation of numerous government officials in the executive branch, including that of President Richard Nixon.

All the President's Men was originally planned to be a compilation of articles describing Woodward and Bernstein's investigative work for the Washington Post. At the time--October 1972--Woodward and Bernstein were the only reporters pursuing the Watergate story. Scant attention from the rest of the press had left the two with a lot of unpublished information, which they intended to publish in a book describing the secret activities of White House aides. Two chapters of this book were already written when Judge Sirica released to the press a letter he had received from James McCord, in which McCord revealed the involvement of higher-ups in the burglary, and the perjury and political pressure that had occurred during his trial. Realizing that by the time their book was finished it would appear to be merely a rehashing of well-reported events, Woodward then suggested that the book should tell the story of how the two discovered and reported on the Watergate cover-up.

The story was written in a third-person narrative style. The authors worried that a more personal point of view might appear to be an "ego trip" when describing their successes or a defense or justification of their failures. The reporters openly acknowledged their mistakes: they approached grand jury members for information; they revealed a confidential source; and they overstepped some guidelines in certain rights to privacy. As reporters and authors, they wanted to be objective and honest. It was decided that the third-person narrative, with its advantage of impartiality, would allow them the best opportunity to do this. Critics praised the book wholeheartedly for its ability to sustain reader interest, for its behind-the-scenes explanation of the workings of a large metropolitan newspaper, and for its indispensable historical value. Reviewers commended the coauthors for their frankness and their fascinating personal portraits of the men surrounding the president.

After the completion of All the President's Men, the reporters turned their attention back to the final ranklings of Watergate. They planned to focus on six senators and compile background for a book about the apparent upcoming impeachment trial of Nixon, a project they dropped when it became obvious that the president was going to resign. They then decided their next book would...

Get Full Access
Gale offers a variety of resources for education, lifelong learning, and academic research. Log in through your library to get access to full content and features!
Access through your library

Source Citation

Source Citation   

Gale Document Number: GALE|H1000108155