Watergate Essays
3/7/2012
Over the years, Shepard has authored a number of essays on Watergate-related subjects, including:
- December, 2011: Four Key Cover-up Conversations
The White House tapes are something like the Bible, if you will forgive the analogy: by focusing on any one segment, one can “prove” almost anything. But thoughts expressed in private are materially different from actions actually taken. In that vein, this essay examines four conversations that occurred during the week of March 19, 1973—the week that the cover-up collapsed—in an attempt to show that President Nixon (i) did not know what had been done up to that point and (ii) when first informed of some of the more seamy aspects of their situation, called for decisive action to address it: Four Key Cover-up Conversations
- June, 2009: Essay on John Dean
John Dean’s 1976 book, Blind Ambition, was re-issued in paperback by his agent as a part of the launch of a speaking tour. His invitation to speak at the Richard Nixon Library sparked a good deal of controversy—which led Shepard to author his essay: Essay on John Dean
- February, 2009: Baby Boomer Cultural Wars
In response to a question posed by one of the readers of his Frost/Nixon essay, inquiring as to why Richard Nixon evoked such controversy—not only throughout his public life, but over a decade following his death.
This essay is Shepard’s response: Baby Boomer Cultural Wars
- January, 2009: Frost/Nixon (Stage Play and Movie)
David Frost’s 1976 interviews with former President Richard Nixon were carried on the British Broadcast Corporation’s station (BBC) in May of that year. A DVD of the Watergate portion of those interviews is available for sale at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California.
Over thirty years later, renowned playwright Peter Morgan (who also authored The Queen in 2008), authored a London stage play about those interviews. The play eventually came to Broadway, but the movie rights were soon purchased by Ron Howard, who postponed further productions of the play until the movie had been released in December of 2009.
While most entertaining, Shepard was deeply troubled by the factual alterations and poetic license which differed markedly from what had actually transpired.
These are the essays he authored on each—since the movie took even more liberties with the truth than did the play itself.