James Robenalt

We never quite understand history as it is happening around us, only when events are fading into the rear view mirror do we truly grasp what has occurred. That is the premise of JANUARY 1973, by James Robenalt, which takes a single 31 one day period and explains how American history took a decisive fork in the road during that month. A relatively short book, with just over 300 pages, Robenalt focuses on three pivotal events in the month that Richard Nixon was sworn in for what he thought would be full second term: the negations that would end the Vietnam War; the trial of the Watergate burglars and their immediate superiors; and the behind the scenes deliberations at the Supreme Court that ended in the Roe V Wade decision legalizing abortion in all 50 states for the first time. Nixon is the central character here, as he has a hand in everything, from his fateful Supreme Court appointments, and the politics that surrounded them, to the men around him who had no qualms about going outside the law to insure his re-election, to the determination to end what was then America’s longest war on terms that Nixon could call “Peace with Honor.” A secondary story in the book is the passing of Lyndon Johnson, which occurred on the fateful 22nd day of the month, along with the death of Harry Truman on the day after Christmas, 1972, both of which seemed to punctuate the ending of an era.

The sections on the Vietnam negotiations takes the reader behind the scenes as a determined Nixon pulls out all the stops to get a cease fire agreement negotiated in Paris, including the controversial Christmas bombing campaign in December, where American B-52’s unleashed hell on North Vietnam, though the real sticking point was President Thieu, of South Vietnam, who quite correctly suspected the Americans of being willing to sign an accord that left North Vietnam in control of much territory in the South, a move that would put Thieu’s country at a great disadvantage going forward. The real problem for Nixon was that the Democratic Party controlled Congress and was about to end funding for the war altogether, and he was literally under the gun to get an agreement done. Ultimately, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger was able to hammer out an agreement in Paris, but not before an ultimatum was given to Thieu, along with assurances that the United States would intervene with the full force of its military when the North inevitably broke the terms of the Paris Accords and resumed the war. Robenalt does a good job of giving the low down on Nixon and Kissinger’s relationship, which was anything but smooth. Though Nixon made much of the Vietnam peace agreement, it was greeted with little enthusiasm in an exhausted country at the time, most feeling that the war’s end was coming many years too late. The best that could be said about it was that the brave POWs, like John McCain, were released after far too many years in captivity, and allowed to come home.

The parts of the book concerning the trial of the Watergate burglars in Judge John Sirica’s courtroom are the best as far as I am concerned, taking us back to an often little discussed part of that momentous scandal that often focuses too much on the men in the White House. It’s the story of a cover up that nearly held despite a motley crew of characters, some of whom were fast losing their nerve as the prospect of a long jail term loomed. There was a Federal prosecutor much too willing to simply accept the defendants stories at face value, and a Federal judge much too willing to exceed his authority when, in his eyes, the prosecution dropped the ball. Behind the scenes was a cover up that went all the way to Oval Office, one which included the paying of hush money for the defendant’s silence about others involved, and willing perjury by the men running Nixon’s re-election campaign. Once familiar names like E. Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, James McCord, Earl Silbert, Jeb Magruder, Charles Colson, and Hugh Sloan return to play their parts in the drama; I used to listen to Liddy’s right wing radio show, and well remember the contempt he showered on Judge Sirica, the man who sentenced him to more than two decades in prison for a crime Liddy a crime of which he was clearly guilty, and now I much more understand G. Gordon’s animus, though I don’t agree with it.

The driest part of the book is the back story of how Roe V Wade came to be, as it is hard to make the this kind of material riveting, but it is a good window in how things are done at the Supreme Court, and how important junior clerks can be to the final decision. It’s also a good example of the law of unintended consequences, as Harry Blackmun, put on the court by Nixon to be a reliable conservative, law and order justice, manages to fashion a 7 – 2 majority decision legalizing abortion, a cause that would become a corner stone of American social liberalism in the years ahead. What struck me is how free the deliberations were of the kind of political invective this issue would go on to engender, nary a “my body, my choice” or “baby killer” to be heard. What also struck me was how naive the justices were in thinking this ruling would settle the abortion issue in America. Also, I felt that this book, informative as it is, did not begin to do justice to Roe V Wade, and its impact on America, and the way abortion would be weaponized in the years ahead for political gain.

Thanks to the release of his taped White House telephone conversations, the portrait of Richard Nixon that emerges in these pages of one of a hate filled and vindictive man, incapable of being magnanimous, he had just swept the country in a 49 state landslide, yet was determined to see a lone anti war protester prosecuted to the fullest extent when he attempted to disrupt Nixon’s inaugural parade on January 20th. Robenalt makes a convincing case that his legacy, and the legacy of that long January of 1973, is still with us; Vietnam had already divided the country along generational and cultural lines, Watergate would further alienate millions of Americans from their government, while the Roe decision would pour gasoline on the nascent Culture War between the Left and the Right, radicalizing many, and creating a grass roots movement that would help propel every Republican President into the Oval Office from then on. The political consensus that Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson represented disappeared, never to return, as compromise and common ground came to be seen as betrayal.

JANUARY 1973 is a must read for history buffs, especially ones like me, who are fascinated by the latter half of the 20th Century. This book really gives us an insect on the wall view of intimate moments behind closed doors as judges, conspirators, crooked politicians, and even a few patriots, make more history than they probably realized at the time.… (mer)

At the time, most people didn’t realize that January 1973 was one of the most important months in American history. With the use of the released Nixon tapes, James Robenalt presents a day by day diary of what happened some of which is still affecting America almost forty four years later. As Robenalt points out, January was named for the Roman god, Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions. He has two faces, one looking back and one looking forward.
The events actually began before that. In November 1972, President Richard M. Nixon was looking for scapegoats to blame for the break-in at the Democrat National Committe office at the Watergate. On the day after the election, he called for the resignation of everyone who had worked on his campaign, afraid they were “burned out.”
On Christmas Day 1972, the US conducted massive bombing raids on North Vietnam and suffered many casualties. Thirty one pilots and crews became POWs and there were 93 more missing in action. Twenty eight aircraft including fifteen B-52s were shot down, (cost nearly $8 million each). The purpose of the attacks was to break the deadlock in Paris over ending the Vietnam war but President Nixon didn’t want anyone to know that. In 1968, Nixon had secretly persuaded the South Vietnamese to not agree to a peace treaty until the US election was over.
On December 26, 1972, Harry S Truman died. His funeral was held in The Washington Cathedral in DC on January 5, 1973. Nixon did not attend the service because it was being conducted by the Dean, Francis B. Sayre, an anti-war activist. Sayre was also Woodrow Wilson’s grandson, born in the White House. Nixon and his wife, Pat, had already paid their respects in Independence MO.
On January 2, he called Lyndon Baines Johnson to see if he was going to attend. Johnson said he wasn’t and also would not be attending the memorial for Senator Hale Boggs in Louisiana. He said he wasn’t feeling well. After he hung up the phone, Nixon told his special counsel, Charles Colson, that Johnson “was a hypochondriac. He’s unbelievable.” That was the last time they talked. LBJ died twenty days later.
On the same day, Colson, complained to Nixon that Congress was back. “God, it is just so painful to go [up to the Hill] and have to listen to these people whine around, and they want briefings, and they want fact sheets.”
The main issue that concerned Nixon during January 1973 was the trial of the Watergate burglars. Judge John Sirica, who was conducting the trial, acted more like a prosecutor than a judge, even going so far as to meeting with lawyers ex parte representing only one side. Nixon’s main concern was that the White House, himself especially, not be tied to the break-in.
When LBJ was sworn into office on November 22, 1963, after President Kennedy’s assassination, Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath of office. She is the only woman to ever do so. A few years later, she was one of the three judges who ruled on the Roe v. Wade case to determine the right of a woman to have an abortion. The case reached the Supreme Court. The decision in favor of Roe was read the morning of January 22. Five hours later, LBJ died. Nixon had planned to give a speech scuttling Johnson’s Great Society but decided to delay the announcement because of LBJ’s death.
On January 20, Nixon was sworn in as President for the second time. He spoke of what was called the Nixon Doctrine The US was no longer going to be world’s policeman. It would play a key role but other nations had to do their part as well and take responsibility for their own futures. The doctrine applied to domestic policies as well. Individuals had the responsibility of solving their problems. They shouldn’t expect the government to do so..
On January 23, the US, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam initialed a peace treaty. South Vietnam did so reluctantly and under great pressure from the US administration.
On January 30, the verdict for the first Watergate trial was pronounced.
Other points of interest:
In October 1971, Nixon talked to Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger about people to appoint to fill vacancies. Chief Justice Warren Burger threatened to resign if a woman was appointed to fill a vacancy. Nixon agreed saying that he didn’t think women should have government jobs.
Some of Nixon’s plans backfired. The end of combat increased the likelihood of battles with Congress which saw the imperial presidency as a threat to their oversight. When the issue of
investigating White House involvement in Watergate arouse, Nixon said he had appointed John Dean to conduct a special internal investigation. He hadn’t.
The Republicans worked to reorganize their party and establish a new political order. It determined that the typical voter was “unyoung, unpoor, and unblack” and raised an anti-intellectual, blue-collar, patriotic, Southern`based coalition. That started a culture war setting them against the elites. Most voters were concerned with the economy, The attitude of the public was very similar to what the US saw during the 2016 campaign. The average voter felt threatened and fearful especially because of social change that affected their lives. Congress eventually veered off into a no compromise attitude.
According to Robenalt, the legacy of January 1973 was “The ‘me generation’ found its voice, religion became a political force, poverty and civil rights became some else’s problem, and the national will for concerned action for the common good was scattered into ‘a thousand points of light.”
JANUARY 1973 goes back to explain the circumstances that led to some of the events that month. There is a lot of detail (thanks to Nixon’s use of secret tape recorders) and some repetition. There are sections that could have been eliminated such as descriptions of sporting events.… (mer)

I loved the concept of this book. January of 1973 was a momentous month in American history with a number of pivotal events with a long-lasting impact occurring in that month. The final negotiations and signing of the peace treaty ending the Vietnam War, the Supreme Court handing down the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision, the Watergate burglars trial, the death of Harry Truman and LBJ, and Nixon's second inauguration, among others.

The author provides a plethora of interesting information about these topics in this fascinating book. I've read quite a bit in the area of 20th century American history but never knew, for instance, that Nixon wanted to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court but that Chief Justice Warren Burger threatened to resign if he did so.

While the concept of the book and the information included in the book were outstanding, the area where the book was not as strong was in its organization. The author tried to keep to a chronological approach but, by necessity, had to provide a substantial amount of information, both before and after January of 1973, to put things into perspective. As a result, there is a dizzying amount of jumping around.

Even so, I'd highly recommend this book.… (mer)

This was an outstanding book. The author takes a one month term, January 1973, and shows how much important history occurred in (and around) that particular time period. The Watergate trial began, the Vietnam War's end was negotiated, the Supreme Court issued it's Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, and Nixon's second term began. Through a masterful effort, Robenalt weaves together how all the events came about, and how they were related. I thought that I understood before how odd Richard Nixon was, but this book really pulls it all together. An obviously talented and intelligent man, Nixon allowed his own low self-esteem and distrust of others to develop into a full-blown paranoia. This led him to surround himself with self-serving toadies, who were more than happy to feed into his conspiracies and double-dealing. The whole crew eventually brought down Nixon's presidency.
Easy to read, extremely well flowing, hard hitting writing. Read this, and you cannot help but draw parallels with some of today's politicians. God help us!… (mer)