McCord, James W., Jr. A Piece of Tape -- The Watergate Story: Fact and
Fiction. Rockville MD: Washington Media Services, 1974. 330 pages.
James McCord was the CREEP security chief and former FBI and CIA
officer who taped the doors in the Watergate building, which alerted a
guard and led to the arrests of the Watergate burglars. The scandal broke
into the headlines when his March 19, 1973 letter to Judge Sirica charged
that "there was political pressure applied to the defendants to plead
guilty and remain silent" and "perjury occurred during the trial." Some
Watergate researchers (e.g., Carl Oglesby in "Yankee and Cowboy War") make
the case that McCord's bungling is better explained by considering him as
a double agent within a larger conspiracy. Other scenarios (Jim Hougan in
"Secret Agenda" and Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin in "Silent Coup")
relegate McCord to the minor role of a major incompetent.
This book provides no help in resolving this issue, but is useful
nonetheless. Over half of it is a compilation of scattered bits of
testimony, from the major and a few minor players, that describe the
events of Watergate chronologically from late 1971 to early 1974. McCord
spent seven months researching this portion of the book. It does indeed
"contain a wealth of material for the reader about Watergate," even if it
doesn't provide any answers.
ISBN 0-914286-00-5
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