Colodny, Len and Gettlin, Robert. Silent Coup: The Removal of a President.
New York: St.Martin's Paperbacks, 1992. 580 pages.
This bestseller is a revisionist account of Watergate that Bob Woodward
and the Washington Post don't want you to read. It makes the case that
Alexander Haig was Deep Throat, and reports convincing evidence (including
taped interviews with officials) that Bob Woodward knew Haig in 1969 when
Woodward worked at the Pentagon, four years before Woodward said they met.
The paperback edition includes a 24-page postscript that details Woodward's
and the Post's pathetic attempts to discredit the evidence. Most reviews of
this book gave Colodny and Gettlin above-average marks, and the consensus
among journalists seems to be that the burden of proof rests with the Post.
The other major revisionist wrinkle is the authors' contention that
John Dean ordered the Watergate break-in because he knew that a call-girl
ring was operating out of the Democratic headquarters and wanted some
embarrassing documents. The woman who ran the ring was reportedly a friend
of Dean's, and Maureen Biner Dean was her roommate when John and Mo were
courting in 1971. Stay tuned: John and Maureen are suing the authors, along
with G. Gordon Liddy, who agrees with the book, for $50 million. When he
first heard of the suit on 1992-01-30, Liddy said it was "the second happiest
day of my life. The first happiest will be when we finally get John Dean on
the witness stand under oath. No more perjury-infested dog and pony show."
ISBN 0-312-92763-0
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