politalX Politics Store - John Ehrlichman: In the Eye of the Storm, hosted by Tom Clancy

In the documentary, which includes never-before-seen film from his personal archives, Ehrlichman, along with numerous other Nixon insiders, gives us a no holds barred, first hand account of the trials and tribulations of the life at the seat of power. Clancy himself is often amused and bemused by the bizarre stories and insiders' tales; making the statement that no author could have created a fictional world as strange as Nixon's reality.

Beyond this observation, however, is a more serious examination of this crucial time in our nation's history. Clancy examines the events of the Nixon years on a larger canvas, exploring the motives and actions of various major players in the drama as well as new theories regarding the Watergate break-in itself.

Clancy attempts to do what no one else has ever tried to do: to detail the complexity, the intrigue, and the mysteries which remain to this day over this watershed event in the life of our Republic. He examines the various personalities and their interactions through the eyes of a man - John Ehrlichman, who was there through it all - the defeats, the victories, the protests, the strategy sessions and the ultimate fall of Richard Nixon.

Watergate ultimately becomes a microcosm for examining not only the failures of the Nixon administration but the drives and motives of official Washingtondom. What Clancy discovers is a much more disturbing reality of that time than the Watergate legacy government agencies, accountable to no one, acting on their own agenda; high level government officials, other than the President, conducting secret investigations and abusing the public trust; the military spying on their civilian superiors; and political opponents condoning perjury to serve their own ends.

Nixon was considered one of the most skillful players in the game of Washington politics; he was also perhaps its greatest victim. As the various secret agendas of official Washington began to unravel there appeared a natural convergence of interests which brought agencies such the Central Intelligence Agency, the Special Prosecutors, the Pentagon, The Federal Bureau of Investigation together with such individuals as John Dean, Al Haig, and others. This merging of interests was not planned, it could not be called an active conspiracy, but whether accidental or premeditated, the end result was the first removal of a president of the United States.

John Ehrlichman "tells all" to Tom Clancy in Volume One of this revealing video examination of "The Nixon Years". Among the highlights in Volume One:

Nixon's night of drunken celebration following the rebirth of his political career. . . Nixon's refusal to dispute his defeat in the 1960 Presidential election, even though he believed he had evidence that John Kennedy stole his victory through fraudulent vote-counting in several States. . .

Nixon's futile attempt to fire FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover - which ended, ironically, with Hoover getting more agents and more money.

Nixon's approval of a plan to fire-bomb a Washington think-tank that refused to turn over a copy of the controversial "Pentagon Papers".

The drame continues in Volume Two: Watergate and Disgrace.

The "Nixon Years" are now about to reach their incredible climax. In order to plug what he feels are damaging "leaks" about his administration's classified activities, President Nixon orders the formation of the so-called Plumbers Unit. This enables operatives such as G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt to wield clandestine influence over the activities of the President's men.

Finally - on the night of June 17, 1972 - the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Office Building are broken into... marking the beginning of the end of the Nixon Presidency. The Senate's Watergate Hearings uncover the existence of the secret White House recordings, and Richard Nixon is forced to become the only American President ever to resign from office.

First, Mr. Clancy was the presenter, not the journalist. Our research team included a former deputy director of the FBI and the former Senior Investigator of the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities as well as two journalists who covered Washington DC during the Watergate years.

I am truly at a loss as to how "Yorba Linda" sees this effort as an attempt to justify Nixon's actions. On the contrary, Clancy himself decided the man must have been insane by the end of his presidency.

That said, It is important to know that there was much, much more going on in our nation's capital. People do not realize, as I did not until this project, just how close we came to lossing everything our nation stands for; and not just because of Richard Nixon.

We attempted to paint this period of history on a broader tapastry with John Ehrilichman as our guide. Those of you who have read "Inside the Third Reich" will understand that to explore the causes of a criminal's behavior is not the same as justifying a criminal's behavior.

Finally, given the attitude "Yorba Linda" had toward Mr. Clancy's other work, I doubt that this person ever saw the show in the first place; it sounds, unfortunately, as if they judged the book by its cover.