William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

(Note: I’d long meant to tackle John Dean’s recounting of Watergate, “Blind Ambition” and have recently started reading it. I will be giving short recaps of the book over the following weeks.)

Blind Ambition

Chapter Three: The Tickler

Synopsis: Nixon, feeling vulnerable in his re-election bid, decides the best thing to do is to find out information on DNC chairman Lawrence O’Brien, and his relationship with Howard Hughes. It’s immediately clear that Nixon means that information should be found by any means necessary. The job goes to Dean at first, but he’s a big ethical pussy about it. Jack Caulfield comes up with “Operation Sandwedge” but everyone thinks he’s an idiot, so G. Gordon Liddy is given the reins as the “dirty tricks” go-to guy.

Liddy is terrifying even to the criminals running the White House, as his plans to sabotage the Democratic Party consists of wholesale spying, and the use of high-paid prostitutes, as he looks to make the White House a bunch of pimps, literally. Everyone thinks Liddy is psycho, but they love having him and eventually, with some modifications, they encourage his plans. Now, where to find a million bucks?

A Tickler: The name of the chapter is derived from Bob Haldeman’s minions, who would harangue White House staff to get assignments done, earning the name “Ticklers” from Dean. “Even Mitchell and Kissinger were subject to it,” writes Dean.

Money quote 1: “Well, in my business, John, it’s important that those I work with understand I’m a man of strength. Macho, as they say. So to prove myself to them I held my hand over a candle until the flesh burned, which I did without flinching, I wanted them to know I could stand any amount of physical pain.” — Liddy to Dean, explaining why his hand was injured.

Money quote 2: “I had stopped short of a hazy line that kept me off the first team, where men like Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Kissinger, Colson, and even Bud Krogh, trampled the rules, believing that their power kept them from danger.” - Dean, who will soon cross that line himself.

Fun Fact: O’Brien was NBA commissioner from 1975 to 1984, and the trophy for the NBA Champion is called the “Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy.”

Previous:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

–WKW

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 11:47 am and is filed under Politics, Blind ambition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.