Book Review, The Right and the Power: The Prosecution of Watergate

Abstract

After President Richard Nixon removed Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Leon Jaworski took responsibility for the investigation. During the eleven fingernail-biting months of his tenure, four former cabinet officers and various White House officials were charged with violations of the federal criminal code. One president was driven from office, hounded by the sound of his own tape-recorded voice, and was later pardoned by the man he had named as his successor. This Book Review examines two facets of Mr. Jaworski's best selling book, The Right and the Power, that should be of particular concern to the legal community. Section I questions the former prosecutor's decision to disclose disparaging and previously private information tion about the subjects of the criminal investigations he supervised. Section II questions the justifications offered for a lenient plea bargain given to former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst and the decision not indict the former President.

Keywords: Watergate prosecution, plea bargain, prosecutorial ethics, evidence