A Cancer on the Presidency
This chapter recounts the special prosecutor investigation that forced Richard Nixon to resign the presidency on August 8, 1974. On the surface, this outcome seems distinctly improbable. Nixon actually allowed himself to be forced from office by a special prosecutor he had the power to fire at any time. What can explain this result? The obvious answer is intense and sustained political pressure, which was made possible by the special prosecutor’s high public visibility. Never has the power of special prosecutors—or the dependence of that power on the vigilance of the American people—been clearer.