The non-fiction record of the Watergate investigations was published on June 15 1974 by duo authors Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The publishing of the book occurred in the midst of the height of the Watergate scandal while President Nixon was still in office but losing support fast. The release of the book certainly aided in turning public opinion against the nose-diving president. Plunged from obscurity into the political limelight, they were pressured to give a behind the scenes view of their overthrow of one of the political giants of the 20th century. Sources say that Robert Redford ultimately pressured them into writing the book, based on interest in developing it into a film at some point. Thus, the two writers did what they do best: write. The entire account is written in third person, showing a remarkable self-awareness when Woodward allows sentences such as, "one office rumor had it that English was not Woodward's native language" into the tale. The book eventually evolved to focus less on the nuances of Watergate itself, but on the process of how the pair came to get answers about the scandal that had rocked the nation for two years.
The book was an instant success upon its release, ultimately winning the pair of journalists a coveted Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times called it "a whodunit without an ending" because of course at the moment of its release the president had yet to resign. The New York Times discusses this lack of catharsis, discussing how when the book was released, there was evidence that the Nixon White House had bugged itself. Then, "it just stops." The answers that the American public were looking for were not necessarily in the book, but the pieces of the puzzle that lead to the criminal charges against every one of the President's Men from McCord to Haldeman are in the book, allowing for the reader to put together their own conclusions rather than prescribing them.
The book also plays into the sense of fear in a familiar landscape. The Washington D.C. we thought we knew becomes a place of danger with people afraid to speak openly for fear of retribution. It also discusses the culture of the president's men going to any lengths to save their own neck, even if it means ratting out other Nixon operatives. The book opens up ethical questions about why journalism is important and whether or not democracy could have survived without an investigation into the Nixon administration and the Committee to Re-Elect the President. Ultimately Woodward and Bernstein became convinced that there was guilt in the Nixon administration, leading them to go as far into the story as they could. The book, however, was written before those answers were known. Their "witch hunt" for Richard Nixon ended up being justified. Imagine the world we would live in if the end of the film (the resignation of Nixon) never occurred, and a different ending followed the ending of the book version of All The President's Men.
