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Book: The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate by James Rosen
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Authors: James Rosen
Tags: nonfiction, History, Biography & Autobiography, Retail, Political, Leaders & Notable People, Watergate
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of fun. You’ve had an opportunity to attack me, and I think I’ve given as good as I’ve taken…. As I leave you, I want you to know: Just think how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore. Because gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”
Now Nixon had come East, to New York, to lick his wounds, make money, and run what he called “the fast track.” “‘Fast track’ was a word [
sic
] he repeatedly used,” recalled Nixon’s aide and biographer, Stephen Hess. “For him, New York was the place where people worked harder, were smarter and became more successful than anyplace else. He figured he would get on that fast track himself.” Nobody more epitomized this success in his eyes than John Mitchell. William Safire, a public relations consultant who had known Nixon since 1959, keenly observed Nixon’s early interaction with Mitchell:
Mitchell was a successful New York lawyer, a front-runner on what Nixon liked to call the “fastest track of all.”…Easy to rely on, hard to get, untrammeled by past defeat and with no commitments to other candidates on the national scene, Mitchell became Nixon’s most sought-after trophy. And unlike most of the men Nixon had been attracting…Mitchell was tough…. It was Mitchell whom Nixon went to for answers; he had a way of getting to the nib of a problem and then laying out alternative routes to the solution, proposing his recommendation, and then—this is where he left many politicians behind—picking up the telephone and making something happen…. John Mitchell was the rock upon which Nixon built his church. 4
What Nixon prized in his new friend, perhaps above all else, was that Mitchell, while not born to the upper class, moved easily among its inhabitants, like the Rockefellers, inspiring their respect and confidence and making tons of money, yet still retained at day’s end, Scotch in hand, a bemused blue-collar contempt for their pretensions. Where Nixon simmered with resentment toward the East Coast establishment, scorning and craving its approval, Mitchell exuded indifference. “I have no use for the New York line,” he once told a reporter, his casual dismissal of the privileged class he had swiftly joined reflecting the confidence of a true self-made man—something Richard Nixon, with his tangled psychology and shaky finances, could never be. 5
Nixon was in awe of Mitchell. “I’ve found the heavyweight!” he exclaimed to William Safire at the beginning of 1967. “Mitchell was the teacher and Nixon was the student,” said one aide, who observed them together both before and after Nixon won the presidency. Despite being eight months younger than Nixon, Mitchell seemed older, more mature, more self-possessed. Even after he became president, Nixon would steal glances at the silent, pipe-puffing Mitchell during cabinet meetings, seeking some sign of approval—a nod or grunt—suggesting Nixon should continue. “Mitchell was really very much the station master of those Cabinet meetings,” recalled Donald Santarelli, an aide to the attorney general. “Nixon would keep an eye on him, and if Mitchell [was] agitated, he would jiggle or puff on his pipe with some vigor. Nixon would get the signal and switch subjects, or terminate that line of conversation. If Mitchell looked serene—and that was really the only word for it—Nixon would go on.” 6
In a 1971 interview, Mitchell sized up the president’s personality for columnist Frank van der Linden: “Nixon is a tough cookie. The thing that has impressed me most about him is how he handles the crises. He does not get into an uproar, but calmly goes on to the next problem, not chewing the rug or climbing the wall.” Certainly, Mitchell shared Nixon’s contempt for the news media. He told van der Linden: “I’m impressed, too, because [Nixon] is not side-tracked by minutiae but keeps his eye on the big target, not the TV bulletin. One thing that
Now Nixon had come East, to New York, to lick his wounds, make money, and run what he called “the fast track.” “‘Fast track’ was a word [
sic
] he repeatedly used,” recalled Nixon’s aide and biographer, Stephen Hess. “For him, New York was the place where people worked harder, were smarter and became more successful than anyplace else. He figured he would get on that fast track himself.” Nobody more epitomized this success in his eyes than John Mitchell. William Safire, a public relations consultant who had known Nixon since 1959, keenly observed Nixon’s early interaction with Mitchell:
Mitchell was a successful New York lawyer, a front-runner on what Nixon liked to call the “fastest track of all.”…Easy to rely on, hard to get, untrammeled by past defeat and with no commitments to other candidates on the national scene, Mitchell became Nixon’s most sought-after trophy. And unlike most of the men Nixon had been attracting…Mitchell was tough…. It was Mitchell whom Nixon went to for answers; he had a way of getting to the nib of a problem and then laying out alternative routes to the solution, proposing his recommendation, and then—this is where he left many politicians behind—picking up the telephone and making something happen…. John Mitchell was the rock upon which Nixon built his church. 4
What Nixon prized in his new friend, perhaps above all else, was that Mitchell, while not born to the upper class, moved easily among its inhabitants, like the Rockefellers, inspiring their respect and confidence and making tons of money, yet still retained at day’s end, Scotch in hand, a bemused blue-collar contempt for their pretensions. Where Nixon simmered with resentment toward the East Coast establishment, scorning and craving its approval, Mitchell exuded indifference. “I have no use for the New York line,” he once told a reporter, his casual dismissal of the privileged class he had swiftly joined reflecting the confidence of a true self-made man—something Richard Nixon, with his tangled psychology and shaky finances, could never be. 5
Nixon was in awe of Mitchell. “I’ve found the heavyweight!” he exclaimed to William Safire at the beginning of 1967. “Mitchell was the teacher and Nixon was the student,” said one aide, who observed them together both before and after Nixon won the presidency. Despite being eight months younger than Nixon, Mitchell seemed older, more mature, more self-possessed. Even after he became president, Nixon would steal glances at the silent, pipe-puffing Mitchell during cabinet meetings, seeking some sign of approval—a nod or grunt—suggesting Nixon should continue. “Mitchell was really very much the station master of those Cabinet meetings,” recalled Donald Santarelli, an aide to the attorney general. “Nixon would keep an eye on him, and if Mitchell [was] agitated, he would jiggle or puff on his pipe with some vigor. Nixon would get the signal and switch subjects, or terminate that line of conversation. If Mitchell looked serene—and that was really the only word for it—Nixon would go on.” 6
In a 1971 interview, Mitchell sized up the president’s personality for columnist Frank van der Linden: “Nixon is a tough cookie. The thing that has impressed me most about him is how he handles the crises. He does not get into an uproar, but calmly goes on to the next problem, not chewing the rug or climbing the wall.” Certainly, Mitchell shared Nixon’s contempt for the news media. He told van der Linden: “I’m impressed, too, because [Nixon] is not side-tracked by minutiae but keeps his eye on the big target, not the TV bulletin. One thing that
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