Category: History: U.S.: 20th Century

Copyright/published Year: 2010 by Farrar, Straus

ISBN: 0374235309

Binding: hardcover

Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and ì the Rise of Washington's Scandal Culture

It is March 1972, and the Nixon White House wants Jack ì Anderson dead. The syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, the most ì famous and feared investigative reporter in the nation, has ì exposed yet another of the President's dirty secrets. Nixon's ì operatives are ordered to "stop Anderson at all costs" - ì permanently. Across the street from the White House, they huddle ì in a hotel basement to conspire. Should they try "Aspirin ì Roulette" and break into Anderson's home to plant a poisoned pill ì in one of his medicine bottles? Could they smear LSD on the ì journalist's steering wheel, so that he would absorb it through ì his skin, lose control of his car, and crash? Or stage a ì routine-looking mugging, making Anderson appear to be one more ì fatal victim of Washington's notorious street crime?

Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the ì Rise of Washington's Scandal Culture recounts not only the ì disturbing story of an unprecedented White House conspiracy to ì assassinate a journalist, but also the larger tale of the bitter ì quarter-century battle between the postwar era's most embattled ì politician and its most reviled newsman. The struggle between ì Nixon and Anderson included bribery, blackmail, forgery, spying, ì and burglary as well as the White House murder plot. Their ì vendetta symbolized and accelerated the growing conflict between ì the government and the press, a clash that would long outlive ì both men.

Mark Feldstein traces the arc of this confrontation between a ì vindictive president and a flamboyant, crusading muckraker who ì rifled through garbage and swiped classified papers in pursuit of ì his prey - stoking the paranoia in Nixon that would ultimately ì lead to his ruin. The White House plot to poison Anderson, ì Feldstein argues, is a metaphor for the poisoned political ì atmosphere that would follow, and the toxic sensationalism that ì contaminates contemporary media discourse. Melding history and ì biography, Poisoning the Press unearths significant new ì information from more than two hundred interviews and thousands ì of declassified documents and tapes. This is a chronicle of ì political intrigue and the true price of power for politicians ì and journalists alike. The result - Washington's modern scandal ì culture - was Richard Nixon's ultimate revenge.

This book is 'remaindered' and may have marks on the cover and/or bottom of pages.

Additional condition description

This is a "remaindered" book with a black mark on the page bottom. Otherwise it is just like a brand new book.