The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate
by: James Rosen
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The Strong Man is the first full-scale biography of John N. Mitchell, the central figure in the rise and ruin of Richard Nixon and the highest-ranking American official ever convicted on criminal charges.
As U.S. attorney general from 1969 to 1972, John Mitchell stood at the center of the upheavals of the late sixties. The most powerful man in the Nixon cabinet, a confident troubleshooter, Mitchell championed law and order against the bomb-throwers of the antiwar movement, desegregated the South’s public schools, restored calm after the killings at Kent State, and steered the commander-in-chief through the Pentagon Papers and Joint Chiefs spying crises. After leaving office, Mitchell survived the ITT and Vesco scandals—but was ultimately destroyed by Watergate.
With a novelist’s skill, James Rosen traces Mitchell’s early life and career from his Long Island boyhood to his mastery of Wall Street, where Mitchell's innovations in municipal finance made him a power broker to the Rockefellers and mayors and governors in all fifty states. After merging law firms with Richard Nixon, Mitchell brilliantly managed Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign and, at his urging, reluctantly agreed to serve as attorney general. With his steely demeanor and trademark pipe, Mitchell commanded awe throughout the government as Nixon’s most trusted adviser, the only man in Washington who could say no to the president.
Chronicling the collapse of the Nixon presidency, The Strong Man follows America’s former top cop on his singular odyssey through the criminal justice system—a tortuous maze of camera crews, congressional hearings, special prosecutors, and federal trials. The path led, ultimately, to a prison cell in Montgomery, Alabama, where Mitchell was welcomed into federal custody by the same men he had appointed to office. Rosen also reveals the dark truth about Mitchell’s marriage to the flamboyant and volatile Martha Mitchell: her slide into alcoholism and madness, their bitter divorce, and the toll it all took on their daughter, Marty.
Based on 250 original interviews and hundreds of thousands of previously unpublished documents and tapes, The Strong Man resolves definitively the central mysteries of the Nixon era: the true purpose of the Watergate break-in, who ordered it, the hidden role played by the Central Intelligence Agency, and those behind the cover-up.
A landmark of history and biography, The Strong Man is that rarest of books: both a model of scholarly research and savvy analysis and a masterful literary achievement.
The Strong Man is the first full-scale biography of John N. Mitchell, the central figure in the rise and ruin of Richard Nixon and the highest-ranking American official ever convicted on criminal charges.
As U.S. attorney general from 1969 to 1972, John Mitchell stood at the center of the upheavals of the late sixties. The most powerful man in the Nixon cabinet, a confident troubleshooter, Mitchell championed law and order against the bomb-throwers of the antiwar movement, desegregated the South’s public schools, restored calm after the killings at Kent State, and steered the commander-in-chief through the Pentagon Papers and Joint Chiefs spying crises. After leaving office, Mitchell survived the ITT and Vesco scandals—but was ultimately destroyed by Watergate.
With a novelist’s skill, James Rosen traces Mitchell’s early life and career from his Long Island boyhood to his mastery of Wall Street, where Mitchell's innovations in municipal finance made him a power broker to the Rockefellers and mayors and governors in all fifty states. After merging law firms with Richard Nixon, Mitchell brilliantly managed Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign and, at his urging, reluctantly agreed to serve as attorney general. With his steely demeanor and trademark pipe, Mitchell commanded awe throughout the government as Nixon’s most trusted adviser, the only man in Washington who could say no to the president.
Chronicling the collapse of the Nixon presidency, The Strong Man follows America’s former top cop on his singular odyssey through the criminal justice system—a tortuous maze of camera crews, congressional hearings, special prosecutors, and federal trials. The path led, ultimately, to a prison cell in Montgomery, Alabama, where Mitchell was welcomed into federal custody by the same men he had appointed to office. Rosen also reveals the dark truth about Mitchell’s marriage to the flamboyant and volatile Martha Mitchell: her slide into alcoholism and madness, their bitter divorce, and the toll it all took on their daughter, Marty.
Based on 250 original interviews and hundreds of thousands of previously unpublished documents and tapes, The Strong Man resolves definitively the central mysteries of the Nixon era: the true purpose of the Watergate break-in, who ordered it, the hidden role played by the Central Intelligence Agency, and those behind the cover-up.
A landmark of history and biography, The Strong Man is that rarest of books: both a model of scholarly research and savvy analysis and a masterful literary achievement.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- the strong man and the secrets of watergate
reads like a novel. Also, a great lesson, pay attention tocurrent events.Things are never what they seem to be at the moment. Should be in every classroom.Why isn't history taught this way? It would be much easier for individuals to make adult political decisions.The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate
Rating: - Great Book
I was 22 when Watergate broke.I thought I knew a lot, I was wrong.No matter how much you think you may know about the Nixon era, until you read this book, you have no idea.Well researched, using unpublished material, you will enter the world of the Joint Chiefs spying on Kennedy and Johnson to things Liddy proposed you would never believe.Read it, you'll learn a lot.
William R. Bagwell
Rating: - Great read
This is a very accessible book to anyone interested in the workings of government, and the bizarre power relationships between those who worked for an administration. Without skimping on details, James Rosen weaves the reader though the confusing paths of Mitchell's story, and the stories of Nixon's inner circle.
Rating: - Excellent overview of a dark period
Outside of his better balancing my opinion of the man I and 98% of the country saw as evil incarnate in 1973 (myself at the tender age of 16), I think Rosen's biggest contribution here is the clear descriptions of the the Watergate scandal itself and its cousins the ITT/Dita Beard, and Robert Vesco scandals.Good historic information, not really covered as well by other authors.
Rating: 
- The Strong Man - Strong Stuff
In the Strong Man, James Rosen attempts to weave the biography of John Mitchell around the Byzantine elements of the Watergate. At the same time he visits the other incidents, misbehavior, and misadventures that make up much of this mans life. One must give credit to Mr. Rosen for a balanced and fairly honest portrait. He has avoided a hagiography as well as a hit piece to try to ascertain who John Mitchell really was and exactly what did he do.
This is far more difficult than one might think. ... Read More
- the strong man and the secrets of watergatereads like a novel. Also, a great lesson, pay attention tocurrent events.Things are never what they seem to be at the moment. Should be in every classroom.Why isn't history taught this way? It would be much easier for individuals to make adult political decisions.The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate
- Great BookI was 22 when Watergate broke.I thought I knew a lot, I was wrong.No matter how much you think you may know about the Nixon era, until you read this book, you have no idea.Well researched, using unpublished material, you will enter the world of the Joint Chiefs spying on Kennedy and Johnson to things Liddy proposed you would never believe.Read it, you'll learn a lot.
William R. Bagwell
- Great readThis is a very accessible book to anyone interested in the workings of government, and the bizarre power relationships between those who worked for an administration. Without skimping on details, James Rosen weaves the reader though the confusing paths of Mitchell's story, and the stories of Nixon's inner circle.
- Excellent overview of a dark periodOutside of his better balancing my opinion of the man I and 98% of the country saw as evil incarnate in 1973 (myself at the tender age of 16), I think Rosen's biggest contribution here is the clear descriptions of the the Watergate scandal itself and its cousins the ITT/Dita Beard, and Robert Vesco scandals.Good historic information, not really covered as well by other authors.
- The Strong Man - Strong StuffIn the Strong Man, James Rosen attempts to weave the biography of John Mitchell around the Byzantine elements of the Watergate. At the same time he visits the other incidents, misbehavior, and misadventures that make up much of this mans life. One must give credit to Mr. Rosen for a balanced and fairly honest portrait. He has avoided a hagiography as well as a hit piece to try to ascertain who John Mitchell really was and exactly what did he do.
This is far more difficult than one might think. ... Read More
