Blind Ambition: The White House Years - Political Memoir & Insider Account of Presidential Leadership | Perfect for History Buffs, Political Science Students & American Government Enthusiasts

It may seem strange that just after ordering a new copy of "Blind Ambition" by John Dean, today, that I am writing a review.Actually, I have the paperback edition and have read it several times. I wanted the hardback for the larger print size.This is an excellent book, not just for taking the reader behind the scenes of Watergate, but for displaying the true personality of Richard Nixon.The description that Dean gives of Nixon throughout the book corroborates the statements by Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman.Blind Ambition is a tale of a President obsessed with only one goal - to make sure he got re-elected.Richard Nixon was a man of insecurity and self-doubt, and these traits were strongly reinforced when Nixon lost the 1962 California governorship to incumbent Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.It was Lawrence O'Brien, who was responsible for leaking about the Howard Hughes loan to Nixon's brother, Donald, that played a part in the 1962 loss of election to Governor.Now, O'Brien was National Chairman of the Democratic National Party. Nixon worried about what "goods" O'Brien had on him now. Thus, the DNC Headquarters at the Watergate Complex were broken into; a third-rate burglary was turned into a major cover-up along with other crimes and White House horrors.The discouraging remark to add to the above is, after you read this excellent book, you should try to see the TV-made movie, based on the book. The movie was well done, with Rip Torn playing Nixon, and doing the best job of anyone I have seen.Unfortunately, no commercial version of the movie was released. It was a 4-part miniseries. Once-and-awhile,the channels of STARZ shows it. You should record it, if it is shown again, as it is a very good presentation, faithful to the book, and almost non-existant.Two other outstanding Watergate books, in addition to "Blind Ambition" highly recommened are "Watergate-the corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon" by Fred Emery (a mini-series was also done on that) and "784 Days That Changed America" by Barry Sussman (with another rare television production shown only once by Nancy Dickenson and Television Broadcasting Corp.